Irene Pepper, opera

[MacGrigor]

Hello,

Irene’s full name was Florence Sarah Irene Pepper, and she was born in Newington, London, in 1902, at her grandfather’s flat, while her parents were living in Maidstone. Her life was itinerant; she is living in Eltham, then in Kent, in 1911. She shows up next in Ireland in 1922, near Cork, when she registered the death of her father Frank. After that, she shows up on an electoral register in West Bridgford in Nottinghamshire in 1930, then is in Mablethorpe on the Lincolnshire coast in 1934, registering her mother’s death. Finally, she married my great-grandfather in Finsbury in 1935.

My grandad had told me, and confirmed when I asked him again just now, that she was an opera singer, presumably not a famous one or anything as she isn’t visible online. However, I found a reference to a Miss Irene Pepper, a soprano, in some sort of a performance, featured in the Sussex Agricultural Express for the 11th of April 1924. Regrettably, FindMyPast have made some sort of a change to the subscriptions, so I am now unable to view anymore of this article barring the preview text. Would anyone please be able to hunt around to look for any other possible mentions of an Irene Pepper involved with opera? I’ve not had any luck so far.

I’d appreciate any help!

Adam

[AllanUK]

Please attached image of the article. Searches have failed to find anything else.
(Image courtesy of FindMyPast)

[MacGrigor]

Brilliant, thanks! Is there any detail as to when/where this event was? I gather from that, that it’s a continuation of the bit above to do with the Conservative Party. Mentioning Hailsham and Eastbourne, and being in a Sussex newspaper, certainly suggests it was in Sussex.

[rosie99]

The heading is
Alfriston Conservatives
The New Club

[MacGrigor]

Excellent, thanks! I’ve just emailed the parish council there to see if there’s anything else on Irene.

[rosie99]

I hope that they are able to help. 

I see that the others mentioned all had a place name listed after their names. 

[MacGrigor]

That’s the frustrating part! I don’t know where she was between 1922 and 1930. Makes me wonder if she wasn’t living in Sussex. Or that she actually lived in Alfriston, so a place didn’t have to be mentioned. Will have to see 🤞

[rosie99]

The 1921 census might help with an address that she may have been living at when her father died the following year. 

Electoral registers would probably not help as she would not necessarily be able to vote.    It was much easier to keep a low profile in those times with no social media 

[AllanUK]

I have found no trace of her in the electoral registers