| Variations of Name | Lady Martin-Harvey; Helena de Silva Ferro; Angelita Helena Maria De Silva |
| Biography | Helena Margarita, Lady Martin-Harvey (née de Silva Ferro) was an English actress, known by such stage names as Miss N. de Silva or Nell de Silva.
She was born in London (the year is disputed, with varying sources citing different years between 1858 and 1869), however the death registry gives the year as 1858, the daughter of Don Ramon de Silva Ferro, a Chilean consul. She married actor John Martin-Harvey (later Sir John Martin-Harvey) in 1889 and become a leading lady of his theater troupe. They met at a performance of Goethe's Faust at Cambridge. The couple had two children: Muriel Martin-Harvey and Michael Martin-Harvey, both actors, like their parents.
During the Great War, she and her husband toured the UK, giving military recruitment lectures and raising money for the Red Cross and other charities, most notably the Nation's Fund for Nurses. They raised enough money to buy a building for the College of Nursing in 1920 which became a rest home for nurses. |