Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Five: Zena, the Honourable Mrs. Maurice Brett, French Red Cross, and a star of the stage and screen

British War and Victory Medals (Hon. Mrs. Z. Brett); Coronation 1911; Jubilee 1935; France, Third Republic, Society for Aid to the Military Wounded Cross 1914-19, silver, with original Red Cross riband, good very fine (5) £800-1000

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, A Collection of Medals to Members of the Nobility and The Royal Household.

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Florence Harriet Zena, The Honourable Mrs. Maurice Brett was born Florence Harriet Zena Dones in Chelsea, London, on 4 February 1887, the daughter of Arthur Dones Esq., a Clerk of the Divorce Court. Educated at Maida Vale High School, she had her first performance on stage in 1899, at the age of 12, in the Christmas pantomime Babes in the Wood at the Coronet Theatre in London. Her younger sister Phyllis was also in the production, and they both adopted the stage name of Dare. In the first decade of the 20th Century she stared in pantomimes such as Cinderella and The Sleeping Beauty, and various Edwardian musical comedy productions including An English Daisy and The Catch of the Season. Whilst appearing in the latter production on tour, she met and got engaged to the Hon. Maurice Vyner Baliol Brett, second son of the Viscount Esher, and an Aide-de-Camp to General Sir John French (the future Field Marshal Lord French, Earl of Ypres). They were married on 23 January 1911, following which she retired from the stage and moved to Ascot, Berkshire, where they had a son and two daughters.

Following the outbreak of the Great War, Mrs. Brett followed her husband (who served throughout the War on the Staff, was created an Officer of the Order of the British Empire, was four times Mentioned in Despatches, and was advanced to Lieutenant-Colonel) to France and joined the French Red Cross in June 1916, nursing injured soldiers for three years at Mrs. Vanderbilt’s American Hospital in France.

In 1926, after fifteen years away from the stage, she returned to the theatre and played a number of leading roles, staring and working alongside such luminaries of the West End as Noël Coward, Ivor Novello, and John Gielgud. Her last theatrical role was as Mrs. Higgins, Henry Higgins’ mother, in the original London production of My Fair Lady, beginning in 1958 and running for five and a half years. She was the only one of the principal performers to stay for the compete run, followed by a season on tour. At its conclusion she retired from the stage. Meanwhile, and in addition to her stage career, she made several appearances on television and the silver screen. She died in London on 11 March 1975, her husband having predeceased her in August 1934.

Sold together with a large number of postcard photographs of the recipient, including two that are personally signed by her.

For the medals to Lieutenant-Colonel the Hon. Maurice Brett see Lot 98.