Jackeydawra Melford(1888-1986)

Jackeydawra Melford born in Basford, Nottingham in 1888, she began as a child performer in comedy at the Nottingham Theatre Royal in the 1890's and grew into something of a beauty, starring in drama and fantasy films written and directed by her father, Mark Melford for the Heron Film Company in 1912, she was also one of the first women in Britain to direct films with titles such as 'The Herncrake Witch' 'The Land of Nursery Rhymes' and 'The Inn on the Heath'. She married Wallace Colegate in London in 1915, and lived to the remarkable age of 98. In 1913 Jackeydawra, an enthusiastic suffragette was arrested by the police, she was seen by a constable to fire a missile from a powerful catapult and struck the Westminster Palace Hotel with resounding force, it was found the missile to be a heavy leaden bullet, with 'Votes for Women' mould on it, her father film director Mark Melford said to the court, I have no control over my daughter, Mr. Horace Smith imposed the full penalty under the Police Act of 40 shillings or month's imprisonment, her father Mark Melford at once paid the fine.