I wrote this article to share the amazing story of Eloise Juno with a wider audience and to promote the talk in Longniddry on October 10th 2026

Eloise Juno: Longniddry's Victorian Superstar

Researching her latest novel led Helen Graham to an extraordinary East Lothian story: the dazzling rise of Longniddry-born Eloise Juno, a Victorian stage star who captivated audiences across Britain, Australia and New Zealand.

I came across the Victorian actress Elose Juno while researching the life of my ancestor, Lottie, for my novel Disappearing Acts. I knew Lottie had wanted to be an actress and performer like her famous grandfather, the comedian Charles Mackay, but I could find no record of her on stage until i discovered her name in an advertisement for a production in Belfast in 1878 starring someone called Eloise Juno. My curiosity was piqued. I began researching Eloise, quickly discovering she was an internationally famous actress with a stellar career in Australia and New Zealand, hugely popular for her comedic performances as well as her tragic portrayals of Shakespeare's leading ladies.

She also starred in Drury Lane and toured her own theatrical company the length and breadth of Britain and Ireland in the 1870s and 8os. But it was the fact she was born in Longniddry that caught my attention, and that she'd trained for the stage in Edinburgh as a child. Suddenly it became possible she was friends with Lottie at their ballet classes, making it feasible that their friendship could have been rekindled when Eloise came back to Britain, resulting in Lottie joining her on stage in Scotland and Ireland.

I then discovered someone else had been researching Eloise Juno's life, and had written a short piece about her. When TV actress Lois Collinder (Neighbours, Prisoner, Cell Block H) moved into the Australian retirement home where Eloise spent her final years, she was fascinated and began her research. I contacted Lois to ask for help with my own research, and she happily shared what she had, saying, "imagine a young woman traveling alone around the world, performing and building a successful career at a time when women simply didn't do that."

Neither of us could find her birth records in Longniddry, though, so I skimmed over that in my book. Soon after I'd sent the novel to the publisher, a genealogist friend helped me solve the mystery - too late to include in the book, but fascinating all the same.

Born Elizabeth Broadfoot in 1840 in Gladsmuir in the by Helen Graham parish of Longniddry, her parents were Walter Broadfoot and Elizabeth Bayne. They had two children, James and Elizabeth, known as Bessie. Walter died, and their mother married William Junor before disappearing off the record herself. By then, they were living in Edinburgh, and Bessie Junor (Eloise) started taking lessons in ballet and acting at the Adelphi Theatre with the well-known children's coach, Mrs Wyndham. Her first major role was kose mayiey in Diver fwst in 1854. There were great reviews of her pertormance as well as predictions of inevitable success. Her first Shakespearean role was Regan in King Lear, and beforelong she was performing in Dundee, Renfrew and Glasgow. It was during this time that a slip on the playbill changed her surname to Juno. The stage manager thought it looked better and changed Bessie to Eloise as well.

It wasn't long before Eloise began to dream of New Zealand, where some of her professional friends were becoming famous. She set sail alone, aged 23, arriving in Dunedin in 1864 after more than a hundred days at sea. Soon she was playing Ophelia and other leading roles, then the intrepid actress joined a travelling company to tour New Zealand, coping with extraordinarily challenging conditions on their long journeys overland and by sea.

After a few years she went to Australia and based herself in Melbourne, where she was the star of the theatre for seven glorious years, performing to great acclaim in all Australia's principal cities, too.When Eloise announced she was returning to Britain to try her hand on the London stage, she drew one of the largest audiences ever known in Victoria ton her final appearance. That night she was presented with a magnificent gold watch and created life-governor of the Dramatic Authors assoc ation.

In London, she was soon acting in all of Shakespeare's principal female roles.mThen she set up her own theatrical company and began touring England, Scotland and Ireland. Best known for her hilarious portrayal of Maggie Macfarlane in 'The Bonnie Fishwife', Eloise also starred in the Waverley Dramss, in comedies, musicals, farces and even new plays.

After several years of critically acclaimed success in Britain she returned to Australia and toured successfully until her retirement from the stage. In 1910, she moved into the Rushall Park Old Colonists Home for the last thirteen years of her life, where the incredible achievements of this Victorian Superstar from Longniddry are still celebrated today.