Lena Ashwell (28 September 1872 - 13 March 1957) was a British actress and manager, known as the first to organize large-scale entertainment for troops at the front, which she did during World War I.

Born Lena Margaret Pocock on the Wellesley while anchored in the River Tyne, she was the daughter of Commander Pocock . She grew up in Canada, and studied music in both Lausanne and at the Royal Academy of Music in London, but her voice was insufficient for performance, and she took up acting instead. In 1891, she debuted in The Pharisee, and soon after in Arthur with Ellen Terry and Sir Henry Irving. She went on to appear in a number of Shakespeare productions, in Quo Vadis (1900), and as the lead in Mrs. Danes's Defense (1900) and Leah Kleschna (1905).

Beginning in 1906, she took up theatre management, initially at the Savoy Theatre, then in 1907 establishing her own Kingsway. She married the royal obstetrician Henry Simpson in 1908. In 1915, she began to organize companies of actors to go over to France and put on shows; by the end of the war, there were 25 of them.

External links

• Collectors Post bio of Ashwell, with pictures