Rosina Wright
(1827-1916)

A carte-de-visite portrait of the celebrated ballet dancer Rosina Wright, sometimes dubbed ‘the English Taglioni.’

Throughout her career she proved enormously popular with audiences and critics alike, the latter praising 'her fascinating terpsichorean abilities' (The Era, 17 July 1853) and 'her brilliant dashing style' (Reynold's Weekly, 8 January 1860). 

She appears on the 1861 census living at 10 Kensington Park Terrace North with her widowed mother Mary Anne Wright, who gave 'Professor of Dancing' as her profession. Also present on the night of the census were aunt Caroline and cousin Isabella. Built in 1852, a parade of stuccoed houses in Italianate style surmounted by a tympanum running the entire length of the terrace, Kensington Park Terrace North is today one of the most attractive facades in North Kensington. 

Ten years later Rosina and her mother were living at 5 Houghton Place in Somers Town, a far less salubrious part of London lying on the north side of Euston Road. Rosina now described herself as 'formerly dancer.'

When the censuses were taken in 1901 and 1911 she was one of several boarders lodging with James Campion and his family at 58 Pemberton Gardens in Islington.