Who Was Enid Stonor?

This advertising insert for a Sherlock Holmes play (The Sketch, August 3, 1910) lists the lady in distress as "Enid Stonor"; her name in Conan Doyle's story, however, was different: "My name is Helen Stoner," she tells Holmes, "and I am living with my stepfather, who is the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon families in England, the Roylotts of Stoke Moran, on the western border of Surrey." Every movie and TV story since then has called her that. A mis-print? If so, a consistent one (see Resources below):

Resources:

- The original story, fully titled "The Adventure of the Speckled Band," is at Project Gutenberg (HERE) and Wikisource (HERE).

"Enid Stonor" in 1910

Helen Stoner in 1984

- The actress playing "Enid" was Christine Silver (1884-1960), who had a long and successful career on the stage and later in films and TV; see Wikipedia (HERE).

- The Speckled Band was featured in The Playgoer and Society Illustrated magazine (HERE; 24 pages; WARNING! SPOILERS!) with a copious collection of illustrations, a spoiler-filled summary of the play, and backgrounds about the actors. At least the article is consistent in calling our distressed lady "Enid Stonor." Wikipedia also discusses the play at shorter length (HERE).

Unless otherwise noted, all bibliographical data are derived from The FictionMags Index created by William G. Contento & edited by Phil Stephensen-Payne.

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