Terris and Romaine

My great uncle Jack Terrisfield was half of a successful vaudeville act, Terris and Romaine, which performed in Music Halls throughout the country and beyond.  During the First World War years they performed in more than 500 performances for wounded soldiers. 

Trained in Brighton, Jack first appeared in Con Conrads Minstrels, at one point part of an act as ‘Jews in kilts’. Teaming up with a talented pianist, Martin Romaine, they formed a partnership calling themselves Terris and Romaine and became increasingly popular, appearing at one time on the Bill with Sarah Bernhardt. They also provided entertainment for wounded soldiers from 1914 until 1918. His mother had kept these press and newspaper cuttings throughout Jack’s career.  As you can see from the playbills the pair went from performing in a Minstrel group to becoming head-line acts.

Jack, as well as having had rheumatic fever as a child, also caught Malaria when he toured in South Africa, Jack was therefore unable to serve in the armed forces.  Martin Romaine on the other hand was conscripted and was killed in France on 9th April 1917; when he went abroad Jack found another musician to replace him, but kept the name of the act.    During a season in Ireland Jack fell ill with flu and died on 29 June 1918. He is buried in Cork cemetery.