Many Members will be saddened to learn of the death of Mary Relph-Powell, dancer, musician, caterer, writer, daughter of Harry Relph - the fa-mous Edwardian Music Hall star Little Tich - and a regular supporter of the International Relf Society since its' inception.

Mary Winifred Ivey was born on 23 Feb 1918 at Hendon the "love child" of Harry Relph and his mistress Winifred Emma Ivey. At the time, Harry was still married to his second, Spanish, wife Julia Ampara Celeste Vecio - a marriage which Mary describes in her father's biography "Little Tich - Giant of the Music Hall" as loveless and a sham. Julia died in 1926, and I'm not sure that her father got around to marrying her mother before he too died, in 1928, after an accident during a slapstick act on stage. Consequently, little of her father's wealth came their way and she was brought up with her elder stepbrother, Paul, (from Harry's first marriage) in the house they had in Hendon which her mother developed into a hotel to make ends meet.

Although Mary briefly mentioned being a dancer and musician during her early years, she revealed few details. She seems to have spent most of her career in the hotel trade based on her childhood experience. She briefly en-tered the literary world when she co-authored her father's biography using the name "Mary Tich"; she was a prolific writer and had a wide correspondence circle of which I was privileged to be a member until shortly before her death.

In 1949, Mary married John A Powell; she seldom discussed this mar-riage in detail, claimed it only lasted a few months, but they had a daughter, Kandy, of whom I know nothing else, and did not actually divorce until 1961. Thereafter she often used either her father's surname, RELPH, sometimes with a hyphen as RELPH-POWELL, in preference to her married name.

A clever artist, she not only painted and drew but also made a wide range of imaginative craft items. Her dry sense of humour is typified for me in the wonderful water colour she produced after attending a reception at St James' Palace - attended by the Queen Mother - which she depicted from the viewpoint of the royal corgis; she dubbed them "Their Royal Livelinesses" and left the viewer to guess who was who in the surrounding sea of varied ankles and shoes.

Her sharp brain and punctilious attention to detail were put to good use in researching her family tree; a Blue Plaque records that her father was born in the Blackmith's Arms at Cudham, Kent where the International Relf Society was formed.

In recent years she suffered from deafness and failing eyesight - terrible afflictions for a woman of her gregarious, artistic temperament. But she still attended our Annual Reunion in September last year and put many more able and much younger members to shame by offering to take the Minutes when no-one else volunteered. Her crossword puzzles have been a regular feature of The Wolfpack for several years.

In many ways I feel that this obituary is inadequate; one always had the feeling that there was much more of interest to know about Mary but she modestly and adroitly side-stepped my attempts to get her to write her autobiography. Her father was an intellectual and artistic genius of international renown. Lesser mortals than Mary might have been content to bask in his glory or even repudiate him in their own interests. Mary had the confidence to do neither; she remained sensibly proud of her parentage, ahead of her time in openly admitting her illegitimate birth, and confidently got on with forging her own way in the world with considerable success. I believe her brother and ex-husband died some years ago and there are probably few family members left to mourn her passing. But I suspect I am not alone in feeling privileged to have known her; her positive contributions to the International Relf Society will remain on record, and I am sure that she will be remembered with affection by us all for many years to come.

Brian Relf, President
Member #1

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Page last revised 10th July 2000.