Robert Bilcliffe Loraine was a successful London and Broadway British stage actor, actor-manager, and soldier who later enjoyed a side career as a pioneer aviator. Born in New Brighton, his father was Henry Loraine and mother Edith Kingsley. Robert made his first stage appearance in the English provinces in 1889, prior to serving in the Second Boer War. He introduced the George Bernard Shaw play Man and Superman to Broadway in 1905.
In 1909 Loraine took up the new technology of aviation learning first to fly at the Bleriot school at Pau, France. He then switched to the easier to fly Farmanbiplane, on which he achieved great fame. In September 1910 he made what is credited as being the first aeroplane flight from England to Ireland, although he actually came down in the sea about 200 feet from the shore. The same month he piloted one of the two Bristol Boxkites which took part in the British Army manoeuvres on Salisbury Plain, during which he sent the first radio signals to be sent from an aeroplane in Britain. His diary is cited by the Oxford English Dictionary as the first written example of the wordjoystick to describe aircraft stick controls.
Military career
Loraine served as a volunteer in the Second Boer War between 1899 and 1901. During the First World War he flew with the Royal Flying Corps. Formerly a lieutenant in the Special Reserve serving as a flying officer RFC, he was appointed to be a flight commander with the rank of captain on 15 September 1915. He was awarded the Military Cross for his "conspicuous gallantry and skill" in shooting down an Albatross biplane on 26 October 1915. On 24 April 1916 he was promoted to command a squadron, with the rank of major, and on 13 February 1917 he was appointed a wing commander, with the rank of lieutenant colonel; he was awarded the Distinguished Service Order the same year "for distinguished service in the field". He was twice seriously wounded, and commanded No. 40 Squadron. During his service he did not entirely abandon the theatre, running a drama society in his squadron, which performed the premiere performance of Shaw's play O'Flaherty V.C. at Treizeenes in Belgium. On 11 December 1918 he relinquished his commission in the Royal Air Force due to ill-health brought on by his wounds, and was granted the honorary rank of major.
Personal life
On 7 November 1897 Loraine married Julie Opp. After their divorce he married Winifred Lydia, daughter of Sir Robert Strangman in 1901. They had three daughters.
Biography
Loraine's life is the subject of Lanayre D. Liggera's well researched biography The Life of Robert Loraine:The Stage, the Sky, and George Bernard Shaw c.2013.
