Name: Florence Balcombe/Stoker

Born: 17th July 1858

Died: 25th May 1937

Country of origin: Ireland and England, UK

In a nutshell: Florence Balcombe was a savvy businesswoman who fought tooth and nail to slay the vampire Count Orlok and protect the rights of her late husband’s masterpiece. 

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Have you heard of Nostferatu? A German horror film way back from the days of silent cinema? If not, don’t worry, put a pin (or should it be stake?) in that for now and we’ll circle back to it later.

First, let me tell you a little bit about Florence Balcombe. She was born in Cornwall in 1858 to a military family but then moved to Ireland at age two. As she grew up, she was considered a real beauty and became the subject of many art pieces, including a sketch by her then-boyfriend, Oscar Wilde (yes, the one you’re thinking of). 

This is a quote from Wilde that describes just what he thought of her:

“I am just going out to bring an exquisitely pretty girl to afternoon service in the Cathedral. She is just seventeen with the most perfectly beautiful face I ever saw and not a sixpence of money. I will show you her photograph when I see you next.”

However, Florence and Wilde’s relationship wasn’t built to last and two years into their courtship, Florence moved on to another famous Dublin resident with a name you might recognise. Florence and Bram Stoker married in 1878 and subsequently moved to London so that Bram could follow his theatrical ambitions by taking the job as a manager at the Lyceum Theatre in London’s West End (now the home of The Lion King but not then obviously, they just had regular Hamlet in the late 1800s). 

Wilde was initially hurt by Florence’s decision but eventually they came to be good friends and the newly married Stokers had a happy marriage by all accounts. Bram flourished in his role and became friends with leading Victorian actor Sir Henry Irving. Allegedly they even bonded over both having wives with the name ‘Florence’ since it had been popularised in recent decades due to a certain Lady with the Lamp. The Stokers even named their only child after their friend and had him christened ‘Irving Noel Thornley Stoker’. 

It was during Bram’s time working at the Lyceum that he began working on his novel, Dracula. The character was said to be inspired both by the legendarily ruthless fifteenth century ruler Vlad the Impaler and Bram’s old buddy Irving. 

Unfortunately, the novel suffered limited success and critical disdain after it was published in 1897 and as Bram aged he experienced many health problems. Due to Bram’s poor health, Florence cared for her husband and took charge of family affairs. Bram even remarked to his brother that “she had to do all the bookkeeping and find the money to live on – God only knows how she managed”.

It was after Bram’s death in 1912 that Florence’s business insight really sharpened. After the discovery of a discarded chapter from the original book, Florence had this published as extra content. Then she sold the rights of the book in various countries. Despite the initial critical resistance, the more people that read Dracula or saw an adaptation on stage, the more Bram’s terrifying villain was starting to solidify his place as a horror icon.

It was how Florence took on sinister spook Count Orlok, the vampire villain of the 1922 movie Nosferatu, that really got people talking though. Nosferatu, made by a German film studio called Prana, had many similarities to Dracula but no rights or permissions had been sought prior to the film’s release. So, Florence, as the rights holder of Dracula, took Prana to court. A three-year legal battle followed with the Society of Authors flying to Florence’s side. Eventually, Florence won the case. Prana ended up declaring bankruptcy and every copy of Nosferatu was to be destroyed.

However, as Florence should know from her husband’s book, it’s pretty hard to slay a vampire and despite the claim that all copies had been destroyed, the film resurfaced a few years later and is now a cult classic and staple of early silent horror movies. You just can’t kill the undead, Flo. 

To find out more about Florence, head to the Women’s Museum of Ireland website. Image credit goes to Merlin Holland, the picture was drawn by Oscar Wilde.