Violet Sutcliffe Farebrother was born in the town on 22 August 1888. 

Her father Ernest was the town’s architect and surveyor, and Farebrother Street is named after him. She had two brothers.

Ernest died in 1891, and Violet, then aged three, was brought up by her Uncle Tom Sutcliffe, who was MP for the town and involved in shipping. 

He was the brother of her mother Kate, who died in 1942. The Sutcliffe family lived at Stallingborough Manor, a house which no longer stands. Sutcliffe Avenue in Grimsby is named after him.

Up until her father’s death she had grown up in Corby House on Wellowgate – designed and built by her father. The house still stands today on the corner of Wellowgate and Abbey Road.

At the age of 18 she was living in London working as an actress. She made her stage debut at the Duke of York Theatre, London in 1907. 

Violet was a successful actress in silent movies and then notably appeared in three of Alfred Hitchcock’s movies.

Violet also appeared three times on stage at the Prince of Wales Theatre, Grimsby (the theatre her father designed). In 1951 she was Patron of Grimsby’s Caxton Players.

Between 1911 and 1945 she appeared in 25 films. She played in several West End roles before she retired in 1965. She died in Eastbourne in 1969, aged 81.