Engagement Contract

Ladies orchestras were popular in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The Englishwoman's Year Book and Directory lists several ladies' orchestras operating in Britain during this time, including the English Ladies' Orchestral Society and Lady William Lennox's Orchestra. Wind instruments, including the flute and the piccolo, were considered particularly remunerative, making them attractive to musicians looking to make a living with their music. The Englishwoman's Year Book noted in 1900 that "A clever woman, who is already a musician might, after a year's tuition be able to earn money by playing a wind instrument."

Although little is known of Louie Bacon's personal circumstances, it is clear from contemporary newspaper reports and advertisements that in addition to her role in Seebold's orchestra, she was also a member of Madame H. E. Angless's Bijou Ladies Orchestra. Joseph Seebold was a Swiss musician who travelled widely with his "Jungfrau-Kapell" and band in the 1880s and 1890s, performing in Australia, New Zealand and Britain, as well as at the Universelle Exposition in Paris in 1900. He developed the Ladies Orchestra from his residence in Chapter Road, Willesden Green.

Emily Angless was also a London-based orchestra director. A local historian has discovered that after her husband left the family she started the "Ladies Pompadour Band" in Herne Hill; this group performed at the "Women's Exhibition" at Earl's Court in 1900. In January 1903, Louie Bacon was playing the piccolo in Angless's "Bijou Ladies Orchestra" alongside several other women, including Angless's daughter Edith.

This unique document is useful evidence of women's professional development in music, giving a sense of the day to day conditions and rules regulating their lives at this time.