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Una Stubbs

English actress, television personality, and former dancer (1937-2021)

Correspondence, annotated notebooks and portrait silhouettes prepared for research
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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionAug 15, 2026
Entity authorityQ1319582
Source-derived summary

Una Stubbs (1 May 1937 – 12 August 2021) was an English actress, television personality, and dancer who appeared on British television, in the theatre, and occasionally in films. She became known after appearing in the film Summer Holiday (1963) and later played Rita Rawlins in the BBC sitcoms Till Death Us Do Part (1965–1975) and In Sickness and in Health (1985–1992). Her other television roles include Aunt Sally in Worzel Gummidge (1979–1981) and Miss Bat in The Worst Witch (1998–2001). She also appeared as Sherlock Holmes's landlady Mrs. Hudson in the BAFTA-winning television series Sherlock (2010–2017) where she was nominated for Best Supporting Actress at the Crime Thriller Awards.

Early life

Stubbs was born in 1937 in Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire, the daughter of Angela K. Rawlinson and Clarence Reginald Stubbs. Stubbs was a great-granddaughter of Sir Ebenezer Howard, the founder of the garden city movement, who was the driving force in the creation of Letchworth Garden City and Welwyn Garden City, both in Hertfordshire.

She grew up in Hinckley, Leicestershire, and was sent to La Roche dancing school in Slough by her mother.

As a 16-year-old, in 1953, she danced in a Folies Bergère-style musical revue, "Pardon My French", at the Prince of Wales Theatre, alongside Frankie Howerd and the pianist Winifred Atwell. She first appeared on television as one of the Dougie Squires Dancers on the British television music show Cool for Cats (ITV) in 1956.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “Una Stubbs” as english actress, television personality, and former dancer (1937-2021). This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Stubbs, English and actress.

Editorial reviewA useful biographical orientation record, particularly for establishing names, roles and a first chronology. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1937, 2021, 1963, 1965—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1937-05-01. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with Stubbs, English and actress providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Una Stubbs”, the useful work is to connect “english actress, television personality, and former dancer (1937-2021)” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

Chronology provides the most reliable spine for this subject; interpretation should follow only after identities and dates are secure. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 15, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1319582. VIAF identifies the subject as 295455258. The Library of Congress control number is no2007024413. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1937, 2021, 1963 and 1965.

Critical limits

Public reputation and documentary evidence do not always develop together; absence from a summary is not evidence of historical absence. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.

Best used for
  • Establishing names and roles
  • Building a first chronology
  • Locating cited institutions
Verify next

Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Una Stubbs”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Una Stubbs primary sources, Una Stubbs archive and Stubbs research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Una Stubbs”?
  2. Which claims depend on a single source or contested interpretation?
  3. How has the subject’s reputation changed across later accounts?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Una Stubbs” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.