The British actress Joyce Carey was born in London on 30 March 1898, the daughter of the distinguished theatre actress Lilian Braithwaite and her husband, also an actor, Gerald Lawrence.

She performed in many Noel Coward plays and enjoyed a long career. She is best remembered as the snooty railway buffet manageress in Brief Encounter.

She died in London on 28 February 1993.

Photographed, probably during the 1940’s, by Herbert Shergold of Bristol, a little known local photograph who seems to have specialized in theatrical portraits.

The print, which measures 11.7” by 9.8” (296 mm by 250 mm), is mounted directly onto a sheet of stiff, firm cardboard, with no borders apart from a narrow black line all around the edge.