Career
Her origins have yet to be determined here with contemporary newsprint articles divided on whether she was English or American. By 1882 she was playing a juvenile role with comedian Gus Williams in the comedy, One of the Finest and two years later in Le Pave de Paris. Bancker next joined the Sol Smith Russell Company where she played Sybil in the Cal Wallace 1887 farce Pennsylvania and on May 1, 1891 as Lucy Preston in Grundy"s The Silver Shield.
Later in the year Bancker joined Charles Frohman"s comedy company playing one of the two widows (the other Georgiana Drew) in the Bisson-Carre-Gillette farce, Mr.
Wilkinson"s Widows. Afterward she performed roles in such plays as The Junior Partner, His Wedding Day, and Gloriana. Bancker’s final appearance in New York City was in the play, Our Flat, staged at the Murray Hill Theatre on April 3, 1897.
A few days later Emily Bancker fell ill while visiting an aunt in Albany, New York, and as her condition worsened she was rushed to the local hospital, where she died on June 5, 1897 after a failed operation. The cause of death was reportedly the result of complications from peritonitis.
Her husband, by then also her business manager, was at her bedside when she died.
Thomas West. Ryley went on to have a long career as a manager and Broadway producer. Prior to her illness Bancker had been touring Upstate New York in the play A Divorce Cure by Victorien Sardou. Emily Bancker’s many obituaries have her either born in New York or coming to America from England with Rosina Vokes’ company.
Most publications agreed that she was in her mid-thirties at the time of her death.