Molly Raynor

The Rayners were entertainers

Her mother and father were entertainers and Molly Rayner was always going to be one too. They trained her for the limelight from childhood.

She was the third child (second daughter) of Frederick Rayner, vaudeville artist and sketcher and Rhoda (Duckworth) Rayner, who acted and sang on stage until her marriage.

Rhoda Blanche Duckworth was born at the home of her parents Ellen and Charles White Duckworth in Papanui road, Christchurch, on 29 April 1867, the fourth of their five children.

The earliest record of Rhoda Duckworth on stage is at age 21, in 1888