Nellie Farren married the actor Robert Soutar. Their son, J. Farren Soutar, followed in their footsteps, becoming an actor, singer and stage manager himself.
She was a popular burlesque actress, particularly at the Gaiety Theatre in the West End from 1868-1893. She was particularly known for playing boy's parts in musical burlesques. Whistler was a great admirer of her in the late 1870s.
Encylopedia Britannica, 1911, online edition; MacDonald, Margaret F., James McNeill Whistler. Drawings, Pastels and Watercolours. A Catalogue Raisonné, New Haven and London, 1995; National Portrait Gallery website.