in Oh! Julie, composed by H. Sullivan Brooke and Herman Darewski, at the Shaftesbury Theatre; and as the Shepherdess in the children's play, The Shepherdess Without a Heart at the Garrick Theatre, of which The Times wrote, "Many a young heart must have been lost yesterday afternoon to Miss Nellie Briercliffe. … She looked delightful, she sang sweetly, and she acted so prettily that there was a general sigh of regret when she became a china figure once again." In September 1921, she married Major Thirlwall George Philipson (1897–1952). They had one son, John Thirlwall Philipson (1922–1965). In 1924 she starred in a "fantastic ballad opera", Kate; or, Love Will Find Out the Way, after which she took a three-year break from the stage. She filed for divorce from her husband in 1926 and returned to the West End in January 1927 in John Galsworthy's drama, Escape, and in the same year succeeded her sister-in-law, Mabel Russell Philipson, as Blanquette in The Beloved Vagabond, at the New Theatre. In 1928 she appeared in Christabel Marillier's musical version of The Rose and the Ring, conducted by Malcolm Sargent. Briercliffe joined D'Oyly Carte a third and last time for the 22-week 1929–30 season at the newly rebuilt Savoy Theatre. Of her previous roles, she reprised Angela, Iolanthe, Melissa, Pitti-Sing, Phoebe and Tessa, and added a new role, Mad Margaret in Ruddigore. After the season ended, she appeared in Fountain of Youth, "an amusing comic opera of country life," by W. Graham Robertson with music by Alfred Reynolds at the Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith, and finally in a non-musical costume drama, The Immortal Lady by Clifford Bax in 1931. Briercliffe, known in the D'Oyly Carte company as "Budgie", was popular with audiences for her vivacious stage presence. One writer noted: [F]or the older members like myself who saw them all in person there was nobody to come up to Nellie Briercliffe. In my opinion she had everything. Her stage presence was superb: dainty, petite and with a kind of fairy grace which you could never forget. Certainly there never has or will be another Iolanthe like her. ... I can still see her in the supplication song, standing in the dim light and that glorious voice full of the pathos which tended to bring tears to your eyes. It was indeed a splendid voice, lovely and mellow and you sometimes wondered where all the