A dancer known as the “Queen of Striptease” is still setting pulses racing nearly 50 years after her death.

At the height of her fame Surbiton’s controversial Phyllis Dixey was often hauled in front of straight-laced magistrates to defend her risque shows.

Now English Heritage’s planned commemorative plaque naming her as a “striptease artist” has stirred up disapproval among relatives and neighbours.

The blue plaque was proposed for outside the flat Dixey shared with husband, comedian Jack Tracy, between 1940 and 1943 in Wentworth Court, Surbiton.

But the proposed inscription was knocked back by Wentworth Court Residents’ Association, which objected to the term “striptease artiste”.

Instead they want it to read “burlesque dancer” but English Heritage said to describe her as something other than a striptease artiste would deny her achievements.

Oliver Dixey, 34, from Bristol, whose grandfather was the dancer’s brother, said the family was also against the planned wording for the plaque.

He said: “The family feels that what Phyllis did in the 40s is different to what a stripper would do in this day and age.

“We do not want the world to remember her with a plaque that says she was a stripper.

“Fan dancer is what we would like because that is what we were led to believe she was.”

Born in 1914, Dixey, as she was known during her career, was brought up in Surbiton and returned to the area just before she found fame as the “Queen of Striptease”.

Later she joined the Entertainments National Service Association, which entertained British troops during the Second World War.

However it was her performances at the Whitehall Theatre that cemented her reputation after she opened the first striptease show in London.

While her West End troupe, The Whitehall Follies, attracted the disapproving attention of the authorities, it was permitted to continue post-war in the capital.

With her fame in decline Dixey embarked on a series of tours to Scandinavia before her final performance at the Palace Burnley in April 1958.

She was declared bankrupt the following year and worked as a cook for Major James Molyneux and his family at Loseley Park near Guildford until her death from breast cancer in 1964.

An obituary at the time read: “Because of her natural dignity and refinement both on the stage and in private life, she played a leading part in making striptease into an acceptable entertainment”. English Heritage said it was working with Dixey’s family and the residents of Wentworth Court to agree a compromise on the wording of the plaque.

A spokeswoman said: “We feel that striptease artiste is the most accurate description for the achievements for which Dixey should be remembered: she put the ‘tease’ into stripping and placed emphasis on the elegance of her act, stating ‘To be artistic, that is always my intention’.

“To describe her as something other than a striptease artiste would be denying not only her achievements, but placing her in the shadows of a profession of which she was a lead proponent and pioneer.”

The history of striptease is still little researched and little understood, according to English Heritage, which said Dixey’s trademark performance reflected her “innate reluctance to strip for the sake of stripping, and she successfully managed to achieve a level which was felt acceptable and proper by a great many.

“It is perhaps unfortunate that the word striptease has come to be associated with what is now termed simply ‘stripping’, but Phyllis Dixey embodied striptease in its original and purest form.

“She knew the limits of her art, and played them to perfection, using lights, costumes and sight-lines to the full.”

At the height of her fame Dixey was a controversial figure who would often be forced to defend her risqué shows in front of strait-laced magistrates.

In 1954 she was up in court in Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire, after apparently taking off all her clothes at the town’s Savoy Theatre, a claim she rebutted with the edict: “I wasn’t nude, I was wearing furs”.

Just a year later she aroused the ire of the Oldham constabulary at a show at the Empire Theatre because the fan she used to cover her modesty was “not fast enough”.

Despite Dixey’s claim her act would “not bring a blush from a parson’s daughter” her show was banned shortly afterwards – a notoriety she would later trade off in her show The girl the Lord Chamberlain banned.

Despite the opposition from her family and the Wentworth Court Residents’ Association, many residents of her former home are in favour of the plaque.

Mary Hay lives in Wentworth Court. She said: “I have no problem with the plaque whatsoever.

“From what I hear she was a very good performer and very popular.

“I think people may be concerned with the wording of the inscription but as far as I am concerned it is a piece of history in our area and I think it should be commemorated.”