Sir Henry Lytton (born Henry Alfred Jones; 3 January 1865 – 15 August 1936) was an English actor and singer who was the leading exponent of the starring comic patter-baritone roles in Gilbert and Sullivan operas from 1909 to 1934. He also starred in musical comedies. His career with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company spanned 50 years, and he is the only performer ever knighted for achievements in Gilbert and Sullivan roles.
Lytton was born in London; he studied there with a painter but then went on the stage in defiance of his family's wishes. At the age of 19 he married Louie Henri, an actress and singer who helped him gain a place in a D'Oyly Carte touring company in 1884. After briefly playing in other companies, he and his wife rejoined D'Oyly Carte. He had an early breakthrough in 1887 when the Savoy Theatre star George Grossmith fell ill, and the 22-year-old Lytton went on for him in Ruddigore. Lytton starred in D'Oyly Carte touring companies from 1887 to 1897, playing mostly the comic patter roles in the Gilbert and Sullivan (and other) operas. From 1897 to 1903 he appeared with the company continuously at the Savoy Theatre, playing a range of baritone parts, from romantic leads to character parts in new operas and revivals. During this time his brief and costly attempt at theatrical production in London led to his abandoning thoughts of being an impresario.
The D'Oyly Carte company left the Savoy Theatre in 1903, and Lytton appeared in half a dozen West End musical comedies over the next four years, including The Earl and the Girl, The Spring Chicken and The Little Michus. He also wrote for, and performed in, music hall and wrote a libretto. During the two D'Oyly Carte repertory seasons at the Savoy between 1906 and 1909, Lytton rejoined the company, again playing a variety of baritone roles, but mostly not the principal comedian patter roles.
Beginning in 1909, and continuously to 1934, he was the principal comedian of the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company in London and on tour. He retired from acting a year later.
Life and career
Early years
Lytton was born as Henry Alfred Jones on 3 January 1865 in Pembroke Square, Kensington, London, the son of Henry Jones (1829–1893), a jeweller, and his second wife Martha Lavinia, née Harris.Parker, John. "Lytton, Sir Henry Alfred (1865–1936)" Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 1949. Retrieved 15 September 2020 Jones, pp. 10 and 221 According to his highly unreliable memoirs he was educated at St Mark's School, Chelsea, and took part there in amateur theatricals and boxing.Lytton (1922), p. 23 He studied art with the painter W. H. Trood. It is unclear whether the studies were part-time or full time, or during his schooldays or later.Lytton (1922), pp. 24–25; and Jones, p. 13
In 1881 Lytton made his first appearance on the professional stage at the Philharmonic Theatre, Islington, in the comic opera A Trip to China, or The Obstinate Bretons, in the cast of which was his future wife, Louie Henri, daughter of William Webber, of London. They married in early 1884, both aged 19, at St Mary Abbots church, Kensington. Lytton was estranged from his father, who disapproved of Lytton's and Henri's profession, and neither family attended the ceremony.Jones, pp. 30–31
Henri played an important part in Lytton's early theatrical career, coaching him in acting, and playing the piano to help him learn his musical parts.Jones, p. 13 In February 1884 the two joined one of the impresario Richard D'Oyly Carte's touring companies. She played the small role of Ada in the first provincial tour of Gilbert and Sullivan's Princess Ida;Rollins and Witts, p. 53 he sang in the chorus and understudied the principal comic role of King Gama.Rollins and Witts, p. 53; and Jones, p. 7 According to his memoirs, Henri had obtained an audition for him, passing him off as her brother – "H. A. Henri" – in the mistaken belief that married couples were not welcome in Carte's companies.Lytton (1922), pp. 29–31 Any pretence was quickly abandoned, but Lytton kept the stage name Henri until 1887.Rollins and Witts, pp. 61–62; and Lytton (1922), p. 31 Henri and Lytton rejoined the D'Oyly Carte tour when it resumed in February 1885, continuing until May.Rollins and Witts, p. 57 The tour ended in December, and the following month the couple's first child, Ida Louise, was born."Ida Louise Jones", England & Wales, Civil Registration Birth Index, 1837–1915; and Jones, p. 72 After this, they joined with other out-of-work actors and travelled from town to town in Surrey for just over two months, performing a drama (All of Her), a comedy (Masters and Servants), and Charles Dibdin's ballad opera The Waterman.Jones, p. 39 Lytton's memoirs record that they made little money, and the struggling young actors sometimes went hungry.Lytton (1922), p. 38 Between theatrical engagements Lytton took odd jobs, including putting his artistic training to use by painting decorative plaques.Jones, p. 42 He was taken on by another of Carte's touring companies from September to December 1885, after which he and Henri were in the 1885 Christmas pantomime at the Theatre Royal, Manchester.Jones, pp. 41 and 214 In May 1886 they were in the chorus of The Lily of Leoville in Birmingham, and then of Erminie at the Comedy Theatre, London.Jones, p. 214
At the end of 1886 Lytton was engaged by Carte to appear at the Savoy Theatre. Eric Lewis, who had been understudying George Grossmith in the starring comic patter roles since 1882, left the D'Oyly Carte company."Mr Eric Lewis", The Era Almanack, January 1895, pp. 42–43 Lytton was appointed to replace him, understudying the role of Robin Oakapple in the new Savoy opera, Ruddigore, which opened on 22 January 1887.Rollins and Witts, p. 10 A week later Grossmith fell ill."News in Brief", The Times, 2 February 1887, p. 10; and "The Illness of Mr Grossmith", The Pall Mall Gazette, 3 February 1887, p. 8 Between 31 January and 15 February, Lytton appeared in the role."Multiple News Items", The Morning Post, 16 February 1887, p. 5 When he went back to the chorus on Grossmith's return, the dramatist W. S. Gilbert presented him with a gold-mounted walking stick in appreciation of his performance.Stedman, p. 243 and Lytton (1922), p. 47 At Gilbert's suggestion, he changed his stage name from H. A. Henri to Henry A. Lytton.Parker, John, and K. D. Reynolds. "Lytton, Sir Henry Alfred (real name Henry Alfred Jones) (1865–1936), actor", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004. Retrieved 16 September 2020
Principal comedian on tour 1887 to 1897
From April 1887 Lytton played Robin in his own right in two of Carte's touring companies, the first performing in medium-sized towns and the second in the major provincial cities.Rollins and Witts, pp. 62–63 He received good notices, more for his acting than his singing. One reviewer wrote, "Mr Henry A. Lytton, though not shining as a vocalist, was in every way an admirable Robin Oakapple";"Prince's Theatre", The Manchester Courier, 15 November 1887, p. 5 another praised the "light but masterly touch" with which he transformed himself from the innocent Robin of Act 1 to the bad baronet of Act 2."Music and the Drama", The Airdrie Advertiser, 27 August 1887, p. 3 On tour Lytton gradually added to his repertoire the comic patter roles in many of the other Gilbert and Sullivan operas, beginning with Sir Joseph Porter in H.M.S. Pinafore (1887),Rollins and Witts, p. 65 the Major General in The Pirates of Penzance, Ko-Ko in The Mikado and Jack Point in The Yeomen of the Guard (all 1888).Rollins and Witts, p. 68 He later described Point as his favourite part.Lytton (1922), p. 51 The creator of the role, Grossmith, was celebrated as a comic performer and did not emphasise the tragic side of the part; both Lytton and his colleague George Thorne in another touring company did so, portraying Point's collapse at the end as fatal. Gilbert and Carte approved, and the interpretation became standard.Ainger, p. 284
In 1890 Lytton played the Duke of Plaza-Toro in the new Savoy opera, The Gondoliers, on tour and on Broadway, where Carte sent him with other D'Oyly Carte principals, to bolster the weak cast of the original New York production.Rollins and Witts, pp. 73–74; and "With a New Company", The New York Times, 8 February 1890, p. 8 After returning to Britain he added another of Grossmith's old roles to his repertory, playing the Lord Chancellor in Iolanthe.Rollins and Witts, p. 78 In the first provincial production of Utopia, Limited (1893) he played King Paramount – the main baritone part – created at the Savoy by Rutland Barrington.Rollins and Witts, pp. 14 and 86 He played the title role in The Sorcerer and Bunthorne in Patience for the first time in 1895,Rollins and Witts, p. 93 and later in 1895 King Gama in Princess Ida, finally appearing in the role he had understudied in his first season with D'Oyly Carte eleven years earlier.Rollins and Witts, p. 94 In 1896 he toured as Ludwig in the final Gilbert and Sullivan opera, The Grand Duke.Rollins and Witts, p. 98
In most of these provincial tours Lytton's wife was a fellow member of the company.Rollins and Witts, pp. 68, 71, 75, 78, 82, 86, 90–91, 94, 96–97, 98 and 100 During them he also appeared in Savoy operas by librettists or composers other than Gilbert and Sullivan, playing the title role in The Vicar of Bray (1892),Rollins and Witts, p. 82; and "Provincial Theatricals", The Era, 2 July 1892, p. 17 Flapper in Billie Taylor (1893: "Mr Henry A. Lytton scored immensely by his clever impersonation of Captain the Hon. Felix Flapper, R.N, – his efforts were rewarded by sustained applause and laughter"),"Provincial Theatricals", The Era, 22 April 1893, p. 20 Bobinet in Mirette (1895)Rollins and Witts, p. 86; and "Liverpool Theatres", The Liverpool Mercury, 28 May 1895, p. 6 and Peter Grigg in The Chieftain (1895)."Amusements In Newcastle-on-Tyne", The Era, 2 March 1895, p. 18
The Savoy: 1897 to 1903
Lytton was called to London in 1897 to play King Ferdinand in the new Savoy opera, His Majesty. He was an emergency replacement for Grossmith who had returned to the Savoy after nine years to star in the piece, but had withdrawn from the production in the first week of the run, pleading ill health. Lytton's performance won critical approval,"'His Majesty' Revisited", The Westminster Gazette, 16 April, 1897, p. 2 but the piece did not please the public and was withdrawn after sixty-one performances.Rollins and Witts, p. 16 Such comedy as there was in His Majesty was given to the performer Walter Passmore. He had succeeded Grossmith as the Savoy's principal comedian and was principal exponent of the patter roles there until 1903. After His Majesty closed, Lytton remained in the Savoy company – joined the following year by his wife – playing a wide range of other baritone roles, from comic to romantic and serious. His only patter role during this period was Major General Stanley in a revival of The Pirates of Penzance (1900), in which Passmore took the part of the Sergeant of Police.Rollins and Witts, p. 18