THE D'OYLY CARTE OPERA COMPANY

Herbert Thorndike (1901)

[Born Liverpool 7 Apr 1851, died Millefleurs, Penmere, Falmouth 18 Feb 1940]

Herbert Elliot Thorndike's lone appearance with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company was as Old Henrik in Basil Hood & Franco Leoni's Ib and Little Cristina, a "picture in three panels." The musical play opened at the Savoy Theatre on November 14, 1901, and closed on November 29 after only sixteen performances.

Thorndike had earlier appeared in London as Matteo in B. C. Stephenson & Edward Jakobowski's one-act comic opera A Venetian Singer (Court Theatre, November-December 1893). That work ran for just thirteen performances. His lengthy professional career (from the 1870s to the 1910s) was principally as a concert vocalist.

Thorndike's niece Winifred Hart Dyke also appeared with the D'Oyly Carte between 1900 and 1903.



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