THE D'OYLY CARTE OPERA COMPANY

Harriet Coveney

Harriet Coveney (1878)

[Born London 1 Nov 1827, died Ramsgate, Kent 24 Feb 1892]

Harriet Martha Coveney had one engagement under D'Oyly Carte auspices--as Mrs. Partlett with Carte's touring Comedy Opera Company Ltd. from March 9 to August 10, 1878.It was the first provincial production of The Sorcerer.Her daughter, Clara Jecks, also toured with the Comedy Opera Company at the same time, as chorister and small part player.

In over fifty years on the stage, Miss Coveney is said to have played some 1,800 parts.She began as a child of seven as Zoe in The Pet of the Petticoats at the Adelphi Theatre, Edinburgh, and shortly achieved notice with her representation of Oliver Twist at the Theatre Royal, Glasgow.She continued to play children's parts for some years in the provinces and in London, where her first notable adult appearance came on Boxing Night (December 26), 1849, at the Adelphi, as Princess Agatha in a burlesque of Frankenstein.

Her career embraced the legitimate theatre, opera, pantomime, and music hall.She appeared at many of the major London theatres, including Drury Lane, the Criterion, Royalty, Princess's, Imperial, Gaiety, Adelphi, Haymarket, and Lyric.In her later years, she created the parts of Mrs. Privett in Alfred Cellier's Dorothy (Gaiety, 1886) and Tabitha in Cellier's Doris (Lyric, 1889).

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