THE D'OYLY CARTE OPERA COMPANY

Samuel Gilbert (1887-88)

[Born Mansfield, Nottinghamshire 1860, died Herne Hill, London Apr 1927]

Samuel Gilbert appeared as Nanki-Poo in The Mikado and the Duke of Dunstable in Patience with one of D'Oyly Carte's Continental companies in Germany, Austria, and Holland during the summer of 1887.   He later toured with Mr. D'Oyly Carte's "E" Company from December 1887 to June 1888.  He played Ralph Rackstraw in H.M.S. Pinafore for the duration of that tour, adding Frederic in The Pirates of Penzance in April 1888 when Pirates was given as well.

In 1888 he left the D'Oyly Carte organization to tour as lead tenor with the J. W. Turner Company, and over the next decade, as F. S. Gilbert, toured in both comic and grand opera with a number of companies. In 1898, he set up his own company, The F. S. Gilbert Grand Opera Company. It lasted for eight years before going bankrupt in 1906.

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