THE D'OYLY CARTE OPERA COMPANY

Charles Hildesley (1884-89)

[Born London 24 Nov 1850, died Oakland, California 30 May 1921]

Charles Thomas James Hildesley made his first appearance in a D'Oyly Carte program in November 1884 when he replaced Durward Lely as the Defendant in Trial by Jury, while Lely continued to appear as Alexis in the Sorcerer/Trial revival, which ended in March 1885.

He toured briefly as Cyril in Princess Ida (September-November 1885) with Mr. D'Oyly Carte's "A" Company, then returned to the Savoy, where he appeared as Amandus in The Carp when, that one-act curtain raiser was added to the bill (February-July 1886).

Hildesley then resumed touring, and over the next three years appeared with several D'Oyly Carte companies in a variety of leading and smaller tenor roles:Nanki-Poo in The Mikado (Carte's "D" Company, August 1886-April 1887; Carte's Continental Company, April-September 1887; "D" Company again, September-December 1887; and "E" Company, November 1888, and April-June 1889), the Duke of Dunstable in Patience (Continental Company and "D" Company, April-December 1887), Amandus in The Carp ("C" Company, February-June 1888), and Colonel Fairfax in The Yeomen of the Guard ("E" Company, November-December 1888, and January-June 1889; and "C" Company, December 1889-January 1889).

He later came to New York where he was Singeton Bell in the short-lived "Chinese-Japanese" (comic) opera, The Koreans (Herald Square Theatre, May 1898), and Japes in Smith & DeKoven's The Three Dragoons (Broadway, January-March 1899).

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