THE D'OYLY CARTE OPERA COMPANY

Violette Londa as Celia in Iolanthe

Violette Londa (1906-07)

[Born Marylebone, Westminstet 26 May 1878, died Bombay, India 21 Mar 1909]

Constance Violet Clarke was the only child of Lt. Col. (later Sir) George Sydenham Clarke. She likely made her first appearance before the public as a student of the Academy of Music, London in recital at St. James's Hall in May 1899. She would perform, as Violet Clarke, in occasional concerts over the next several years. Miss Clarke took that stage name Violette Londa around 1906, when she toured with David Bispham's Company as Olivia in The Vicar of Wakefield.

Violette Londa was a chorister and small part player with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company at the Savoy for most the First London Repertory Season, serving from December 1906 until July 1907. She appeared regularly as Fiametta in The Gondoliers and Celia in Iolanthe, and also filled in on occasion for Lillian Coomber as Elsie Maynard in The Yeomen of the Guard.

Miss Londa was also a proficient author whose sketches and stories appeared in The Westminster Gazette between November 1905 and January 1907. Her book "Leaves" was published under her real name, Violet Clarke, by W. Heinemann in 1909.

After leaving the Savoy in 1907 she accompanied her father to India following his appointment as Governor of Bombay. She died there fewer than two years later.

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