THE D'OYLY CARTE OPERA COMPANY

Elinor Loveday

Elinor Loveday (1879)

[Born Aston-in-Makerfield, Lancashire 9 May 1850, died Hampstead 14 Feb 1924]

Elinor Loveday was born Ellen Jane Hodgkinson. She married Henry Joseph Loveday, later Henry Irving's stage director at the Lyceum Theatre. Mrs. Loveday played Josephine in H.M.S. Pinafore with D'Oyly Carte's touring Comedy Opera Company between July and September 1879. In October 1879 she replaced Blanche Roosevelt as Josephine at the Opera Comique, but didn't hold the part for long. By December Josephine had been entrusted to Fanny Holland. (Rollins & Witts stated that she appeared as Josephine in London in October 1878, rather than 1879. It's clear she appeared in 1879, however, and an 1878 appearance cannot be corroborated.)

Elinor Loveday later appeared in the title role in Frederick Marshall and Antonio Orsini's comic opera Lola (Olympic, January-March 1881). It appears to have been her last role on the London Stage. Some thirty-two years later, an Elenor Loveday portrayed a gipsy in Le Mariage Force (St. James's and Savoy Theatres, 1913-14). Whether this is the same lady is not known.

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