THE D'OYLY CARTE OPERA COMPANY

Constance Stanhope

Constance Stanhope (1884)

[Born Cleveland Square, London 19 Feb 1860, died Johannesburg, South Africa 5 Feb 1892]

Constance Stanhope was the stage name of Eliza Constance Tobias. She had one brief engagement with Mr. D'Oyly Carte's "C" (Repertory) Company on tour in the British provinces as Hebe in H.M.S. Pinafore, Isabel in The Pirates of Penzance, and the Lady Saphir in Patience from July to December 1884. She also filled in on at least one occasion, in September, as the Lady Angela in Patience.

Primarily a legitimate actress, her months with the D'Oyly Carte organization were a rare departure into musical theatre. She began her career in the British provinces at the age of eighteen in such works as Poor Jo, Drink, The Colonel, and David Garrick. Her first London role was Edith in Charles Young's comedy For Her Child's Sake (Vaudeville Theatre). An engagement with Henry Neville for Clancarty and other works, and an American tour with Charles Wyndham's company preceded her D'Oyly Carte tour.

Appearances in Boucicault's The Streets of London in Liverpool, pantomime in Dumfries, and burlesque in Islington followed. She returned to London, and the Vaudeville, in June 1886 as Peggy in a revival of the comedy The Country Girl. In August 1889 she was in New York at the Windsor Theatre in a play called La Belle Marie, or, A Woman's Revenge.

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