THE D'OYLY CARTE OPERA COMPANY

Alison Stewart in The Pirates of Penzance

Alison Stewart (1923-24)

[Born Lancashire 1897]

Soprano Alison Margaret Stewart joined the D'Oyly Carte Repertory Opera Company as chorister and small part player in December 1923, filling in briefly at that month as Fiametta in The Gondoliers. In June 1924 she transferred to the D'Oyly Carte "New" Opera Company taking over the lead role of Josephine in H.M.S. Pinafore. From July to December 1924 she was one of two principal sopranos for the "New" Company, appearing as Josephine, and as Elsie Maynard in The Yeomen of the Guard. She left the "New" Company in December 1924 and was replaced by Kathleen Anderson.

After leaving the D'Oyly Carte it appears she spent the next several years on tour, many of them with former D'Oyly Carte baritone Frank E. Tilton, whose departure from "New" Company coincided with hers, and whom she married in 1926.

Miss Stewart's only recorded role on the London Stage was the Princess of Morocco in the pantomime Dick Whittington (London Hippodrome, December 1932-February 1933). She would leave the stage in 1937, and, separated from Tilton, moved to South Africa. She returned to England in 1946 in the employ of Elizabeth Arden.

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