THE D'OYLY CARTE OPERA COMPANY

Frank Tebbutt (1888-94)

[Born 22 Mar 1866, died Worthing, Sussex Mar 1936]

Frank Tebbutt was a chorister at the Chapel Royal before joining the D'Oyly Carte organization as a tenor chorister around 1888.

He sang Leonard Meryll in The Yeomen of the Guard with D'Oyly Carte Opera Company "C" on tour from January to June 1889. He was then promoted to leading tenor with D'Oyly Carte Opera Company "E," appearing with them from June 1889 to June 1894. His roles were Nanki-Poo in The Mikado (June 1889-February 1890 and November 1890-November 1893), Colonel Fairfax in Yeomen (June 1889-February 1890), Marco in the first provincial production of The Gondoliers (February 1890-June 1892), Earl Tolloller in Iolanthe (September 1891-May 1893), Reverend Sandford in The Vicar of Bray (June 1892-March 1893), Billee Taylor in Billee Taylor (April-May 1893), Oswald (May-August 1893) and, probably, John Manners (August-November 1893) in Haddon Hall, and Captain Fitzbattleaxe in the first provincial production of Utopia Limited (December 1893-June 1894).

Mr. Tebbutt married fellow D'Oyly Carte artist Kate Erskine in 1894. In 1895 he appeared as Nanki-Poo in The Mikado with the Portsmouth and Southsea Amateur Dramatic Society. His brother Harry, also a tenor, toured with Carte companies from 1890 to 1896.

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