May Fortescue
Encyclopedia
May Fortescue was a singer and actor-manager
of the Victorian era
and a protégée of playwright W. S. Gilbert
. She was a member of the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company
from 1881 to 1883, when she left the company due to an engagement to a nobleman, young Arthur William Cairns, Lord Garmoyle
(later the 2nd Earl Cairns
). Cairns soon broke off the engagement under pressure from his family, and Fortescue returned to the stage in leading roles.
With the £10,000 that she received in her breach of promise
lawsuit, Fortescue started her own touring theatre company, often performing the plays of W. S. Gilbert. Concidentally, Gilbert visited Fortescue on the day he died. Her acting career continued until 1926.
, London, to a coal merchant father, Fortescue was educated as a lady, but following her father's business failure she became an actress in order to support her mother and sister. She first joined the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company
at the Opera Comique
in London, at the age of 19, in the original production of Gilbert and Sullivan
's opera Patience
, in April 1881, originating the role of Lady Ella. When the company transferred in October 1881 to the new Savoy Theatre
, Fortescue moved with it, creating the small role of Celia in Iolanthe
when it received its premiere in November 1882.
Fortescue, admired for her beauty, quickly became a favourite of male members of the Savoy's audience. In early 1883, an officer of the Hussars claimed that he was having an affair with her. When W. S. Gilbert
learned of this, he found the man and forced him to sign a public apology admitting that the rumour was false and to pay the costs of a lawsuit by Fortescue. Soon afterwards, in a case of life imitating art, since her character, Celia, captivates and marries an Earl
(which was much remarked upon in the press), Fortescue captured the interest of young Arthur William Cairns, Lord Garmoyle
(later the 2nd Earl Cairns
), who had seen her on stage in Iolanthe. He proposed marriage, and she accepted, leaving the Savoy at the end of August 1883. Fortescue never appeared in another comic opera
.
, Lord Garmoyle's friends could not accept his engagement to an actress, and he broke off the engagement in January 1884, leaving the country to travel in Asia. Fortescue, assisted by W. S. Gilbert's solicitors, sued Lord Garmoyle for breach of promise
. The case generated a great deal of publicity for Fortescue, although much of it was adverse after she announced that she intended to resume her stage career. Gilbert cast her in her first major role, as Dorothy, in a revival of his play, Dan'l Druce, Blacksmith
, at the Court Theatre
in March 1884.
With the £10,000 in damages she received from Lord Garmoyle, Fortescue started her own theatre company. She toured with her company for many years, frequently performing the plays of W. S. Gilbert. A tour of the United States
from 1886 to 1887 included the New York
premiere of Gilbert's play Gretchen
, with Fortescue in the title role (although The New York Times found her performance wanting). During these touring years, she revived at least eight other works by Gilbert, playing such roles as Jenny Northcott in Sweethearts
, Galatea in Pygmalion and Galatea, Selene in The Wicked World
and Clarice in Comedy and Tragedy. Fortescue's troupe premiered Gilbert's 1897 drama, The Fortune Hunter
, in which she played Diana. In 1899, she created the role of the Duchess of Strood in Arthur Wing Pinero
's play The Gay Lord Quex at the Globe Theatre in London, together with John Hare
and Irene Vanbrugh
.
.
Though various people have accused Gilbert of being prickly, Fortescue defended him:
Fortescue acted in plays in London and the provinces for over 40 years, playing such roles as Lady Teazle in School for Scandal. Her final London appearance was in 1926 in A Man Unknown, as Mrs. Deveraux, at the Court Theatre
.
May Fortescue died in London in September 1950, aged 88 years.
Actor-manager
An actor-manager is a leading actor who sets up their own permanent theatrical company and manages the company's business and financial arrangements, sometimes taking over the management of a theatre, to perform plays of their own choice and in which they will usually star...
of the Victorian era
Victorian era
The Victorian era of British history was the period of Queen Victoria's reign from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. It was a long period of peace, prosperity, refined sensibilities and national self-confidence...
and a protégée of playwright W. S. Gilbert
W. S. Gilbert
Sir William Schwenck Gilbert was an English dramatist, librettist, poet and illustrator best known for his fourteen comic operas produced in collaboration with the composer Sir Arthur Sullivan, of which the most famous include H.M.S...
. She was a member of the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company
D'Oyly Carte Opera Company
The D'Oyly Carte Opera Company was a professional light opera company that staged Gilbert and Sullivan's Savoy operas. The company performed nearly year-round in the UK and sometimes toured in Europe, North America and elsewhere, from the 1870s until it closed in 1982. It was revived in 1988 and...
from 1881 to 1883, when she left the company due to an engagement to a nobleman, young Arthur William Cairns, Lord Garmoyle
Arthur William Cairns, 2nd Earl Cairns
Arthur William Cairns was the Second Earl Cairns, succeeding to the title on the death of his father the first Earl Cairns on April 2 1885.-Early life:...
(later the 2nd Earl Cairns
Earl Cairns
Earl Cairns is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1878 for the prominent lawyer and Conservative politician Hugh Cairns, 1st Baron Cairns. He was Lord Chancellor of the United Kingdom in 1868 and from 1874 to 1880...
). Cairns soon broke off the engagement under pressure from his family, and Fortescue returned to the stage in leading roles.
With the £10,000 that she received in her breach of promise
Breach of promise
Breach of promise is a former common law tort.From at least medieval times until the early 20th century, a man's promise of engagement to marry a woman was considered, in many jurisdictions, a legally binding contract...
lawsuit, Fortescue started her own touring theatre company, often performing the plays of W. S. Gilbert. Concidentally, Gilbert visited Fortescue on the day he died. Her acting career continued until 1926.
Early career
Born Emily May Finney in PeckhamPeckham
Peckham is a district in south London, England, located in the London Borough of Southwark. It is situated south-east of Charing Cross. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London...
, London, to a coal merchant father, Fortescue was educated as a lady, but following her father's business failure she became an actress in order to support her mother and sister. She first joined the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company
D'Oyly Carte Opera Company
The D'Oyly Carte Opera Company was a professional light opera company that staged Gilbert and Sullivan's Savoy operas. The company performed nearly year-round in the UK and sometimes toured in Europe, North America and elsewhere, from the 1870s until it closed in 1982. It was revived in 1988 and...
at the Opera Comique
Opera Comique
The Opera Comique was a 19th-century theatre constructed in Westminster, London, between Wych Street and Holywell Street with entrances on the East Strand. It opened in 1870 and was demolished in 1902, to make way for the construction of the Aldwych and Kingsway...
in London, at the age of 19, in the original production of Gilbert and Sullivan
Gilbert and Sullivan
Gilbert and Sullivan refers to the Victorian-era theatrical partnership of the librettist W. S. Gilbert and the composer Arthur Sullivan . The two men collaborated on fourteen comic operas between 1871 and 1896, of which H.M.S...
's opera Patience
Patience (opera)
Patience; or, Bunthorne's Bride, is a comic opera in two acts with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert. First performed at the Opera Comique, London, on 23 April 1881, it moved to the 1,292-seat Savoy Theatre on 10 October 1881, where it was the first theatrical production in the...
, in April 1881, originating the role of Lady Ella. When the company transferred in October 1881 to the new Savoy Theatre
Savoy Theatre
The Savoy Theatre is a West End theatre located in the Strand in the City of Westminster, London, England. The theatre opened on 10 October 1881 and was built by Richard D'Oyly Carte on the site of the old Savoy Palace as a showcase for the popular series of comic operas of Gilbert and Sullivan,...
, Fortescue moved with it, creating the small role of Celia in Iolanthe
Iolanthe
Iolanthe; or, The Peer and the Peri is a comic opera with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert. It is one of the Savoy operas and is the seventh collaboration of the fourteen between Gilbert and Sullivan....
when it received its premiere in November 1882.
Fortescue, admired for her beauty, quickly became a favourite of male members of the Savoy's audience. In early 1883, an officer of the Hussars claimed that he was having an affair with her. When W. S. Gilbert
W. S. Gilbert
Sir William Schwenck Gilbert was an English dramatist, librettist, poet and illustrator best known for his fourteen comic operas produced in collaboration with the composer Sir Arthur Sullivan, of which the most famous include H.M.S...
learned of this, he found the man and forced him to sign a public apology admitting that the rumour was false and to pay the costs of a lawsuit by Fortescue. Soon afterwards, in a case of life imitating art, since her character, Celia, captivates and marries an Earl
Earl
An earl is a member of the nobility. The title is Anglo-Saxon, akin to the Scandinavian form jarl, and meant "chieftain", particularly a chieftain set to rule a territory in a king's stead. In Scandinavia, it became obsolete in the Middle Ages and was replaced with duke...
(which was much remarked upon in the press), Fortescue captured the interest of young Arthur William Cairns, Lord Garmoyle
Arthur William Cairns, 2nd Earl Cairns
Arthur William Cairns was the Second Earl Cairns, succeeding to the title on the death of his father the first Earl Cairns on April 2 1885.-Early life:...
(later the 2nd Earl Cairns
Earl Cairns
Earl Cairns is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1878 for the prominent lawyer and Conservative politician Hugh Cairns, 1st Baron Cairns. He was Lord Chancellor of the United Kingdom in 1868 and from 1874 to 1880...
), who had seen her on stage in Iolanthe. He proposed marriage, and she accepted, leaving the Savoy at the end of August 1883. Fortescue never appeared in another comic opera
Comic opera
Comic opera denotes a sung dramatic work of a light or comic nature, usually with a happy ending.Forms of comic opera first developed in late 17th-century Italy. By the 1730s, a new operatic genre, opera buffa, emerged as an alternative to opera seria...
.
Engagement and return to the stage
Although his family accepted Fortescue, according to The New York TimesThe New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
, Lord Garmoyle's friends could not accept his engagement to an actress, and he broke off the engagement in January 1884, leaving the country to travel in Asia. Fortescue, assisted by W. S. Gilbert's solicitors, sued Lord Garmoyle for breach of promise
Breach of promise
Breach of promise is a former common law tort.From at least medieval times until the early 20th century, a man's promise of engagement to marry a woman was considered, in many jurisdictions, a legally binding contract...
. The case generated a great deal of publicity for Fortescue, although much of it was adverse after she announced that she intended to resume her stage career. Gilbert cast her in her first major role, as Dorothy, in a revival of his play, Dan'l Druce, Blacksmith
Dan'l Druce, Blacksmith
Dan'l Druce, Blacksmith is a play by W. S. Gilbert, styled "A Three-Act Drama of Puritan times". It opened at the Haymarket Theatre in London on 11 September 1876, starring Hermann Vezin, Johnston Forbes-Robertson and Marion Terry. The play was a success, running for about 100 performances and...
, at the Court Theatre
Royal Court Theatre
The Royal Court Theatre is a non-commercial theatre on Sloane Square, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. It is noted for its contributions to modern theatre...
in March 1884.
With the £10,000 in damages she received from Lord Garmoyle, Fortescue started her own theatre company. She toured with her company for many years, frequently performing the plays of W. S. Gilbert. A tour of the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
from 1886 to 1887 included the New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
premiere of Gilbert's play Gretchen
Gretchen (play)
Gretchen is a tragic four-act play, in blank verse, written by W. S. Gilbert in 1878–79 based on Goethe's version of part of the Faust legend....
, with Fortescue in the title role (although The New York Times found her performance wanting). During these touring years, she revived at least eight other works by Gilbert, playing such roles as Jenny Northcott in Sweethearts
Sweethearts (play)
Sweethearts is a comic play billed as a "dramatic contrast" in two acts by W. S. Gilbert. The play tells a sentimental and ironic story of the differing recollections of a man and a woman about their last meeting together before being separated and reunited after 30 years.It was first produced on...
, Galatea in Pygmalion and Galatea, Selene in The Wicked World
The Wicked World
The Wicked World is a blank verse play by W. S. Gilbert in three acts. It opened at the Haymarket Theatre on 1873 and ran for a successful 145 performances, closing on 1873...
and Clarice in Comedy and Tragedy. Fortescue's troupe premiered Gilbert's 1897 drama, The Fortune Hunter
The Fortune Hunter
The Fortune Hunter is a drama in three acts by W. S. Gilbert. The piece concerns an heiress who loses her fortune. Her shallow husband sues to annul the marriage, leaving her pregnant and taking up with a wealthy former lover...
, in which she played Diana. In 1899, she created the role of the Duchess of Strood in Arthur Wing Pinero
Arthur Wing Pinero
Sir Arthur Wing Pinero was an English actor and later an important dramatist and stage director.-Biography:...
's play The Gay Lord Quex at the Globe Theatre in London, together with John Hare
John Hare (actor)
Sir John Hare , born John Fairs, was an English actor and manager of the Garrick Theatre in London from 1889 to 1895.-Biography:Hare was born in Giggleswick in Yorkshire and was educated at Giggleswick school...
and Irene Vanbrugh
Irene Vanbrugh
Dame Irene Vanbrugh DBE , née Barnes, was an English actress. The daughter of a clergyman, Vanbrugh followed her elder sister Violet into the theatrical profession, and sustained a career for more than 50 years....
.
Later years
Fortescue remained a friend of Gilbert's for the rest of his life, sometimes dining with him and his wife. On 29 May 1911, Gilbert visited Fortescue at her home after she had been injured in a horseback-riding accident that had affected her optic nerve. She was resting in a darkened room, and her mother said to Gilbert, "I won't ask what you think of her appearance, for you can scarcely see her." Gilbert replied, "Her appearance matters nothing. It is her disappearance we could not stand." The same afternoon, after lunch with W. H. Kendal, Gilbert died of heart failure while trying to rescue a young lady swimming in the lake at his home, Grim's DykeGrim's Dyke
Grim's Dyke is the name of a house and estate located in Harrow Weald, in Northwest London, England, built in 1872 by Norman Shaw, and named after the nearby pre-historic earthwork known as Grim's Ditch. The house is best known as the home of dramatist W.S. Gilbert, who lived there for the last...
.
Though various people have accused Gilbert of being prickly, Fortescue defended him:
I have seen Gilbert show the patience of Job towards honest stupidity; but what he could not stand was the people who could do and wouldn't. His kindness was extraordinary. On wet nights and when rehearsals were late and the last buses were gone, he would pay the cab-fares of the girls whether they were pretty or not, instead of letting them trudge home on foot. In financial matters he was a great gentleman. We never had or needed a written agreement. He was practical and business-like, but incapable of petty meanness. He was just as large-hearted when he was poor as when he was rich and successful. For money as money he cared less than nothing. Gilbert was no plaster saint, but he was an ideal friend.
Fortescue acted in plays in London and the provinces for over 40 years, playing such roles as Lady Teazle in School for Scandal. Her final London appearance was in 1926 in A Man Unknown, as Mrs. Deveraux, at the Court Theatre
Royal Court Theatre
The Royal Court Theatre is a non-commercial theatre on Sloane Square, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. It is noted for its contributions to modern theatre...
.
May Fortescue died in London in September 1950, aged 88 years.