THE D'OYLY CARTE OPERA COMPANY

Cecil Barnard

Cecil Barnard (1889-92)

[Born Canonbury 10 Aug 1866, died London 30 Nov 1897]

In 1889, Walter Cecil Barnard was on tour with the D’Oyly Carte Opera Company “B” in the role of the Headsman in The Yeomen of the Guard.  He understudied comic baritone leads and filled in for Cairns James as Jack Point in February 1889, and as Ko-Ko in The Mikado in January 1890.  At some point in 1890 he joined the Savoy chorus and understudied Frank Wyatt as the Duke of Plaza-Toro in The Gondoliers, a role he assumed on occasion in January, March, and May 1891.  He remained in the Savoy chorus through the run of The Nautch Girl  (June 1891 to January 1892).

He left the Carte organization and, between 1892 and 1896, toured with several of his former Savoy colleagues in a group called The English Opera Singers. Tragically, He leapt to his death from the upper story of the Savage Club in London in 1897 at the age of 31.

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