THE D'OYLY CARTE OPERA COMPANY

James Danvers (1885-86)

[Born Edinburgh 23 May 1855, died Southampton 1915]

James Danvers (real name James Bowles Smith) toured with Mr. D'Oyly Carte's "D" Company from August-December 1885 and February-June 1886 as the Mikado of Japan in The Mikado. When "D" Company resumed touring The Mikado from August-December 1886, Danvers played Pooh-Bah.

Danvers left the D'Oyly Carte at the end of the year. He went on to appear as Duke Hildebrand in The Royal Watchman, a comic opera by William Boosey produced for the first time in Exeter in April 1887, and in the title role in Count Tremolio, a comic opera produced for the first time in Nottingham in September 1887.

A decade earlier, he visited America where he appeared in a variety of musical shows in New York between 1875 and 1877. Among his roles was the Foreman of the Jury in Trial by Jury, November 15, 1875, at the Eagle Theatre, the first New York production of a Gilbert & Sullivan opera.

James Danvers's son, Billy Danvers, was a well-known music hall comedian, whose full name was (really!) William Mikado Danvers.

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