Ada Dorée

Ada Dorée (1850 – 28 April 1916) was an English singer and actor who performed in operetta, Victorian burlesque, and pantomime from the 1870s to the 1890s. In her early life she was Ada Catherine Elizabeth Earée, and in her later years she used the name Ada Dorée-Thorne, adding that of her husband.

Life and career

Dorée was born in Cockermouth, Cumberland, in 1850, as Ada Earée, the daughter of William Earée, a Church of England clergyman, and trained as a singer at the Guildhall School of Music, on a scholarship. She sang with groups known as the Philothespians and the South Kensington Amateurs before gaining professional roles in operetta, Victorian burlesque, and pantomime between the 1870s and the 1890s.David Stone
"Ada Dorée (1884-85)"
Who Was Who in the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company, at gsarchive.net, 6May 2007, accessed 11 April 2020"Alphamstone Marriage of the Rev. R. B. Earee" in ''The Bury and Norwich Post, and Suffolk Herald'', 15 August 1876, p. 6

In February 1884, Dorée joined a D'Oyly Carte touring company playing the contralto role of Lady Blanche in Gilbert and Sullivan's '' Princess Ida''. In August of that year, at Portsea, she married another member of the company, Eric Thorne;"Thorne Eric & Earee Ada Catherine E" in Marriages for Portsea, vol. 2b (1884), p. 840 after the Banns of marriage had been published for Frederick Thomas Thorne "of this parish", and Ada Catherine Elizabeth Earée, of Alphamstone. Her father was by then the Rector there, and her brother, Robert Brisco Earée was also a clergyman.

In October 1884, D'Oyly Carte revived '' The Sorcerer'' at the Savoy Theatre, and Dorée was sent there to perform the secondary contralto part, Mrs Partlett. She continued with this until March 1885, then took the same role on tour until 9May, when the production closed and Dorée left the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company. Dorée's daughter Gladys Edith Hilda Earée Thorne was born at Alphamstone on 17 June 1885 and was baptized there a few weeks later."Doree-Thorne Gladys Edith H 17JE1885" in Deaths for Worthing, vol. 18 (1979), p. 2,496; "Gladys Edith Hilda Earee Thorne", Church of England Births and Baptisms, 1813–1918, Alphamstone St Barnabas, Essex, ancestry.co.uk, accessed 9 April 2020

Dorée remained active in musical theatre. In the spring of 1888, she and Thorne both played in a touring production of ''The Punch Bowl'', a musical comedy about a prince who believes he is invisible. In September of the same year, they both appeared in ''Carina'' at the Opera Comique in Westminster, and in 1889 both performed in ''Faddimar'' at the Vaudeville Theatre. In the autumn of 1889, Dorée toured with Auguste van Biene in ''Faust up to Date''. She was in a pantomime at the Prince of Wales Theatre in 1890–1891, ''Faust up to Date'' again at the Gaiety Theatre in 1892, ''The Piper of Hamelin'', ''A Modern Don Quixote'', and ''Masters Sandford and Merton'' in 1893, and the burlesque ''Jaunty Jane Shore'' in 1894.

In 1904, as "Madam Ada Dorée", she was left an annuity, and a pony and trap, in the will of Thomas Craigie Glover, of Edinburgh, to thank her for looking after him following the death of his wife in 1895.Potted History No 2: Earlsferry HousePart2The Glovers
eliehistory.com On 2April 1911, as Ada Dorée-Thorne, she made a Census return for 4, Wharfedale Street, Earl's Court, stating herself as head of the household, living on a "small annuity". With her was her unmarried daughter Gladys Dorée-Thorne, one servant, the servant's husband, and a visitor.

Death and aftermath

On 28 April 1916, Dorée died at St Saviour's Hospital, St Pancras, London, aged 66, leaving an estate valued at £1,589, with her daughter as executor.

Within a few weeks, her husband married again. In 1922, he died at a nursing home in Marylebone, leaving an estate valued for probate at £10,968 ."Thorne, Frederick Thomas of 1a Castletown-road West Kensington"
Probate Index for England and Wales 1923, at probatesearch.service.gov.uk, accessed 11 April 2020: "Probate London 30 January to Katie Seager Thorne widow. Effects £10,968 11s 2d."

Their daughter Gladys remained unmarried and died at the age of 94 in Worthing, on 22 December 1979. Probate was granted in the name of Gladys Edith Hilda Earee Doree-Thorne."Doree-Thorne, Gladys Edith Hilda Earee", Probate Index for England and Wales, 1980, probatesearch.service.gov.uk, accessed 11 April 2020

Notes

External links

*David Stone
Eric Thorne
in Who Was Who in the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company at gsarchive.net

{{DEFAULTSORT:Doree, Ada
1850 births
1916 deaths
English musical theatre actresses
20th-century English women singers
20th-century English singers
19th-century British women singers