Winifred Hart-Dyke (2 December 1881 – March 1976) was an English dancer and actress associated with the

D'Oyly Carte Opera Company The D'Oyly Carte Opera Company is a professional British light opera company that, from the 1870s until 1982, staged Gilbert and Sullivan's Savoy operas nearly year-round in the UK and sometimes toured in Europe, North America and elsewhere. The ...

and

Edwardian Musical Comedy Edwardian musical comedy was a form of British musical theatre that extended beyond the reign of King Edward VII in both directions, beginning in the early 1890s, when the Gilbert and Sullivan operas' dominance had ended, until the rise of the A ...

. Her surname appears with and without the hyphen.

Early life

Winifred Amy Hart Dyke was born in

Colchester Colchester ( ) is a city in Essex, in the East of England. It had a population of 122,000 in 2011. The demonym is Colcestrian. Colchester occupies the site of Camulodunum, the first major city in Roman Britain and its first capital. Colch ...

, the daughter of Frederick Hotham Hart Dyke and Emily Thorndike. Her father was a professor of military studies at

Cambridge University The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209 and granted a royal charter by Henry III of England, Henry III in 1231, Cambridge is the world' ...

. Her great-grandfather was Sir Percival Hart Dyke, 5th Baronet (1767–1846). Sir William Hart Dyke, 7th Baronet, was a cousin."Lt.-Col. Frederick Hotham Hart Dyke"
ThePeerage.com, accessed 1 July 2017 She studied ballet with Malvina Cavallazzi Mapleson.

Career

Hart-Dyke appeared in several

comic opera Comic opera, sometimes known as light opera, is a sung dramatic work of a light or comic nature, usually with a happy ending and often including spoken dialogue. Forms of comic opera first developed in late 17th-century Italy. By the 1730s, a ne ...

productions with the

between 1900 and 1903, including in ''

The Rose of Persia ''The Rose of Persia''; ''or, The Story-Teller and the Slave'', is a two-act comic opera, with music by Arthur Sullivan and a libretto by Basil Hood. It premiered at the Savoy Theatre on 29 November 1899, closing on 28 June 1900 after a profitabl ...

'', as Nora in ''

The Emerald Isle ''The Emerald Isle''; ''or, The Caves of Carrig-Cleena'', is a two-act comic opera, with music by Arthur Sullivan and Edward German, and a libretto by Basil Hood. The plot concerns the efforts of an Irish patriot to resist the oppressive "re-edu ...

'', Fleta in '' Iolanthe'', Marjorie in '' Merrie England'' and Butterfly in '' A Princess of Kensington''.Stone, David
"Winifred Hart Dyke (1900–03)"
Who Was Who in the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company, 5 August 2019, accessed 29 September 2020 A reviewer of ''Merrie England'' in ''

Punch Punch commonly refers to: * Punch (combat), a strike made using the hand closed into a fist * Punch (drink), a wide assortment of drinks, non-alcoholic or alcoholic, generally containing fruit or fruit juice Punch may also refer to: Places * Pun ...

'' magazine called her "one of the most graceful, most spirited, and inspiriting of ''danseuses'' I have seen for a long time." She was then in the original London cast of the

Edwardian musical comedies Edwardian musical comedy was a form of British musical theatre that extended beyond the reign of King Edward VII in both directions, beginning in the early 1890s, when the Gilbert and Sullivan operas' dominance had ended, until the rise of the Ame ...

The Earl and the Girl ''The Earl and the Girl'' is a musical comedy in two acts by Seymour Hicks, with lyrics by Percy Greenbank and music by Ivan Caryll. It was produced by William Greet and opened at the Adelphi Theatre in London on 10 December 1903. It transferre ...

'' (1903), '' Little Hans Andersen'' (1903) and '' The Catch of the Season'' (1905). In 1907 she was a solo dancer in ''Amasis'', an Egyptian-themed light opera."A Dancer before Pharaoh"
''

The Bystander ''The Bystander'' was a British weekly tabloid magazine that featured reviews, topical drawings, cartoons and short stories. Published from Fleet Street, it was established in 1903 by George Holt Thomas. Its first editor, William Comyns Beaum ...

'', 30 January 1907, p. 243 In 1908, she appeared in ''The Girl From Across the Border''.

Personal life

Hart-Dyke married Cyril Arthur Mileham (died 1958), a solicitor, in 1911. They had two daughters, born in 1913 and 1918. Hart-Dyke died in 1976 at the age of 94.

References

External links

A photograph postcard of Hart-Dyke
in the collection of the National Portrait Gallery.
A folder of Hart-Dyke's letters
is held in the D'Oyly Carte archive at the

Victoria & Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (often abbreviated as the V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.27 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and nam ...

. 1881 births 1976 deaths English female dancers People from Colchester {{authority control