The Prolific Arthur Lloyd

Thanks to Sapphira for reminding me that May 14 was the birthday of the great Scottish music hall star Arthur Lloyd (1839-1904).

While apparently unrelated to Marie Lloyd, Alice Lloyd, Daisy Lloyd, or Marie Lloyd Jr, Arthur did come from a theatrical family: his father Horatio Lloyd was an actor at the Theatre Royal; uncle Fred Lloyd was at Theatre Royal, Plymouth; mother was Eliza Horncastle of the Pyne and Harrison Opera Company; his wife was comic actress Katty King, and two of their children went into the family business as well.

Hailing from Glasgow, Arthur Lloyd was briefly in the legit theatre like his elders until he heard the siren call of the ‘alls. He debuted as a solo at the Whitebait Music Hall in 1861, and in London the following year. Posterity remembers him as a songwriter, and he was an overnight success in that line. “Song of Songs” (1863) was his first to sell copies in the thousands. “Married to a Mermaid” (1866), remains relatively popular (esp. among the mermaid cognoscenti). And his top seller was “Not for Joseph” (1868) which sold over 100,000 copies and remained a popular catchphrase for nearly 50 years. In the end, he wrote over 1,000 original songs. Some of them are quoted by James Joyce in Ulysses!

Many of the tunes were debuted by himself on the music hall stage, where he was a star for decades. In the early ’90s, he toured the States and Canada with an original musical comedy called Our Party.

For much, much more about music hall star Arthur Lloyd, see the official website, maintained by the man’s great grandson here.

For more on music hall,pleaseconsult No Applause, Just Throw Money: The Book That Made Vaudeville Famous,