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Arthur Lloyd's Biography
Above - Real Photograph of Arthur
Lloyd by W. H. Stephens of Newport, Mon. - From The
Variety Theatre May12th 1905
- Kindly sent in by Jennifer
Carnell .
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 Arthur
Lloyd was born at No.
7, Annandale Street, Edinburgh in 1839,
a City in which he performed in many
times.
Right - No 7, Annandale Street, Edinburgh
- Arthur Lloyd was born here on May the
14th 1839 - Photo Courtesy
Alan Mcintosh 2008. Click
for more pictures.
Arthur Lloyd died, and
was buried in Edinburgh
in 1904.
 This
poster for Arthur Lloyd at the Theatre Royal
Eastbourne, is one of a large collection of original Lloyd / King
Posters collected since the mid 1800s by members of the family and found
recently after being lost for 50 years. To see all these posters click
the Poster Index here...
See the Lloyd / King family
Theatrical Posters here...
An Arthur Lloyd Recording?
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 Little
of Lloyd’s private life has become the subject of comment. Off
the stage apparently he was not an entertaining person. He was essentially
Scottish,
a family man who brought up a large number of children.
 His
work was not limited to music hall.
As in the case of other leading comedians, he gave a recital entertainment
and toured with it. This
bore the innocuous name of 'Two Hours of Genuine Fun’. He
was also a playwright and wrote a four-act drama called ‘Bally
Voyan’. It was performed at Newcastle-on-Tyne
in 1887.
See
an article by Arthur Lloyd on Performing in Widnes, Lancashire in 1876
 Arthur
Lloyd had a first-class baritone voice, and, along with Jolly Nash,
had the unprecedented honour of singing to the Prince of Wales. He remained at the
top of the tree throughout the seventies and eighties with such popular
songs as ‘Not
For Joseph’, ‘Take it, Bob’, ‘The Street Musician’,
'The Organ Grinder’,
and ‘Immensikoff’. None of these
tunes has endured; about the only one which is remembered is ‘Married
to a Mermaid’, which is still occasionally sung.
 Arthur
Lloyd performed twice before royalty at private
functions. The first occasion was with Jolly John Nash at a party given
by The Earl of Carrington. The show was a big success and Nash and Lloyd
sang until four in the morning without repeating themselves.
 Lloyd
was a most versatile performer and could sing almost anything. He always
wore a moustache. His own. His voice was of first class quality, strong
and resonant. The reason why he went on to the halls
was that, although his father was a popular
comedian and actor in Edinburgh, he never
earned more than £5 a week. Arthur intended to beat that and did. In
his prime he probably earned £100 a week, which in the 1870s
was a considerable sum!
His songs
included ‘La-di-da-He’s the Pet of all the Ladies’,
‘Madame Rachel’, Bandy legged Borachio’, ‘The Dark
Girl Dressed in Blue’, and ‘The Beauty of Brixton’.
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Above - From the ERA Almanac of 1892 - Mr. Arthur
Lloyd (Assisted by Miss
Annie King Lloyd and Mr. Harry
King Lloyd) has been on Theatrical Tour with his playes, "Ballyvogan,"
"Our Party," and "Major Baggs." Also at principle
London and Provincial
Variety Theatres in his Songs and Sketches,
"Her First Appearance,"
"The Unfortunate Man," "If Mother Could See Me Now,"
Too Fatiguing," "Who'll Shut The Door?" "The Rival
Lovers," &c. Author of all the above, of 1,000 Humorous Songs,
and several Pantomimes, including "Little
Jack And The Big Beanstalk." Songs, Plays, and Sketches Written
to order. Music Composed. Address
- 32 Dafforne Road, Upper Tooting, London. - Courtesy Jennifer Carnell
of The Sensation
Press.
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He always
wanted to be a manager rather
than a comedian; he took over various
music halls and playhouses and tried valiantly but always lost money.
However, when he married a very clever and pretty serio-dancer named
Katty King, they toured
their own shows and at that they did pretty well. She died young.
Above - Notice from the Irish Times of 1871
on the Marriage of Arthur Lloyd and Katty
King at All Saint's Church, Kensington Park, London, on Monday,
31st July, by the Rev. John Light, M. A., Vicar. Arthur Lloyd, the
well known vocalist, to Kathleen, daughter of Mr.
T. C. King, of T. R. Drury Lane, London,
and formerly of Dublin.
He was a
man of unimpeachable moral character and had a great sense of responsibility.
He had numerous relations, all of whom made demands on him which he
always satisfied. With such calls on his purse and his own losses
in management, it is unlikely that he ever had a chance to do much
for himself with his vast earnings. He
died in 1904.
These biographical
snippets were kindly supplied by Mr John Moffatt to whom I am indebted
for also very kindly giving me my first Arthur Lloyd song sheet 'Not For Joseph', which is signed
by Lloyd
Parts
of this text are taken from the following:
"The
Melodies Linger On" by Walter Macqueen-Pope.
"The Early Doors" by Harold
Scott(1946).
See
an extended Biography Here...
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Above from - British music hall, an illustrated who's who from
1850 to the present day
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I always knew of Arthur Lloyd. In my
early working life one of his songs; "Constantinople"
was used for the Song Sheet in our pantomimes.
He was, of course dead before I was born, however, I worked with people
that had worked with him and spoke of him as one of the all time greats.
"Constantinople" was used in the schoolroom
scene in "Babes in the Wood" It was an excuse to bring children
from the audience onto the stage and join in the sing-a-long, and
be given the cane if they spelt it wrong; but the children loved it,
and often it would be mentioned that it was Arthur Lloyd's song and
three cheers for Arthur Lloyd would be called for. - Courtesy Alan
Chudley.
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Extract from
Peter Honri's 'John Wilton's Music Hall'
1862
 Messrs.
Frederick Sanders & Edward Lacey, Proprietors of the Philharmonic
Hall, Islington, are setting great store by their new comic singer Arthur
Lloyd. Despite his Welsh name, he hails from Scotland and is the son
of Horatio Lloyd, comedian at Glasgow's
Theatre Royal. I saw the young man tonight, and their claims are
well justified. His programme of songs was
varied and original ~ 'Beef, Pork, Mutton,
will you buy?', 'Acting Mad' and a character song 'The Street Musician'.
His London debut is being made simultaneously at the Marylebone,
Sun and 'Phil',
and I would suggest that he had made a conspicuous success. Loibl will
be using him for Xmas at the London Pav.
Although a much younger man of course, I would rate him in the Cowell
style as an exponent of comical singing of 'character'. John Wilton
1862
See
an extended Biography Here...
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