A strayed Cartesian: O J ROWLANDS

In and out to doctors, nurses, hospital ... can't settle to any decent project and article ... so took a dip into David Stone's D'Oyly Carte archive to see if there were an undiscovered Cartesian I might clarify for the record ...

And I landed on one. O J Rowlands, of whom we are told only that he was one of the extra chorus rushed to America to bolster the cast of the original production there of The Gondoliers. 

Guess what! It was his real name.

Owen Jones WILLIAMS later ROWLANDS (b Tal y Bont, Conway 1854; d 39 Silverdale Ave, Tuebrook, Anfield, 14 November 1920) 

Born, it seems, to his unmarried mother, he was brought up as the eldest son of Hugh Rowlands (1831-1900) from Bangor and his Llanrwst-born wife Margaret née Williams who, at various times, were of  Liverpool, and of Wrexham, as father followed his profession of chemist. 'Late manager to Mrs Francis, Town Hill [Wrexham]', '1 Bridge Street, Wrexham' (1888)...   Eight years after O J's birth, Hugh and Margaret produced twins, then a number of other children, so I suspect that my surmise that the 'early' child is the one registered in 1853 or 4 as Williams, is correct.

Owen started life as a 'clerk' in Liverpool, and, in 1877, he married Jane Jones (I'm afraid so). And around that time, Owen's name began peeping out as a bass singer with the Liverpool Welsh Choral Union. I see him him in 1874 sharing a bill with a fuuture Cartesian soloist Lyn Cadwaladr and future star baritone James Sauvage. I see him singing the bass chestnut 'The Wolf' at Liverpool concerts, with the 'Liverpool-Cambrian' quartet, in concert with Ben Davies and Clara Perry, at Eistedfodds and St David's Day celebrations, up to 1887. In the 1881 census he is listed as 'Out Door Inspector, Parish Council'. Jane is dead, presumably in childbirth, and the infants would be looked after by their grandparents. 

Then, in 1888, he was hired by Carte and left on the City of Paris 4 February for America. On his return to England, he did not return to inspecting the outdoors. He changed his name, and headed for a career as a musical theatre basso. HUGH GWYNNE, as he now was, played in Dorothy at the Trafalgar Square Theatre,  in Under the Clock at the Court, went out on a long tour with Albert Chevalier as featured vocalist, and was seen in venues ranging from church in Wrexham, to the Pier Pavilion, Isle of Wight, and in 1896 ... the Theatre Royal Drury Lane. Hedmont was Faust in Augustus Harris's production of Gounod's opera. Another ex-Cartesian, Charles Manners, was Mephistopheles, and 'Hugh' was Wagner.

In 1897 he took an engagement with South Africa's Ernest Searelle, as leading bass-baritone of his musical company. I see him down south playing Admiral Hawser in The French Maid, Snug in Bonnie Boy Blue, Mateo in La Mascotte, Don Jose in Maritana ...

I don't know how long he stayed in Africa. But I don't see him again on the British stage. I merely see his death in 1920 reported in the South African records.

Well, he had a stage career he probably never expected to have when he was inspecting outsides. And Drury Lane ....

Glad I sorted him out.