Albert Chevalier

Albert Chevalier born Albert Onésime Britannicus Gwathveoyd Louis Chevalier; (21 March 1861 – 10 July 1923), was an English music hall comedian, singer and musical theatre actor. He specialised in cockney related humour based on life as a costermonger in London during the Victorian era. Owing to this and his ability to write songs, he became known to his audiences as the "costers' laureate".

Born in London, Chevalier showed an interest in entertainment from an early age through his private performances to family and friends. He made his debut on the amateur stage when he was eight, performing in Julius Caesar, at the local Cornwall Hall. Soon after he joined a local amateur dramatics group before changing his stage name to "Albert Knight".

Chevalier joined the music hall circuit in the 1880s and over the decade became very successful. His success meant that from the early 1890s he was able to choose which theatres to perform in and often performing at three or four halls each night. Together with his brother Charles Ingle he wrote a number of highly successful coster songs to support his act including "Wot cher!, or, Knocked 'em in the Old Kent Road", "The Future Mrs. 'Awkins", "Appy 'Ampstead", and the melodrama "My Old Dutch". As well as in London, Chevalier became popular with audiences in the English provinces which he toured over the length of his career.

During the 1910s Chevalier moved from comedy into music composition for straight plays. With a deteriorating health his final appearance was in My Old Dutch at the Lyceum Theatre in 1920. The play was based on Chevalier's own song of the same name and had some success. The play ran for over a year and Chevalier completed his last performance in November 1922. He died aged 62 and was buried in Abney Park cemetery in the same plot as his son and father in law George Leybourne.

Chevalier was born Albert Onesime Britannicus Gwathveoyd Louis Chevalier, at 21 St Anne's Villas, Royal Crescent, London. The son of Jean Onésime Chevalier, a French master at Kensington School, and his Welsh wife, Ellen Louisa Mathews; he had five siblings, two of whom died in infancy. His surviving brothers were Bertram, who in later life became a freelance photographer, and Auguste, who was better known as Charles Ingle, a composer of music hall songs. Chevalier was educated at Clanricarde College, Bayswater, and later, St Mary's College, Richmond. From a young age he showed an interest in acting and privately performed scenes from The September Gale for his family when he was eight years old.

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