Elsie Griffin

Elsie Griffin (6 December 1895 – 21 December 1989) was an English opera singer, best known for her performances in the soprano roles of the Savoy Operas with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company.

Beginning her career by entertaining British troops in France during World War I, she popularised such songs as "Danny Boy". She was a principal soprano with the D'Oyly Carte from 1919 to 1926, also recording several of her roles with the company both during that time and afterwards. She married another D'Oyly Carte performer, J. Ivan "Jimmy" Menzies, in 1923. She continued her singing and acting careers into the 1950s, including tours with the Carl Rosa Opera Company from 1934 to 1937.

Elsie Griffin was born in Bristol, England, and sang onstage as a child prodigy. She attended the St. Michael's on the Mount Primary School. She was joint winner in the mezzo-soprano category at the Bristol Music Festival in 1914. During World War I, she made her professional debut in the concerts of Lena Ashwell's company, formed at the request of King George V, singing concerts to entertain Britain's troops in France. John Arlott wrote of her, "Hers was the voice in Fred Weatherly's songs, "Danny Boy" and "Roses of Picardy", that is preserved in the mind's ear of surviving 1914–18 trench fodder." Her performances of these two songs made them into two of the most popular hits of the era.

After further concert work in 1918, Griffin was engaged by the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company in 1919, immediately appearing on tour in the leading roles of Josephine in H.M.S. Pinafore and Gianetta in The Gondoliers, and in the smaller part of Kate in The Yeomen of the Guard. She soon added (sometimes sharing) the leading roles of Aline in The Sorcerer, Mabel in The Pirates of Penzance and Phyllis in Iolanthe. She also briefly played the small role of Lady Ella in Patience. She was immediately singled out for praise: The Observer called her "a vocalist of real distinction". Her colleague, Derek Oldham said of her Mabel, "Every note dead in its centre, every run as clear as a whistle, and the whole number sung with an ease and mastery which has never been bettered." In 1921, she added the roles of Yum-Yum in The Mikado and Rose Maybud in Ruddigore.

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