Louie Henri

Louie Henri (12 April 1864 – 2 May 1947) was an English singer and actress, best known for her many roles in the Savoy Operas with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company. She married Henry Lytton, who eventually became the company's longstanding principal comedian.

Henri's career got off to an early start when she joined Florence St. John's Opera Company at the age of 15, but she left that troupe to help start her husband's acting career. Together, they struggled to establish more secure careers in the theatre and eventually obtained steady employment in D'Oyly Carte touring companies. Henri was promoted to play the leading mezzo-soprano roles in the Gilbert and Sullivan operas and the other productions of the company for about a decade. However, in 1898, after her husband became a principal player in the main company at the Savoy Theatre, Henri retired from the stage at the age of 34.

Henri was born Louisa Webber in Paddington, London, the daughter of William Webber, a cheese seller, and Eliza née Saville. Henri probably met her future husband, Henry Lytton, at St. Philip's Church, where he sang as a boy and she may also have sung.

Henri first appeared on stage in 1879 at the age of 15 with Florence St. John's Opera Company, performing in Jacques Offenbach's Madame Favart at the Strand Theatre and Edmond Audran's Olivette at the Avenue Theatre, both in 1880, in the latter of which she played a small role. She appeared in other operettas with St. John but left in 1881 to help Lytton begin his acting career. They joined the company at Philharmonic Theatre, Islington in several plays, including The Obstinate Bretons and The Shaughraun by Dion Boucicault, and then, with Kate Santley, played at the Royalty Theatre. There they appeared in Ixion, or the Man at the Wheel by F. C. Burnand, but the theatre closed soon afterwards. Henri rejoined St. John's company, playing in Bucalossi's Les Manteaux Noirs at the Avenue Theatre in 1882. She then rejoined Santley's company at the Royalty in 1883 in The Merry Duchess, but Lytton was out of acting work all this time and was forced to take a variety of odd jobs. Henri then played in the lavish 1883 Christmas pantomime of Cinderella at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. Henri and Lytton married in early 1884, both aged 19, at St. Mary Abbot's Church, Kensington. Neither family attended the ceremony.

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