Walter H. Fisher

Walter Henry Fisher (1849 – 189?) was an English singer and actor of the Victorian era best known as a member of the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company and the creator of the role of the Defendant in Gilbert and Sullivan's 1875 opera Trial by Jury. Beginning with much promise both in drama and as a versatile singer in opera, Fisher's career was limited by his struggle with alcoholism.

Born in Bristol, Fisher was the son of James Fisher (born 1812), a miniature artist and photographer. Fisher was performing as early as 1866 in Bristol in Guy Mannering as Henry Bertram, followed by other roles at that theatre, such as Laertes in Hamlet, Malcolm in Macbeth and Sir William Brandon in Richard III. He began his professional stage career in 1868 at Plymouth, at the Theatre Royal, in F. C. Burnand's burlesque Paris. Soon afterwards, he joined Captain Disney Roebuck's touring company, where he met his future wife Lottie Venne. He first appeared in London in 1872 as Ambroise in Broken Spells at the Court Theatre.

The next year, in the same house, he played The Right Honourable Mr. G, an impersonation of W. E. Gladstone, in W. S. Gilbert's burlesque The Happy Land. Fisher's interpretation of Gladstone was appreciated by audiences but was revised on the order of the Lord Chamberlain. Fisher then continued to play in comedy roles but made his first London appearance in light opera as Maraschino in Giroflé-Girofla at the Opera Comique in 1874.The Observer wrote of his performance, "It was for him a hazardous task to essay a character which is identified with Mario Widmer, one of the most fascinating jeunes premieres at present on the stage: and it is gratifying to say that Mr. Fisher suffered little if at all by comparison". Fisher's good looks and pleasing voice led him to a promising early career "at the Philharmonic, Royalty, Olympic and other theatres [where] he became the original exponent of many notable operatic and dramatic works. By Messrs. Montague, James and Thorne, he was selected [to create] the part of Jack Wyatt (Two Roses) in the provinces."

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