The below letters from Gilbert to a young lady called Dorothy Hudson. These letters invite Dorothy to see his new show ‘The Yeomen of the Guard’ which Dorothy kept and passed down her family. With the letters she kept the programme, flyer and her ticket to the show. These artefacts very kindly supplied to us by Amy Robinson – author, performance storyteller and ventriloquist. Amy is a close friend of the cast, and a relation of Dorothy Hudson. This is what Amy tells us about the letters from Gilbert:

“Dorothy Hudson (b1890) was the daughter of Sir Robert Arundell Hudson, and would later become the mother of Robert Vernon-Harcourt, whose widow left me these letters. The letters tell their own story – Dorothy must have met Gilbert and made an impression, since he wrote her address on his cuff! He invited her to the Yeoman of the Guard at the Savoy, sent her tickets and the programme is proof that she went. Without her side of the correspondence, though, we may never know whether she enjoyed it – or whether she met her ‘agreeable little playfellow’ Gilbert again.”

“Robert Arundell Hudson, Dorothy’s father, was a writer himself (I have one of his books) and owner of an extensive library. In fact, I heard on the radio not long ago that they’re looking for a missing full score of a G&S opera that was last heard of in the library of Robert Arundell Hudson – sadly, I didn’t inherit that one, and I’m fairly sure it was never in Robert and Jane’s possession!”

We know that Dorothy took up Gilbert’s invitation to see his new show The Yeomen of the Guard, because she kept the ticket and the programme from performance. At the time of the correspondence Dorothy was only 18, Gilbert was 72! It is suspected that she may have been a love interest of Gilbert, we cannot know exactly what Gilbert meant when he called her ‘agreeable little playfellow’

Huge thanks to Amy Robinson for allowing us to display these wonderful artifacts in our programme and on our website for our 75th Anniversary show, The Yeomen of the Guard!