Courtice Pounds

Who was Courtice Pounds?

Charles Courtice Pounds, better known by the stage name Courtice Pounds, was an English singer and actor known for his performances in the tenor roles of the Savoy Operas with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company and his later roles in Shakespeare plays and Edwardian musical comedies.

As a young member of D'Oyly Carte, Pounds played tenor leads in New York and on tour in Britain and continental Europe. After being promoted to principal tenor at the Savoy Theatre, he created the principal tenor roles in The Yeomen of the Guard, The Gondoliers, The Nautch Girl and Haddon Hall. After leaving the D'Oyly Carte company, Pounds was a prominent performer during the transition of light musical theatre from comic opera to musical comedy, creating roles in the West End in both genres between the 1890s and the 1920s. The new musical comedies in which he starred included the hits Chu Chin Chow and Lilac Time.