MS Mus. 1844/3/10

(1). Correspondence between Bridget D'Oyly Carte and Reginald Allen:

• 21 Aug 1957. D'Oyly Carte to Allen. Typed letter signed (3 sheets, 'The D'Oyly Carte Opera Company Ltd' letterhead). Refers to radio broadcast by Hesketh Pearson ('the carpet quarrel'), and to assisting Allen in his research for The First Night Gilbert and Sullivan (1958): 'I went to the British Museum this week and checked on the two Princess Ida programmes and the Sorcerer revival and Patience programmes that you wanted me to look at.' Letter ends by noting that 'Mrs Bashford died yesterday'.
• 28 Aug 1957. D'Oyly Carte to Allen. Typed letter signed (2 blue sheets, 'Savoy Hotel London' letterhead). Further remarks on Hesketh Pearson.
• 28 Aug 1957. D'Oyly Carte to Allen. Typed letter signed (1 sheet, 'The D'Oyly Carte Opera Company Ltd' letterhead). 'I thought you might like to see these scripts' ['scripts' not present with letter].
• 25 Feb 1963. Allen to D'Oyly Carte. Typed letter signed (1 sheet, New York address). Refers to an error in his book: 'I was wrong in my book. Neither the Prince of Wales nor Gladstone were in the house for the first performance of Iolanthe on November 25, 1882.'
• Note: for the extensive correspondence between Reginald Allen and Bridget D'Oyly Carte, see the main archive: Add MS 89231/18/108-116.

(2). Elinor Pugh to Bridget D'Oyly Carte. 24 Feb 1958, from Mackmurdo's, Wickham Bishops, Witham, Essex. Autograph letter (1 sheet). Together with a newspaper cutting of an article by Isaac Goldberg, 'D'Oyly Carte's Place in the Savoyard Sun: The Man Who Brought Gilbert and Sullivan Together as Collaborators'. The letter notes an error in the article: 'With respect to your query concerning Goldberg's G&S statement that D'Oyly's father fought at Waterloo - of course this is an error. It was D'Oyly's grandfather who was Sergeant Major of the Life Guards Blue (I think that was the correct designation) who was the soldier.' Pugh also asks about the progress of Reginald Allen's book.

(3). Various letters and a telegram:

• 21 Jun 1957. Fladgate & Co (Solicitors) to Bridget D'Oyly Carte. Typed letter (3 sheets). Letter begins: 'I had a lengthy conference with Mr Roy Wilson Q.C. yesterday afternoon on the subject of Mrs Bashford's ownership of some of the original orchestral scores and as to whether the Royal Academy of Music, or the Royal College of Music, could be considered as libraries within Section 7 of The Copyright Act 1956.'
• 12 Mar 1961. F. Geoffrey Woodward to Bridget D'Oyly Carte. Typed letter signed (1 sheet) regarding the value of 'Gilbert and Sullivan material' (specified). With a reply (as typed copy and as autograph draft) dated 23 Mar 1961, offering '£25 for the whole lot'.
• 12 Jul 1977. Telegram from Bridget D'Oyly Carte to the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company Sadler's Wells: 'My best wishes to you all for this official press night of Iolanthe'.

(4). Notes concerning family history, on notepad paper in Bridget D'Oyly Carte's hand; a newspaper cutting (Boston Evening Transcript, 12 Jan 1935) about the linguist (and family member) Daniel Jones; autograph and typed notes headed 'Black Tin Box from Solicitors of Charlotte Rolandi' listing the contents (18th and 19th century Carte family papers).