Harry Lauder sings 'A Trip to Inverary,' recorded in London in March 1908.
From Wikipedia: Sir Harry Lauder (4 August 1870 - 26 February 1950) was a Scottish singer and comedian popular in both music hall and vaudeville theatre traditions; he achieved international success.
He was described by Sir Winston Churchill as 'Scotland's greatest ever ambassador' who 'by his inspiring songs and valiant life, rendered measureless service to the Scottish race and to the British Empire...'
Lauder's understanding of life, its pathos and joys, earned him his popularity. Beniamino Gigli commended his singing voice and clarity...
Lauder was born on 4 August 1870 in his maternal grandfather's house in Portobello, Edinburgh, Scotland, the eldest of seven children... To finance his education beyond age 11, Harry worked part-time at a flax mill. He made his first public appearance...when he was 13 years old, winning first prize for the night (a watch!)
In 1884 the family went to Hamilton, South Lanarkshire, to live with Isabella's brother, Alexander, who found Harry employment at Eddlewood Colliery at ten shillings per week; he kept this job for a decade...
[He was advised] to gain experience by touring music halls around the country with a concert party, which he did. The tour allowed him to quit the coal mines and become a professional singer...
In March [1900], Lauder travelled to London and reduced the heavy dialect of his act which according to a biographer, Dave Russell, 'handicapped Scottish performers in the metropolis.' He was an immediate success at the Charing Cross Music Hall and the London Pavilion...
In 1905 Lauder's success in leading the Howard & Wyndham pantomime at the Theatre Royal, Glasgow, for which he wrote I Love a Lassie, made him a national star...
In 1912, he was top of the bill at Britain's first ever Royal Command Performance, in front of King George V...Lauder undertook world tours extensively during his forty-year career, including 22 trips to the United States...and made several trips to Australia, where his brother John had emigrated.
Lauder was, at one time, the highest-paid performer in the world, making the equivalent of £12,700 a night plus expenses...
During the war Lauder promoted recruitment into the services and starred in many concerts for troops at home and abroad...
Following the December 1916 death of his son on the Western Front; Lauder led successful charity fundraising efforts, organised a recruitment tour of music halls and entertained troops in France with a piano. He travelled to Canada in 1917 on a fundraising exercise for the war, where, on 17 November he was guest-of-honour and speaker at the Rotary Club of Toronto Luncheon, when he raised nearly three-quarters of a million dollars worth of bonds for Canada's Victory Loan. Through his efforts in organising concerts and fundraising appeals he established the charity, the Harry Lauder Million Pound Fund, for maimed Scottish soldiers and sailors, to help servicemen return to health and civilian life; and he was knighted in May 1919 for Empire service during the War.
After the First World War, Lauder continued to tour variety theatre circuits...His final tour was in North America in 1932. He made plans for a new house at Strathaven, to be built over the site and ruin of an old manor, called Lauder Ha'. He was semi-retired in the mid-1930s, until his final retirement was announced in 1935. He briefly emerged from retirement to entertain troops during the war and make wireless broadcasts with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra...
Lauder wrote most of his own songs...
Lauder made his first recordings...for the Gramophone & Typewriter company early in 1902...His final recordings were made in 1940...
On 19 June 1891 Lauder married Ann, daughter of James Vallance, a colliery manager in Hamilton...Their only son John was killed in action on 28 December 1916 at Pozières. Encouraged by Lady Ann, Lauder returned to the stage three days after learning of John's death. He wrote the song 'The End of the Road...in the wake of John's death, and built a monument for him in the private Lauder cemetery in Glenbranter...
Lady Lauder died on 31 July 1927, at 54, a week after surgery. She was buried next to her son's memorial... Lauder's niece, Margaret (1900-1966), subsequently became his secretary and companion until his death...
Lauder...spent his last years at Lauder Ha (or Hall), his Strathaven home, where he died on 26 February 1950, aged 79...Lauder was interred with his brother George and their mother in the family plot at Bent Cemetery in Hamilton...
I made this transfer from Gramophone Monarch 02155.