Stage Name David Somerville

[Ianbuchanan]

I am trying to get some information on my Gt Grandad David Thomsons stage career. My mum has told me he had his own touring troup around Scotland and possibly all of Britain. She also said he toured with Harry Lauder and entertained the troops during the first world war.

Stage name apparantly David Somerville (not sure of the spelling)

On my Grans death cert (1981) and Marriage (1928) cert he is listed as "Actor"

The 1911 census lists him as a "public entertainer"

In his marriage reg in 1904, he is listed as "metalic worker" Which is also listed as his profession on my Gt grans death cert in 1979 and Grans birth cert in 1905.
So I guess it was after 1905 he moved to the stage.

He was born 1883.
I havent been able to find his death details yet, but my mum reckons it was late 40s or 50s. (any ideas?)

Any help in finding out about his acting/theatre career would be most appreciated.

[Megan Roberts]

You need to provide more information for people to help.

Where was living at all these different times?

What was you Gt Grans name?

[fullscott]

There's a "Captain Somerville" who performed at the Royal Caledonian Society of Melbourne (Australia) in the 1920's. As did Harry Lauder.
Lots more "hits" - just no time to look properly! (Having problems with Google at the moment so I used 'Ask Jeeves' - searched for David Somerville Harry Lauder).

Jane

[Ianbuchanan]

Sorry for the missing info.
His wife was Agnes Smith McAuley-dob 24/1/1884
His parents were David Thomson and Elizabeth Harrington.
He was born in the Burgh of Bridgeton in Glasgow.
1911 census has him in Glasgow, probably Shettleston.
Marriage was in 1904 in Shettleston.
In 1928 he was still in Shettleston.

As I said can't find his death anywhere.

Thanks for that Jane. From my own Google search Google hasn't sprung up anything that I think is him.
I will ask if there was a possibility he called himself Captain Someville. But he definetly wasn't in the Army at any stage.
Alledgedly there was a family photo of him standing in front of a Theatre Listing with him as the headline and Lauder as his support! But that has been lost.

[Coromandel]

Hello and welcome to the forum

Papers of the Scottish Music Hall Society and the Harry Lauder Society have been deposited at the National Library of Scotland. The records are described here:

https://www.
nls.uk/catalogues/online/cnmi/inventories/acc11446.pdf

There's also a Scottish Theatre Archive, held at the University of Glasgow:

https://www.
gla.ac.uk/services/specialcollections/collectionsa-z/scottishtheatrearchive/

[Ianbuchanan]

Thanks again Coromandel.

Looking at the inventory if there is going to be anything, it will be in The national Library of Scotland.

Probably a silly question but I take it the only way of searching those records will be a visit to Edinburgh?

[Coromandel]

Probably a silly question but I take it the only way of searching those records will be a visit to Edinburgh?

I don't know, sorry. They sound the sort of thing that would be a long way down the list of priorities for digitisation. I'm sure the National Library of Scotland would provide a more definite answer if you e-mailed them.

If you can't visit Edinburgh yourself, you could commission someone up there to search on your behalf. If the societies mentioned in post #5 still exist, they may be able to recommend someone who knows their way round those papers (or who has other ideas for how to answer your initial question).

[malcolm99]

I’ve skimmed through a couple of Harry Lauder books that are available via the Internet Archive but didn’t come across a reference which could have pointed towards you G-Grandfather.

However, there are a couple of books that might mention him.

1. J. H. Littlejohn. The Scottish music hall 1880-1990 . Publisher: G. C. Book Publishers, 1990.

2. Frank Bruce. Scottish Showbusiness: Music Hall, Variety and Pantomime . Publisher: National Museums of Scotland, 2000

Unfortunately Essex libraries doesn’t hold either of these titles although they could obtain them for you through the Inter-Library Loan system.

Depending on how much Essex Libraries charge for this service (just give your local library a ring) then it might be cheaper to invest in second hand copies. If you put, say, abe, into your favourite search engine you’ll find copies of these books at less than £4 each (including p & p).

[Ianbuchanan]

A wee update. Found out his stage name was actually David Summerhill.

Summerhill being his stepfathers name. Still can't find any actual info on his career yet.

[REP1829]

I have had success tracing various branches of my performing family using contemporary newspapers. Music Hall performers would place ads in "The Stage" and "The Era" looking for partners, engagements, and generally promoting themselves. In some cases they gave their addresses; births, deaths, and gossip columns have been helpful too. I put "David Summerhill" into a newspaper search engine which incudes "The Era" but came up empty. Harry Lauder was obviously a big name, however, because there are almost 3,000 "hits". I don't currently have a subscription to "The Stage", but a 24 hour subscription is 5 pounds. Good Luck.