| Walter Laburnum | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | George Walter Davis (1847-06-15)15 June 1847 Hendon, Middlesex, England |
| Died | 28 March 1902(1902-03-28) (aged 54) London, England |
| Occupation | Comic entertainer |
| Years active | 1870s–c.1900 |
Walter Laburnum (born George Walter Davis; 15 June 1847 – 28 March 1902) was an English music hall performer.
Biography
Born in Hendon, Laburnum worked as a beer and wine seller before becoming a professional performer in the 1870s. He became well known as a singer of "coster songs", and for parodying the style of popular lions comiques, in particular George Leybourne, with songs such as "Fashionable Fred". Leybourne was known for driving around the capital in a carriage drawn by four white ponies; Laburnum used a cart drawn by four donkeys. Laburnum also sang "Dr. De Jongh's Cod Liver Oil", mocking the use of fashionable new medical remedies. He was known as "The Star of the East", a reference to the East End of London.
Also billed as "The Royal Comic", Laburnum toured with his concert party in later years. He died in London in 1902, aged 54, and was buried at Abney Park Cemetery.
References
- Harold Scott, The Early Doors: Origins of the Music Hall, Nicholson & Watson, 1946, p.214
- "Fashionable Fred", Monologues.co.uk. Retrieved 7 March 2021
- ^ "Cod Liver Oil", Folk Song and Music Hall. Retrieved 7 March 2021
- Michael Kilgarriff, Grace, Beauty and Banjos: Peculiar Lives and Strange Times of Music Hall and Variety Artistes, Oberon Books, 1998, ISBN 1-84002-116-0, p.151
- "Music Hall Artistes In Abney Park Cemetery", Spitalfields Life, 10 June 2019. Retrieved 7 March 2021
External links
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