Harriet Cawse
Harriet Catherine Fiddes | |
|---|---|
| Born | Harriet Catherine Cawse 6 October 1811 |
| Died | 18 February 1889 (aged 77) Halifax, England |
| Occupations | opera singer and teacher |
| Spouse | John Fiddes |
| Parent(s) | Mary and John Cawse |
| Relatives | Mary Cawse (sister) |
Harriet Catherine Fiddes born Harriet Catherine Cawse (October 6, 1811 – February 18, 1889) was an English singer, actress and singing tutor. She worked in Australia for a while.
Life
Fiddes was born in 1811 in the London area of Bloomsbury.[1] She was the daughter of an actor Mary (born Fraser) and a painter John Cawse. Her elder sister Mary Cawse was also an opera singer.[2][3]
Harriet and her elder sister Mary studied voice under Sir George Smart. Through Smart they came to the attention of Carl Maria von Weber,[2][3] and the Cawse sisters sang in the second London performance of his cantata The Offering of Devotion at the Shrine of Nature in the Argyll Rooms in 1825.[4]
She was in a melodrama about Queen Anne Boleyn, and in 1825 she sang Fly Away, Dove in The Hebrew Family at the Covent Garden theatre that became her own.[1] She returned the following year to appear in Von Weber's romantic opera Oberon in a lead role of Puck on 12 April 1826.[5]
She married John Fiddes in 1835. Josephine Fiddes was born in 1839[6] and there was another child, Frederica, but the marriage failed and Fiddes emigrated to Australia in November 1852[7] during the years of the Gold Rush. She went on tours that took in California after one to Honolulu. She returned to Britain.[1] In 1861 she published an account of her arrival in Australia (in 1852) for the British magazine Once a Week.[7] In the same year her daughter Josephine was appearing in Rob Roy in Sydney as "Mrs McGregor".[6][6]
In 1886 her daughter was in England starring at the New Holborn Theatre with George Belmore in The Flying Scud.[8]
Fiddes died at Frederica's home in Halifax in 1889.[1]
References
- ^ a b c d Lamb, Andrew (2026-02-12), "Cawse [married name Fiddes], Harriet Catherine (1811–1889), singer and actress", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, doi:10.1093/odnb/9780198614128.013.90000383201, ISBN 978-0-19-861412-8, retrieved 2026-02-27
{{citation}}: CS1 maint: work parameter with ISBN (link) - ^ a b "From My Study". The Musical Times: 75. 1 Feb 1893.
- ^ a b "The Late Mrs. Edmunds". The Musical World. 25 (18): 276–77. 1850-05-04.
- ^ Carl Maria von Weber Complete Edition. Digitale Edition, http://weber-total-issue.de/A001EB4 ( Version 4.6.1 30 September 2022 ) Last modified on 16 December 2017
- ^ Casaglia, Gherardo (2005). "Oberon, 12 April 1826". L'Almanacco di Gherardo Casaglia (in Italian)
- ^ a b c "Australharmony - Biographical register F (Fa-Fiz)". www.sydney.edu.au. Archived from the original on 2026-01-22. Retrieved 2026-02-28.
- ^ a b "Once a Week (magazine)/Series 1/Volume 5/My arrival in Australia - Wikisource, the free online library". en.wikisource.org. Retrieved 2026-02-28.
- ^ Berry-Waite, Lisa (2025-07-29). "Rediscovering Josephine Fiddes and her forgotten Australian novel – Robyn Floyd". Women's History Network. Retrieved 2026-02-28.