Herbert Sullivan

Herbert Sullivan (right) with his uncle, Arthur Sullivan, c. 1890 Herbert Thomas Sullivan (31 August 1868 – 26 November 1928), known as "Bertie", was the nephew, heir and biographer of the British composer Arthur Sullivan. He grew up as his uncle's ward and worked briefly as an engineer. After his uncle's death, Sullivan became active in charitable work and performed tasks for the British government. He was co-author of a 1927 biography of Arthur Sullivan, well received but was later discredited because of its suppression of diary entries that mentioned the composer's gambling and sexual activity.

Sullivan inherited many of his uncle's papers and original music manuscripts. He left most of these to his wife, who died in 1957, and they finally were sold to collectors in 1966.

Early years Sullivan was the fourth child and eldest son of Frederic and Charlotte Sullivan, one of eight siblings. When Fred Sullivan died aged 39 in 1877, his younger brother, the composer Arthur Sullivan, made himself responsible for the support of Fred's widow and eight children. In 1881 Charlotte married Captain Benjamin Hutchinson, a man 13 years her junior. Charlotte emigrated to the US in 1883 with her husband and all her children except Herbert, who remained in England under the care of his uncle. At the age of nine, Sullivan began boarding school in Brighton, England, and later attended Christ's Hospital school. He studied in Germany from the autumn of 1884.

Arthur Sullivan's health was precarious from the 1880s onwards, and Herbert often accompanied his uncle to the South of France and other resorts where the composer rested or spent holidays. In 1886 Herbert returned to England from his studies in Germany, and he worked for ten months for Robert Fowler of the steam engine company John Fowler & Co. From 1889 to 1890, he was working for Siemens in Charlton, London, where the company manufactured undersea cables. In October 1890, at 22 years of age, Herbert was engaged for an engineering job surveying for the laying of cable between Caribbean islands and Brazil which continued, off and on, during 1891. He returned to England in September of that year. After this Herbert worked for much of the time for Brush Electrical Engineering in Loughborough and London until 1894. He then spent the rest of the 1890s primarily as his uncle's companion at the theatre, and on trips, and managed Arthur's affairs when he was ill. Though never formally adopted, Herbert was in many respects Arthur Sullivan's adopted son. He was at his uncle's bedside at his death in 1900.

When Arthur died, the German Emperor Wilhelm, an admirer of Sullivan's works, sent Herbert a personal message of condolence. Herbert remained friendly with his uncle's collaborator, W. S. Gilbert, after Arthur's death; when Herbert organised a Garrick Club dinner in 1908 in honour of Gilbert, the dramatist wrote, "My dear Sullivan, There is little need to tell you how deeply I appreciate the good feeling that actuated you in organizing yesterday's most successful dinner. It is an instance of friendship that can never fade from my memory". Even after Gilbert's death, Herbert remained friendly with Lady Gilbert.

Later years

After his uncle's death, Herbert Sullivan inherited the bulk of the composer's estate, including his diaries and many of his important musical manuscripts, and managed the rights to publish, perform, broadcast and record his uncle's works. He lived in Brightlingsea Manor House from 1903 until 1921; an accomplished sailor, he organised an annual regatta at the nearby Colne Yacht Club, of which he was a member. He became a member of the London Stock Exchange and Deputy of the Cinque Port of Brightlingsea. During the First World War, Herbert became a King's Messenger, using his yacht, "Zola", to deliver messages to Belgium and also to pose as a tourist, while observing German naval activities. While on his yacht, in 1921, he retrieved mail from the English Channel after an aeroplane crash. In 1923 he married Elena Margarita Vincent. He served as Warden of the Worshipful Company of Musicians in 1925 and as Master of the Company in 1926.

In 1927 Sullivan collaborated with Newman Flower on a biography of Arthur Sullivan. As Sullivan and Flower had exclusive access to the composer's diaries, the biography was regarded at the time as uniquely authoritative. Subsequently, when wider access to the diaries became possible, it was seen that Sullivan had suppressed mention of his uncle's gambling and womanising, and this evasion, combined with the lack of musical analysis in the biography, led to a lowering of its status among scholars. His estate included many of his uncle's manuscripts. His widow remarried about 1929, becoming Mrs Elena M. Bashford. She died in 1957, and the manuscripts were sold at auction in 1966 by her estate, some going to museums and collectors in America and others remaining in England. Several of the autograph scores were purchased by the Gilbert and Sullivan scholar and collector Dr Terence Rees and others by dealers.

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