About Hope Temple
Lived 1859 – 1938 (aged 78–79). Hope Temple was an Irish composer, songwriter and lyricist.
Hope Temple, born as Alice Maude Davis (27 December 1859 – 10 May 1938) was an Irish songwriter and composer. She was also known as Mrs André Messager.
Life Alice Davis was born in Dublin, Ireland, and was known professionally as Hope Temple. She moved with her family to England aged 12 and began composing ballads at the age of 14. Initially she studied music with the idea of becoming a pianist, but an injury in a riding accident caused her to give up her ambitions. Her teachers in London included John Francis Barnett (piano) and Edouard Silas (harmony and counterpoint). In the early 1890s she continued her studies in Paris with André Wormser and André Messager. In 1892, her operetta The Wooden Spoon was produced in London (also in New York, 1893), but she was known primarily for her songs, some of which became very popular. Her song My Lady's Bower is sung by Molly Bloom in James Joyce's Ulysses.
In 1892, a reproduction of a photograph of her taken by Alex Bassano of Old Bond Street, London, was published in the Strand Magazine, as part of a series called "Types of English Beauty".
In 1894, she assisted Messager in writing the opera Mirette, and then became his second wife in 1895.
Hope Temple died in Folkestone, England.
Selected works Stage The Wooden Spoon (1892) Mirette, opéra comique (1894), with Andre Messager, Fred E. Weatherly, Harry Greenbank and Adrian Ross
Songs In Sweet September (Fred E. Weatherly), 1880 Tis all that I can say (Thomas Hood), 1880 She Walks in Beauty (Lord Byron), 1881 An Old Garden (Helen Marion Burnside), c.1886 My Lady's Bower (Fred E. Weatherly), 1887 A Golden Argosy (Fred E. Weatherly), 1889 Love and Friendship (John Muir), 1889 Mary Grey (Clifton Bingham), 1890
Piano musicA Summer Dream (1895)A Night in Seville'' (c.1921)
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Important facts
People in Hope Temple's life
Named in this biography and alive at the same time
Contemporaries
People whose lives overlapped Hope Temple's
Frequently asked questions
Who was Hope Temple?
Irish songwriter and composer (1859–1938)
When was Hope Temple born?
Hope Temple was born in 1859 in Dublin, Dublino.
When did Hope Temple die?
Hope Temple died in 1938 in Folkestone.
What was Hope Temple's occupation?
Hope Temple was a composer, songwriter and lyricist.
What nationality was Hope Temple?
Hope Temple was Irish.
Sources & further reading
Cite this page
APA: Biography.guide. (2026). Hope Temple. https://biography.guide/hope-temple/
MLA: "Hope Temple." Biography.guide, https://biography.guide/hope-temple/.
Chicago: "Hope Temple." Biography.guide. https://biography.guide/hope-temple/.
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