Kate Carney

Kate Carney (born Catherine Mary Pattinson; 15 August 1869 – 1 January 1950) was an English singer and comedienne who played the music halls in London.

Biography She was born in the London district of Southwark. Her father worked in a double act, the Brothers Raynard, and her mother also performed on stage. Kate began singing on stage as Kate Patterson; in 1886, she married George Shea, who assumed the stage name Barclay and performed in a double act, "Barclay and Perkins, the Brewers of Mirth".

After a break when her first two sons were born, she reappeared in 1890 under the name Kate Carney at the Albert Music Hall in Canning Town, singing Irish ballads such as "Here's My Love to Old Ireland". She soon became popular, and gradually replaced the Irish songs in her act with Cockney songs, including "Three Pots a Shilling" and "Sarah, Sarah (A Donkey Cart Built for Two)". She became known as "The Cockney Queen", "The Coster Queen", or "The Coster Comedienne". Writer Roy Busby described her as "..a buxom woman, dressed in a coster dress of pearly and a large hat trimmed with enormous ostrich plumes... Her songs combined a ripe humour with the pathos of East London life...". Among her most successful songs were "Has Anyone Seen My Yiddisher Boy?", "When the Summer Comes Again", "Three Pots a Shilling", and "Are We to Part Like This, Bill?", written by Harry Castling and Charles Collins. She appeared in her first Royal Variety Performance in 1912.

Carney also appeared on BBC radio, and continued to perform until her last broadcast in 1949. Upon her eightieth birthday on August 15, she received "best wishes" from Queen Mary that "the coming years may bring many happy days". Carney died four-and-a-half months later, on New Year's Day, 1950. She had five children with her husband George Shea She was also the mother-in-law of Canadian dancer Gladys Mavius.

Songs Are We to Part Like This, Bill Three Pots a Shilling Sarah A Donkey Cart Built for Two Here's To An English Tar Mother, I Love You Stand Up For The Rose There's A Nice Little Home A-Waiting