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==