Gwynne was born
Julia Lavinia Putney at
Marylebone, London, England in 1856 to David Putney and his wife, who owned the 'Black Boy'
public house in Hampstead.
Early career George Edwardes, later Gwynne's husband, was a manager for
Richard D'Oyly Carte at the
Opera Comique and later Carte's managing director of the
Savoy Theatre. He brought Gwynne with him in 1879 to join the chorus in D'Oyly Carte's company in
Gilbert and Sullivan's hit opera
H.M.S. Pinafore. Gwynne's sister, actress Emma Gwynne (born Emma Putney), also sang in
Iolanthe with Gwynn. During
Pinafore, Gwynne was called before the
stage manager,
Richard Barker, for laughing on stage during a performance. Despite her protest that it was only her "natural amiable expression," she was fined
half a crown. Gwynne then played Maria in
Frank Desprez and
Alfred Cellier's companion piece,
After All! from 1879–80, when
Jessie Bond travelled to New York City to create the role of Edith in the American production of
The Pirates of Penzance. When
Pirates received its London premiere in April 1880, Gwynne created the role of Edith there. Bond returned in July to play Edith, and Gwynne switched to the smaller role of Kate and also played the role of Mrs. Liverby in the new curtain raiser,
In the Sulks, by Desprez and Cellier. Gwynne created the part of Lady Saphir in the next Gilbert and Sullivan opera,
Patience, which opened in April 1881, and she played Mrs. Liverby when
In the Sulks was part of the programme. She also played the role of Lady Melusine in Gilbert's
Broken Hearts at a benefit performance at the Savoy in 1882 and again in 1885. Gwynne next created the role of Leila in
Iolanthe in 1882 but left the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company in January 1883.
Later years ,
Leonora Braham,
Jessie Bond and Gwynne at
Sullivan's memorial in 1914 Gwynne then created the part of Dmitri in
Herman Charles Merivale's adaptation of
Sardou's Fédora at the
Haymarket Theatre in May 1883. In the summer of 1883, she returned to the Savoy Theatre, playing Leila in
Iolanthe again. After that, it appears that she left D'Oyly Carte for the last time. Although musical director
Francois Cellier described her as the "life and soul" of the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company, stage manager Richard Barker continued to fine Gwynne for laughing on stage or for unauthorised costume augmentations. She joked with
W. S. Gilbert that the Savoy Theatre was "built out of her fines." and in
The Bachelors, an adaptation from the German by
Robert Williams Buchanan and
Hermann Vezin. Gwynne retired from the stage following the birth of her daughter (Dorothy) and son (D'Arcy). Together with
George Power,
Jessie Bond and
Leonora Braham, she was one of four artistes of the original
D'Oyly Carte Opera Company who attended a reunion at the
Savoy Hotel in 1914. The four then posed for a group photograph beside the
Arthur Sullivan Memorial in the
Victoria Embankment Gardens. Gwynne died in London on 10 June 1934. == Notes ==