", 1898
Early years According to his entry in the
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Stuart was born in
Southport, on the
Lancashire coast on 15 March 1863. He was the younger son of Thomas Barrett, a cabinet-maker, and his wife, Mary Ann Burke,
née Lester, who were both from western Ireland. He grew up in
Liverpool, where he attended
St Francis Xavier's College. His family moved to
Manchester in 1873. He began his career aged 15 as organist at
Salford Cathedral. He held the post for seven years, and then moved to be organist at the
Church of the Holy Name, Manchester, where he remained for another seven years. To augment his salary he composed church music and taught. These concerts featured popular orchestral music and selections from
comic operas by such composers as
Sullivan and
Cellier, and excerpts from English
grand operas by
Balfe and
Wallace. Singers included
Zélie de Lussan,
Marie Roze,
Ben Davies,
David Ffrangcon-Davies,
Durward Lely and
Charles Manners. Instrumental soloists included
Ignacy Jan Paderewski and
Eugène Ysaÿe. Thomas Barrett had been property master at the Amphitheatre, Liverpool, and both his sons had quickly gained a taste for the theatre. Stuart's elder brother, Stephen (1855–1924), became a music-hall performer, appearing under the stage name Lester Barrett. '', 1899 Stuart's earliest theatrical composing and writing was also for the Manchester theatre. Here he provided songs and incidental music for, in particular, the local
pantomimes, which boasted famous names in their casts. Stuart made a name in the 1890s by writing popular individual numbers that were interpolated into several
West End and touring musicals by other composers. Later in his career, he would actively oppose this practice. The first of these songs was "Lousiana Lou". This had already been published and performed in
music hall before being picked up by
Ellaline Terriss and inserted, along with "The Little Mademoiselle", into the original production of
The Shop Girl (1894), at the
Gaiety Theatre. During the run of
George Edwardes's ''
An Artist's Model'' (1895), Stuart wrote several numbers that were interpolated (including "The Soldiers of the Queen", which was later famous as "Soldiers of the King"), and both wrote the lyric and composed "Trilby Will Be True" for Maurice Farkoa to perform at
Daly's Theatre. Subsequently he had songs used in
Baron Golosh,
The Circus Girl (1896), the London production of the American musical
A Day in Paris (1897),
Carl Kiefert's
The Ballet Girl (1897) and
The Yashmak (1897). Stuart composed some 65 songs including, in addition to those mentioned above, "The Bandolero", and "Little Dolly Daydream". His instrumental pieces included at least one Cakewalk. As a songwriter, Stuart suffered so much from the effects of copyright infringement that it can be speculated that his move to the musical theatre was an attempt to avoid the loss of royalty income from the publication of sheet music and performances. The music critic
Neville Cardus wrote about the "beautiful and unexpected phrasing and transitions" in the number, continuing, "it begins with a long phrase, rather like the opening bars of a
Brahms symphony. It is extraordinary to find music such as this in a musical comedy". He ended by writing that in its own way it was "just as perfect a composition … as is the quintet in
Meistersinger".
Florodora was followed by
The Silver Slipper (1901),
The School Girl (1903),
The Belle of Mayfair (1906), and
Havana (1908). All these shows were successful and were produced internationally. Stuart was an active campaigner for
intellectual property rights and called for tighter laws on both national and international
copyright. Publishers and wealthy second-rate songwriters would pay producers, for the exposure, to insert their songs into a hit musical. With the strength of the fame of
Florodora behind him, Stuart succeeded in stopping this practice in his next few pieces. Similarly, he had succeeded from time to time in parts of his fight in Britain and in America against unauthorized music distribution and on behalf of firmer national and international copyright laws. His next production,
The Slim Princess (1910), made only a modest impact, though it was produced in New York as well as in London.
Peggy was produced at the Gaiety in 1911 and had a reasonable but not outstanding run, from March to November in London, as well as a
Broadway run. In the words of Stuart's biographer
Andrew Lamb, these pieces "failed to add to his reputation". He was declared bankrupt in 1913 and not discharged until 1920. although he did write a number of songs that were inserted, against his principles, in the shows of other composers and a musical,
Bubbles (1914), that was produced only in the provinces on a small scale. They were collected and republished in 2003 under the title
My Bohemian Life. Stuart and his wife, Kitty, had five children who survived to adulthood,
Mary "May" (1886–1956), Thomas "Leslie" (1888–1970), Marie "Dollie" (1891–1949), Stephen "Chap" (b. 1894) and Constance "Lola" (b. 1896). Stuart died at his daughter May's home in
Richmond Hill, London in 1928, and was buried in
Richmond Cemetery following a requiem mass at
St Elizabeth of Portugal Church. ==Reputation and legacy==