No marriage aroused greater interest in musical circles than that of Miss Clara Butt and Mr. Kennerley Rumford in 1900. Both had earned big reputations on the concert platform, and it is said that Mr. Rumford actually proposed to his wife when they were singing the well-known duet, " The Keys of My Heart." It was at the Albert Hall in 1892 that Madame Butt made her first actual appearance on the concert platform, although it was on the stage at the Lyceum Theatre that she made her debut, and attracted great attention by singing in Gluck's "Orfeo," as a Royal College of Music student. The Albert Hall engagement was the outcome of her success on that occasion, the other soloists being Madame Albani, Mr. Edward Lloyd, and Sir Charles Santley. Madame Clara Butt was born at Southwick, Sussex, on February 1st, 1873. Her three sisters, Ethel, Pauline, and Hazel, are also clever singers, while her brother, Mr. Fred Butt, has achieved distinction as an actor. The famous singer has three children - Joy Clara, born in 1901; Roy, born in 1904; and Victor, born in 1906. Both Madame Butt and her husband are greatly devoted to their children, and when they went for their Australian tour in 1907 were accompanied by the youngsters. They reside at Hampstead, and, when engagements permit, there is nothing the famous contralto likes more than to retire to the country and indulge in her favourite recreations - riding and fishing.

Madame Clara Butt Dinham