{{Short description|Australian singer (1890–1975)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=September 2024}} {{Infobox person | name = Eileen Boyd | image = Miss Eileen Boyd (cropped).jpg | caption = Miss Eileen Boyd | birth_name = Eileen Alberta Boyd | birth_date = 13 December 1890 | birth_place = [[Sydney]] | death_date = 14 September 1975 | death_place = [[Hammondville, New South Wales|Hammondville]] | death_cause = | other_names = Mrs Gordon Lane | known_for = contralto | education = | employer = | occupation = singer | spouse = Hugh Ernest Roberts<br>Gordon Lane | partner = | children = two and step-daughter }} '''Eileen Alberta Boyd''' became '''Mrs Gordon Lane''' (13 December 1890 – 14 September 1975) was an Australian singer. She began as a child performer and she toured in the UK during World War One.
==Life== Boyd was born in 1890 in [[Sydney]] to Margaret (born Shalvey) and Albert Boyd. Both her parents had been born in Australia and her father ran a hotel. Her parents arranged lessons for her in singing and elocution and she was a child singer. She toured New Zealand in 1900 when she was known as "The Baby Baritone, Clog Dancer and Whistler". She continued her education with a tutor while on tour.<ref name=eadrdb/> In 1910 a concert was arranged in Sydney to mark her transition from a child performer to a singer with a fine contralto voice.<ref>{{Cite news |date=1910-04-02 |title=THE EILEEN BOYD CONCERT. |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/15138483 |access-date=2024-09-15 |work=Sydney Morning Herald}}</ref> In 1915 she married in Britain in May and in October she was a widow with a child and a young teenage step-daughter. Her husband, Hugh Ernest Roberts had been a master mariner.<ref name=eadrdb/>
In 1917 she sang at the [[Royal Albert Hall]] in London and many prestigious venues when she joined a tour in support of the [[Red Cross]] starring and organised by [[Clara Butt]] and [[Kennerley Rumford]]. She and Butt were "favourably compared" and they sang [[The Dream of Gerontius]] being [[George V]] and Queen Mary in 1917. By 1925, she had two children although she still found time to sing as Mrs Gordan Lane.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Australian Home Vol. 32 No. 901 (22 May 1925) |url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-3144842159/view?sectionId=nla.obj-3147131575&searchTerm=%22eileen+boyd%22&partId=nla.obj-3144881169#page/n21/mode/1up |access-date=2024-09-15 |website=Trove |language=en}}</ref>
In 1934 she was still using the name "Eileen Boyd" when recording. In 1937 it was "Mrs Gordon Lane" who commissioned a pastel portrait from the Australian artist [[Dora Wilson]]. It was called "Nada" and it was exhibited at ''Margaret MacLean's Gallery'' in Melbourne.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Melbourne Chatter in Vol. 58 No. 2983 (14 Apr 1937) |url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-568033536/view?sectionId=nla.obj-571577422&partId=nla.obj-568065777#page/n35/mode/1up/search/lane |access-date=2024-09-15 |website=Trove |language=en}}</ref>
Boyd died in 1975 in [[Hammondville, New South Wales|Hammondville]].<ref name=eadrdb>{{Citation |last=Broomham |first=Rosemary |title=Eileen Alberta Boyd (1890–1975) |work=Australian Dictionary of Biography |url=https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/boyd-eileen-alberta-9558 |access-date=2024-09-14 |place=Canberra |publisher=National Centre of Biography, Australian National University |language=en}}</ref>
==Recordings include== [[File:Eileen boyd Stranger of Galilee.jpg|thumb|Stranger of Galilee]] * [[Your King and Country Want You]], Jumbo, c. 1915<ref name=uu>{{Citation |title=78 Record: Harold Black - Fall In (1914) |url=https://www.45worlds.com/78rpm/record/nc671533uk |access-date=2024-09-14 |language=en}}</ref> *''The Stranger of Galilee'',1934<ref>{{Cite web |title=Eileen Boyd |url=https://www.45worlds.com/78rpm/artist/eileen-boyd |access-date=2024-09-14 |website=45worlds |language=en}}</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
== External links == * [https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/boyd-eileen-alberta-9558 Biography at ADB]
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Boyd, Eileen Alberta}} [[Category:1890 births]] [[Category:1975 deaths]] [[Category:People from Sydney]] [[Category:Australian contraltos]]