page_title: Bertha Lewis
section_title: Principal contralto and untimely death
hierarchical_section_title: Bertha Lewis / Life and career / Principal contralto and untimely death
caption_attribution_description: English: Photo of Frederick Hobbs, James Hay and Bertha Lewis in The Pirates of Penzance, 1919.
context_page_description: Bertha Amy Lewis was an English opera singer and actress primarily known for her work as principal contralto in the Gilbert and Sullivan comic operas with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company.
context_section_description: She returned to the company in 1914, replacing Louie René as principal contralto. Derek Oldham later reported that, in 1920, at the insistence of musical director Geoffrey Toye, Rupert D'Oyly Carte considered expanding the company's repertoire so she could play Carmen. For more than 16 years after her return, Lewis portrayed all the leading contralto roles in the company's repertory: Lady Sangazure in The Sorcerer, Buttercup, Ruth, Lady Jane, Fairy Queen, Lady Blanche, Katisha, Dame Hannah in Ruddigore, Dame Carruthers, and the Duchess of Plaza-Toro.
  Lewis died at the age of 43 in May 1931 after sustaining fatal injuries in a car accident. She was travelling from Manchester to Cambridge in a car driven by Henry Lytton in a rainstorm. Lytton was injured in the accident but recovered and returned to performing after a few months. Lewis was in the hospital for five days before succumbing to her injuries. Queen Mary made personal enquiries, and the newspapers and the BBC gave daily news reports about her condition. She was buried in Cambridge City Cemetery and, whilst it was a double grave, she lies there alone. Her husband, Herbert Heyner, did not attend her funeral. In June 1931 he married Mary Louise Hamilton.
  Lewis is often cited as the greatest contralto in the history of the  D'Oyly Carte Opera Company.  Her powerful voice (preserved on recordings), crisp diction and formidable stage personality were well known.  Of her performance in the production of The Mikado in 1926, The Times wrote that she "was majestic as Katisha. ... getting a serious dramatic significance into her part and illustrating the fact that the humour of Gilbert and Sullivan comes out best by serious treatment."
caption: "Have mercy on us!" 1919 Pirates, with Frederick Hobbs (King) and James Hay (Frederic)
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