George Grossmith, son of a law reporter and entertainer, was born in 1847. For some years he worked as a journalist, reporting Police Court proceedings for The Times, and in 1870 began a career as a singer and entertainer. His special connection with Gilbert and Sullivan's operettas, many of the chief parts of which were his 'creations', began at the Opéra Comique, and from 1881 onward he played at the Savoy.
Leaving there in 1889, he toured Great Britain and the United States as an entertainer and singer until 1901. He is the author of Diary of a Nobody (written alongside his brother Weedon and published in 1892) and A Society Clown (1888). This was followed in 1910 by a further volume of reminiscences, Piano and I. He died in 1912.
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