Opera singer Elsie Griffin gets Bristol blue plaque

A blue plaque commemorating the life of Bristol opera singer Elsie Griffin has been unveiled.

Miss Griffin was born in the city in 1895 and became one of the most successful members of the D'Oyly Carte opera company in the 1920s.

During World War I she enjoyed such as Danny Boy and Roses of Picardy.

Bristol's Lord Mayor, Geoff Gollop, unveiled the plaque at St. Michael on the Mount Primary School which Miss Griffin attended as a child.

Miss Griffin's cousin, Anne Colley, said: "I grew up in a musical family where Elsie Griffin was regarded as a celebrity.

"More recently, when researching the family's history I discovered much more about her amazing life and how, as a child, she used every opportunity to sing and, through her own determination, became one of the most famous principal sopranos of the time.

"Our family is very proud of her," she said.

Miss Griffin was principal soprano at D'Oyly Carte and the Carl Rosa Opera Companies in the 1920s and 1930s, and a singer, performer and recording artist throughout the 1940s and 1950s.

In 1929 she won a prize for the Best British Gramophone Solo for her recording of Poor Wandering One from the Gilbert and Sullivan opera Pirates of Penzance.

She later embarked on a series of tours to South Africa and the then Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe).

She died in 1989 aged 94.