How HMS Pinafore got its name

Gary Dexter investigates HMS Pinafore by W. S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan

HMS Pinafore, or The Lass that Loved a Sailor (1878), is a satire with strange origins: it was directed against W.H. Smith.

William Henry Smith, the newsagent, magnate and politician, was appointed in 1877 as First Lord of the Admiralty, despite having no naval experience, and this rank appointeeism was Gilbert and Sullivan's target.

The operetta was originally entitled HMS Semaphore, an appellation, as Gilbert admitted in an interview in 1880, 'suggested entirely by rhyme… something had to rhyme with three cheers more.'

'Semaphore' was not particularly funny, though, and was changed to 'Pinafore' at Sullivan's suggestion.

Playing on the landlubbing character of the newsagent, tied by his apron-strings to terra firma, Pinafore was a more obviously mocking choice; and following the success of the operetta the unfortunate newsagent was known as 'Pinafore Smith' until leaving office in 1880.