Several Nellies have had starring roles in British history—you may remember the elephant in the 1956 children’s song, or perhaps Nellie Wallace, the comedienne known as ‘The Essence of Eccentricity.’ And then there was Nell Gwyn, a Restoration-era orange-seller who became an actress and eventually, the mistress of Charles II. At Simpson’s, we are partial to another Nellie altogether.
We named Nellie’s Tavern in honour of Dame Nellie Melba, the Australian soprano who became one of the best-known singers of the late Victorian era and early 20th century.
She was born Helen Porter Mitchell in 1861, and studied singing in her home city of Melbourne (the origin of her pseudonym ‘Melba’) before moving to Europe to seek her fame. After studying in Paris, she became the leading lyric soprano at Covent Garden starting in 1888. During the First World War, she was a notorious fundraiser, and while her repertoire was relatively small—she only performed about 25 roles, and was a master of about ten—her reputation was international. When she died in Australia in 1931, it made news all over the English-speaking world. Her image is now used on the Australian $100 note. In addition to living in perpetuity here at Simpson’s, Dame Nellie also created an expression, given the number of farewell tours she conducted for nearly two decades: “more farewells than Nellie Melba.”
