Background
Herbert was born Herbert Walter McCarthy in Chatham in Kent, England.
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Herbert Darnley
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From the 1890s, Darnley was the major song writer for "The King"s jester" Darnley"s Mr Wix of Wickham toured in 1902, starting at the Borough Theatre, Stratford in July. The production opened in New York around 1904 or 1905 with over half the song composed by Jerome Kern. In 1902, Darnley released a recording of The introducer claimed the song to have been written by Henry Carey and that Darnley was his descendant.
In 1906, Darnley was mentioned as general manager and producer in advertising for "s companies, second only to Karno himself.
Darnley wrote By Whose Hand?, a murder story that was staged at the Pavilion Theatre in Leicester, in 1929 in which Dolores played the lead. Darnley gave a speech in which he said he was pleased to remove Dolores from the "human wolves" of London who "were trying to tear her to pieces." The production toured throughout 1929, reaching Mexborough and the Theatre Royal, Sheffield.
In 1934, Darnley was profiled in the "These Names Make News" column in The Daily Express. Darnley was said to have claimed a family history going back more than 250 years in show business, including Edmund Kean and Henry Carey and to have personally started in the business aged 5.
In January 1943, Darnley was playing Widow Twankey in the pantomime Aladdin and His Lamp at the Theatre Royal, Exeter which may be his last professional engagement.
He died in 1947.
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The column noted his "sweepstake attitude to life" and his many highs and lows, including owning two theatres, losing thousands in theatrical productions and sleeping rough on the embankment next to the River Thames.
Membership
Shortly afterwards, Gaumont produced a version of Darnley"s sketch Moving In using members of his own troupe.
