A Touch Of Scandal Didn’t Hurt Cincinnatian Josie Jones’ British Opera Career
Musicians, especially singers and especially divas, know that a hint of scandal does wonders for one’s reputation. Not enough tawdry details to be cancelled – just enough spice to add a air of mystery and allure to an otherwise stainless reputation.
And so, one wonders whether Josephine Jones Yorke, a British contralto of some repute, was confused, outraged or even somewhat amused to have her name titillatingly linked to that of a Baltimore doctor. That the rumors bubbled up in Cincinnati, of all places, added to the mystery but then, Miss Jones Yorke had some secrets of her own.
For example, that “Yorke” had no business tacked onto her name. It was plopped there by German-born impresario Carl Rosa, who delighted the United Kingdom by staging wildly popular and remunerative operas in English-language productions at accessible ticket prices. He thought it made Josephine Jones sound more British, don’t you know.
In Cincinnati, she was plain old Josie Jones, the daughter of Charles Taylor Jones, a well-to-do soap maker, and his wife Margaret. The Jones family had a very spacious manse on Eighth Street in the fashionable section between Freeman and Carr out in the West End. C.T. Jones was quite respectable, elected vice president of the Cincinnati Stock Exchange and President of the Mercantile Library. His daughters were educated by the Brown County Ursulines. Josie took voice lessons from Andrea Carlo Alfisi, a Milan-born musician who taught out of his home on Court Street.
Her mother died in 1869, her father in 1871 and Josie Jones decided to make a career of opera. She relocated to Italy and, after a few years of Milanese polish, was recruited by Carl Rosa to make her London debut. Josie, now Josephine, specialized in “pants roles” or “breeches roles” in which a woman portrays a male character, such as Cherubino in “The Marriage of Figaro.” Although rarely the headliner, she was very popular and fêted like a superstar back in Cincinnati, where she often performed at the May Festival when Rosa’s schedule permitted.
Which brings us to Doctor Norman C. McLean. Although he appears prominently in some high-profile news stories, Doctor McLean’s biographical details are somewhat hazy. Usually described as an Englishman, he was probably born in Scotland. His father was awarded rank as a Companion of the Bath, one of the lower orders of knighthood, for military service. His sister was scandalously murdered, and that led to Doctor McLean crossing paths with Josephine Jones Yorke.
Annie Jane Fanny McLean, aged 34, died of acute alcohol poisoning in a rented room above a coffee shop in the Marylebone neighborhood of London’s West End. A man named James Payne, who seemed to have three other extant and undivorced wives, claimed that he was her husband. For a month or more, Payne had denied Miss McLean food while plying her with tumblers of brandy. On her demise, he rapidly took steps to seize her father’s inheritance and property. Doctor McLean sailed to England to assist in the subsequent trial, in which Payne was found guilty and sentenced to life at hard labor.
While in London, Doctor McLean enjoyed several evenings of Carl Rosa’s operatic entertainments and fell into a swoony passion for Josephine Jones Yorke, the lovely contralto. He sent his regards and a bouquet or two, as stage-door admirers did then. Much to his surprise, on his return to the United States, he discovered that Miss Jones Yorke was a passenger on the very same ship, and they developed a friendship over their weeks at sea.
On his return to America, Doctor McLean faced another complicated legal matter involving an Ohio River resort outside of Pittsburgh called Ellanova Springs. A man named George B. Nash, who appears to have mismanaged several hostelries into bankruptcy over a career spanning decades, talked Doctor McLean into dumping a pile of money into renovating and furnishing the hotel at Ellanova Springs which, despite the improvements, was attracting not enough guests to pay the bills. Doctor McLean wanted to extricate himself from the deal, Mister Nash wanted more money. Lawyers were involved.
In the middle of this kerfuffle, Doctor McLean departed on a “business trip” to Cincinnati. Whatever business may have been involved was never revealed, but Doctor McLean made daily visits to the house maintained by Josephine Jones Yorke and her sisters. Unbeknownst to Doctor McLean, his mother-in-law followed him to Queen City, procured the services of a detective and rushed back to Ellanova Springs to share her findings with her daughter. Although the Pittsburgh papers hinted at a trove of incriminating letters, the Cincinnati papers insisted the only fault lay with Doctor McLean, whose fervid fandom got the better of him. The Cincinnati Commercial [26 July 1880] dismissed any untoward implications:
“The suspicious wife sent her mother-in-law to this city, and she engaged a detective to shadow Dr. McLean and Miss Jones to see if they could find anything in the conduct of the Doctor and the contralto to furnish the wife with material on which to base a divorce suit. They were unsuccessful, the old lady returned home and the jealous wife took her husband back to her arms. This is the story.”
Josephine’s sisters were livid. One told the Cincinnati Times-Star [24 July 1880]:
“Dr. McLean came to Cincinnati on business while Miss Josie was home and visited twice at our house while here but never except in the presence of the family, and never, so far as I can remember, passed one moment with our sister Josie.”
As for Doctor McLean, he admitted his infatuation and confessed that he went to Cincinnati specifically because he knew Josephine Jones Yorke would be there but told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette [26 July 1880] that his business partner, Mr. Nash, was the source for all the rumors.
“Well, sir, that story and all this scandal has been started by this scoundrel Nash. I feel as though I ought to strangle him. I would defend Miss Yorke’s honor with my life any day, for I respect and admire her. She is a pure woman. I would fight at the drop of a handkerchief to protect her good name.”
As the gossip bubbled, Josephine Jones Yorke was already on her way back to England. She rejoined the Carl Rosa Company without incident and performed with them for another dozen years to consistently appreciative reviews. For several years, she shared the stage with a suspiciously named mezzo-soprano who went by Lilian La Rue. This was, in fact, Josephine’s younger sister Frances Alice Jones whose very promising career was cut short by her death at age 29 in 1885.
Josie eventually returned to the United States, settling in Chicago with her siblings, where she offered music and voice lessons for many years. She died, aged 81, in 1931 and is buried in the Mount Carmel Catholic Cemetery. She never married and whatever stain may have clung to her reputation had evaporated long before.
