Parker, Hester Denne, 1889-1972

Scottish singer.

Had an affair with Granville Bantock in the 1920s and bore him a son.
Travelled with Bantock to Canada, dep. Liverpool 29 Mar 1923  (George Firth was travelling on the same ship)
She created the title role in his Hebridean opera The Seal Woman in 1924. 
Married Martin Gilkes in Oxford in 1926.

In Stratford she was the Royal Shakespeare Company’s voice and singing teacher.
She died, as Hester Denne Gilkes, in Brighton in 1972.

• Granville Bantock