A. E. Y. Benham

From around 1910 he was employed with Sydney Council's electric light department,[5] rising to the rank of leading hand meter reader at £8 per week.

Around 1911 he started taking singing lessons from Percy Herford,[7] and subsequently won the first and only New South Wales championship for a bass solo;[8] later teachers were Andrew Black and William B.

[5] In 1914 he sang the bass parts in Elgar's King Olaf, produced by the Royal Philharmonic Society at the Sydney Town Hall.

He became a protégé of Dame Nellie Melba, who was confident his admitted faults could be rectified with expert tuition, and offered to pay his passage to Europe, and to introduce him to some of the great singing teachers of London.

As an aspiring performer he needed accommodation at a decent address, and formal wear for stage appearances; travel for tuition, interviews and auditions, money for concert tickets and social functions.

Like hundreds of other Australian hopefuls, the money leaked away before he got the "break" that led to paid employment, and had to rely on friends for the return passage.