Early Career
Ernest Pike was born in Pimlico, London, England in 1871 the son of Richard Pike, a builder. As a young tenor he sang in several choirs. In 1887 at the age of 16 and using the pseudonym Herbert Payne, he toured with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company's “B” Company playing one of the ghosts of the ancestors in Gilbert and Sullivan's Ruddigore. He went on to study at the Guildhall School of Music in London for two years before continuing his musical studies privately.
After completing his studies in the early 1890s, Pike worked as a clerk for a bank in Victoria, London; he became a shorthand writing expert and taught his skill to other employees. Sometime during the 1890s he was appointed principal tenor at Holy Trinity Church, Sloane Street, London - a post that he still held in 1903. He also sang at The Spanish Church (St. James), Spanish Place, Marylebone, London. The church singing was done in his free time while he worked at the bank during the day. His profession was still that of a commercial clerk when he married May Stevens in 1900. They had a daughter Maud who was born in 1901.
He soon began to receive invitations to sing at the London Ballad Concerts which were held at the Queen's Hall and Royal Albert Hall in London. He also started to receive many offers of provincial engagements. With a now busy concert schedule and the start of his recording career in 1904, he was able to resign his post at Holy Trinity Sloane Square (in c. 1904). In January 1905 he performed for King Edward VII at Chatsworth House in Derbyshire for three nights in succession when the King was in residence for a visit to the Devonshire Hospital in Buxton. The 1913 Zonophone record catalogue described him as the "The late King Edward's favourite tenor". During the Edwardian era he toured the country singing in many leading cities and towns. In 1909 he sang in Handel's Acis and Galatea at a Henry Wood Promenade concert in London. By the 1911 census the family was living in Balham, South London and his profession was given as that of a singer.
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