Edward Jakobowski

Jakobowski was born in Islington, London on April 17, 1856, the only son of Israel Jakobowski (born c. 1819), a salesman dealing in stationery and cigars, and his wife Fanny (born c. 1834), who were both Viennese of Polish extraction. At age six, he moved to Vienna, Austria, where he lived for some 15 years and was given a musical education. In the late 1870s he lived in Paris for three years. In 1881, he returned to London.

Jakobowski's most successful work by far, Erminie, opened in 1885 in London. It was revived extensively and toured internationally, premiering with extraordinary success on Broadway in 1886. None of his other works had more than a short run or two, although many of them toured profitably including The Queen of Brilliants (1894; libretto: Brandon Thomas, starring Lillian Russell), The Devil's Deputy (1894; libretto: J. Cheever Goodwin), and Winsome Winnie (1903). 

Jakobowski was married twice, the second time in New York in 1895 to Clara Brown, which ended in a London divorce in 1901 In 1902, he was declared bankrupt with debts of £1,090 He died at the Infirmary, Friern Barnet, north London, in 1929. His estate was valued at 47 pounds, 8 shillings.