as "a young tenor of high promise." He soon played the role of Mr. Wranglebury in the curtain raiser Mock Turtles. Arthur Sullivan recognised Pounds's talent and persuaded him to remain with D'Oyly Carte rather than join Christy's Minstrels, from whom he had received an offer. At the end of 1882, Pounds began touring in Iolanthe in the leading tenor role of Earl Tolloller. In 1884, he toured as Prince Hilarion in the first provincial production of Princess Ida, In 1885 Pounds toured as the Defendant in Trial by Jury, a role he later played in numerous benefit performances in London and elsewhere. He also toured in the role of Ralph in H.M.S. Pinafore. Later that year, he travelled to New York to play Nanki-Poo, in D'Oyly Carte's first American production of The Mikado. After that, he toured in Germany and Austria as Nanki-Poo. In 1886, he returned to the Savoy to fill in for Lely for two weeks as Nanki-Poo, then rejoined the European touring company in Vienna. In late 1886, Pounds joined the company of John Stetson, the American manager, playing Hilarion and Nanki-Poo in authorised productions in New York. The Era wrote, "Mr Courtice Pounds sang the part of Hilarion in a very nice voice, acted it in a very nice way, looked nice enough to capture all the girls' hearts and was a very nice young man altogether." In 1887 he played Grosvenor in Patience in Boston. He then returned to England to rehearse Gilbert and Sullivan's new opera, Ruddygore, performing in two matinee performances as Richard Dauntless, before sailing for New York again to play Richard there. Pounds stayed in New York to appear in Paul Lacome's The Marquis and Charles Lecocq's Madelon. In May 1888, Pounds returned to London to create the part of Colonel Fairfax in The Yeomen of the Guard at the Savoy Theatre. His notices were excellent. The Times called him "a better actor and a better tenor than any of his predecessors." The Era judged him "the most efficient tenor the Savoy has had … a pure tenor voice, artistic and pleasing … clever acting and a good stage appearance." The Observer called him "that rara avis, a tenor able to act." He created several more lead roles at the Savoy: Marco in The Gondoliers in 1889; Indru in The Nautch Girl in 1891; the Rev. Henry Sandford in The