Gilbert Heron

Gilbert Heron was born as Leopold Sinsheimer in Belgium, in 1872. His mother Francis was Dutch and his father Adolphus was from Germany. After arriving in England he lived in Hackney, London. Leopold became a British citizen and took the name Gilbert Heron. He became a radio engineer in the very early years of this technology. He also wrote stories for publication in London magazines from around 1898 to 1902, with the content often being about communication across the ocean. Some of these would also be published in magazines overseas. Later he wrote about the theatre and became an actor himself. He met and married the actress Jessie Danvers in 1899, when he was 27. Drawing on his radio engineering, family connections and acting skills, and his involvement at the time with the pioneering Marconi radio company, Gilbert Heron wrote, produced and performed in a stage play with several other family members called ‘Saved by Wireless’, which used real Marconi electronic instruments as dramatic props. However, when World War I started, government officials visited the theatre where 'Saved by Wireless' was being performed to shut down the electrical effects from the radio transmitter, worried that they might be used to send information to Germany. ‘Saved by Wireless’ was adapted by Gilbert Heron to become a radio drama when his career led him to write and act in the early transmissions of 2LO in London. Gilbert Heron passed away in Brixton in March 1951 at the age of 79, a year after Jessie Danvers.

Performances associated with Gilbert Heron