Uncle Samuel is a one-act comic opera with a libretto by Arthur Law and music by George Grossmith. It was first produced at the Opera Comique on 3 May 1881 to 8 October 1881, as companion piece to Patience. The piece also toured from December 1887 to June 1888 as a companion piece to H.M.S. Pinafore.
A vocal score was published by Chappells in 1881 containing full libretto, dialogue and music, and a copy is in the British Library.
The fashion in the late Victorian era was to present long evenings in the theatre, and so producer Richard D'Oyly Carte preceded his Savoy operas with curtain raisers such as Uncle Samuel.[1] W. J. MacQueen-Pope commented, concerning such curtain raisers: