Herbert Thomas Sullivan (13 May 1868 – 26 November 1928), known as "Bertie", was the nephew, heir and biographer of the British composer Arthur Sullivan. He grew up as his uncle's ward and worked briefly as an engineer. After his uncle's death, Sullivan became active in charitable work. He was co-author of a 1927 biography of Arthur Sullivan, well regarded in its day, but later discredited because of its suppression of the composer's diary entries that mentioned his gambling and philandering.
Sullivan inherited many of his uncle's papers and original music manuscripts. He left most of these to his wife, who died in 1957, and they finally were sold to collectors in 1966.
Sullivan was the third child and eldest son of Frederic and Charlotte Sullivan, one of eight siblings. When Fred Sullivan died aged 39 in 1877, his younger brother, the composer Arthur Sullivan, made himself responsible for the support of Fred's widow and eight children. In 1881, Charlotte married Captain Benjamin Hutchinson, a man 13 years her junior.[1] Charlotte emigrated to the US in 1883 with her husband and all her children except Herbert, who remained in England under the care of his uncle. At the age of nine, Sullivan began boarding school in Brighton, England,[2] and later attended Christ's Hospital school.[3]