Souvenir figures such as this became popular in the 1920s, apparently after a set representing dancers with Diaghilev's Ballets Russes Company were issued by Cyril Beaumont. He had the idea in about 1914 to produce them from artwork representing the dancers in costume, hoping they would: 'supply the demand for something between a photograph and a statuette'. A 1928 catalogue of Beaumont's publications notes: 'The figures, which are of wood, average 8¾ inches high, and are hand-coloured with special care to ensure accuracy of costume. The black stands on which the figures are mounted are easily removable to afford facility in packing. The figures are priced at 7s.6d. net.'

This figure of Sydney Granville is one of several representing singers in roles they played with D'Oyly Carte Opera Company productions in its 1921 to 1922 season at London's Princes Theatre. They were reproduced from photographs and would have been issued in 1922 by the Artograph Technical and Photographic Company, located at 16, Grape Street, New Oxford Street, behind the Princes Theatre.

Sydney Granville, born Walter Dewhurst, first appeared with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company as a chorus member in 1907 but by the following year was playing Counsel to the Plaintiff in Trial by Jury, Bill Bobstay in HMS Pinafore, Samuel in , Colonel Calverley in Patience, Strephon in Iolanthe, Arac in Princess Ida, Pish-Tush in The Mikado, the Lieutenant of the Tower in The Yeomen of the Guard, and Luiz in The Gondoliers. He left in March 1914 but rejoined in November 1917, staying until June 1917. He worked with the company again from 1918 until 1925 and from 1928 until his retirement in 1942 when his roles were The Sergeant of Police in The Pirates of Penzance, Pooh-Bah in The Mikado, Wilfred Shadbolt in The Yeomen of the Guard, and Don Alhambra in The Gondoliers).