Jesse Flint, FRCO?

From time to time, people get in touch with information connected to the music at Lichfield, and I was recently passed the following article written by Kerry Osbourne who was Clerk to the Governors of Bishop Vesey’s Grammar School in Sutton Coldfield from 1977 to 2016.

Jesse Flint is a name which I have not encountered in any of the Cathedral's records during my own research, but this account gives an intriguing record of a his possible connection with Lichfield. The contents of article is reproduced as submitted, but it has been formatted for easier reading on screen.

When I was approached with the suggestion that I should write an article for the Annual report of the Friends of Lichfield Cathedral my initial reaction was that I knew nothing about the Cathedral that would be of interest to the Friends. But then I recollected that in a book about Bishop Vesey’s Grammar School in Sutton Coldfield which I had written and published in 2000 there was an episode relating to the music master which referred to Lichfield Cathedral. The relevant extract from A History of Bishop Vesey’s Grammar School the Twentieth Century reads as follows:

There was a Board of Education music inspection on 14 May 1915. This was a follow-up inspection to one twelve months earlier, which had been highly critical. According to the earlier report the standard of singing in the Third Form was no higher than should be expected in the First Form, as for piano teaching “the music in use appears to be somewhat old fashioned and inartistic and no valuable results are visible”, and the number of boys learning the piano was small in relation to the size of the School. There was no instrumental teaching. The second report concluded that little progress had been made. The singing of Rule Britannia is described as “unpleasant” and the method of teaching is criticised: “The boys never get a chance of singing until each song has been dissected for them with much talk. “Sing the first note”, -- “Sing the last note”, -- “Sing the note at the beginning of the second line”. After the song has been thus boned, the flabby remainder is handed to the boys to do what they like with, and it must be confessed that this is not much.” The music master, Jesse Flint, the organist at Lichfield Cathedral, was paid £18 a year and the Scholarship Committee advised the Governors “that at the salary now paid another Teacher cannot probably be found but in view of the fact that this is the second adverse report a change should if possible be made”. Mr Flint took the only honourable course open to him and resigned, probably without many regrets, and the Governors agreed a salary of up to £35 for his successor. There were twenty applicants for the vacancy, and despite a strong recommendation by one of the Governors Rev J H Richards, Vicar of Maney, for his church organist, H Graham Godfrey, the successful candidate was H Taylor, the organist of Edgbaston Parish Church at a salary of 24 guineas.

The story was almost scandalous; ‘Cathedral Organist Slated’ would be a modern headline. However, the first thing to do was to check that Jesse Flint was the Lichfield Cathedral organist, as he is described in Bishop Vesey’s Grammar School’s archives. The Cathedral has published lists of its organists and assistant organists; imagine my disappointment to find that the name Jesse Flint does not appear on either list! The post of Organist and Master of the Choristers (now known as the Director of Music) was held by John Browning Lott from 1881 to 1924, and the post of Assistant Organist (now known as the Cathedral Organist) was held by H. Rose from 1899 to 1911 and William H Harris from 1914 to 1919. The Cathedral’s list of Assistant Organists notes that a “gratuity of £10.10.0 was given to Mr Rose in recognition of his past services on 3 March 1911” which is presumed to be his leaving date. It seemed from the absence of Jesse Flint’s name from the official lists that there was, after all, no story worth proceeding with, and my inclination was to give up the proposed article.

However, second thoughts prevailed, as there were several intriguing aspects of the matter. Firstly, Flint must have told the Governors of Bishop Vesey’s Grammar School at least that he played the organ at Lichfield Cathedral; he was surely unlikely to tell them a downright untruth. Secondly, it will be seen that there is a period of three years between 1911 and 1914 when no Assistant Organist is named on the Cathedral’s list. It may, therefore be possible that Jesse Flint was called on from time to time to fill this vacancy, without having an official post; it is also likely that there was a rota of organists available to stand in at short notice in cases of holiday, illness or other emergency, and that Flint may have been on that rota. So perhaps, whilst not being “the organist at Lichfield Cathedral”, Flint was a recognised locum. Did he, then, exaggerate his connection to the cathedral when applying for the job at the school?

What else is known about Jesse Flint? He was born in Great Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire, in about 1857. He studied at the College of Organists in London and was awarded an Associateship Diploma. The College was granted a royal charter in 1893 which entitled Associates to use the initials ARCO. In 1881 he was living at Woodhouse Eaves in Leicestershire, but by 1891 he had moved to Walsall in Staffordshire where he spent the rest of his life. He was the organist at St. George’s Church in Walsall (built 1875, demolished 1964) in the last decade of the nineteenth century. He was regularly mentioned in the Walsall Advertiser’s Gossip Column, for example: May 1894 – Mr Jesse Flint “the talented organist” directed the St. George’s choir in Mendelssohn’s Hear My Prayer. “It is Mr Flint’s aim to make the church noted for its musical services, which are of the cathedral type, with anthems at evensong.” August 1895 – “Jesse Flint takes infinite pains to present correct and expressive renderings of the works he undertakes.” He was also the conductor of the Walsall Orchestral Society (presumably an amateur orchestra). In 1899 he was appointed as organist at St John’s Church in Pleck, a parish of Walsall in the Lichfield diocese; after only two years the local newspaper reported that he was “presented with a handsome timepiece by the boys of the Pleck Church Choir as a mark of their esteem and affection”.

In 1902 Flint was appointed as a part-time music teacher at Bishop Vesey’s Grammar School; initially he taught singing one afternoon a week. In the same year he was initiated into the Wednesbury Masonic Lodge, giving as his occupation ‘Professor of Music’. He was not, of course, a professor in its usual sense of the holder of a chair at a university or college, but the Oxford English Dictionary gives another meaning to the word: “assumed as a grandiose title by professional teachers and exponents of various popular arts and sciences, as dancing, juggling, phrenology, etc.”, and cites a passage from Sir Richard Burton dated 1864: “The word Professor – now so desecrated in its use that we are most familiar with it in connection with dancing-schools, jugglers’ booths, and veterinary surgeries.” Flint’s use of the word in 1902 was therefore, at best, ‘grandiose’, but ‘misrepresentation’ seems nearer the mark, or ‘exaggeration’, to be charitable.

In 1907 the Governors of Bishop Vesey’s Grammar School issued a prospectus to raise the profile of the school, in which the Music Master is named as J. Flint, FRCO. Under the heading ‘Education’ the prospectus announces that Latin, English, French, History, Geography, Mathematics, Divinity, Drawing and Physical Exercises are taught throughout the school, that Natural Science (Chemistry, Physics and Biology) are taught in the four higher forms, that German and Greek may be substituted for some of these subjects, and, last and undoubtedly least, that Singing and Manual Work (i.e. carpentry) are taught to all boys in the lower part of the school. Under the heading ‘School Charges’ the prospectus mentions that the only, and purely voluntary, extras are £1.1.0. per term for instrumental music and £1.1.0. per term for dancing. A new prospectus was issued in 1911, by which time the school had been formally divided in to a Junior School (from the age of seven) and an Upper School (from the age of eleven); J. Flint, ARCO is named as one of the Junior School assistant masters (there are no mistresses) and class singing is listed as one of the Junior School subjects of instruction.

The initials FRCO stand for Fellow of the Royal College of Organists. Flint had the Associateship Diploma from the College, not the Fellowship Diploma. To become an ARCO a candidate has to demonstrate a high achievement in organ playing and supporting theoretical work; the Fellowship Diploma provides a progression for those who already hold the ARCO qualification and represents a premier standard in organ playing, which a cathedral organist would be expected to hold. Why then was Flint credited with the FRCO initials in the 1907 prospectus? Was it an innocent mistake or yet another ‘exaggeration’?

Jesse Flint had married in 1883, and there was one daughter of the marriage, Ethel Mary, born in Woodhouse Eaves the following year. She was a Pupil Teacher at the School of Art in Walsall in 1903 and she gained a Second Class Certificate in the Board of Education Examinations in 1906. She went on to be something of a celebrity in the local art world; some of her paintings can be seen at the New Art Gallery Walsall, one of which has the title ‘Corner of Lichfield Cathedral 1948’. She was also a council member of the Society of Staffordshire Artists. In September 1926 the Lichfield Mercury reported that she had given a special prize to the Lichfield Art School.

After leaving Bishop Vesey’s Grammar School Jesse Flint regularly advertised in the Walsall Observer and South Staffordshire Chronicle between 1916 and 1918. A typical advertisement reads: “Mr Jesse Flint ARCO etc. Hon. Local Examiner, Royal Academy and Royal College of Music. Organist and Choirmaster St John’s Pleck. Visits and Receives Pupils. Preparation for Examinations. Choirs Trained. Sutton visited. 94 Lichfield Street Walsall.” What is meant by ‘etc’ in this advertisement? If Flint had some other qualification, such as BMus, he would surely have specified it. Could this be another attempt to pull the wool? ‘Hon. Local Examiner’ is a bit puzzling as well. The Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music (known as ABRSM since 2009) is an examination board founded in 1889. It provides graded exams and diploma qualifications in instrumental music and theory. In its first year it offered exams for five instruments: piano, organ, violin, cello and harp. Initially there were only two royal schools of music supported by the Associated Board, the Royal Academy of Music and the Royal College of Music; the Royal Northern College of Music and the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland joined the board in 1947. The present exam grades 1 to 8 were introduced in 1933; before that there were only two grades, equivalent to the present grades 5 and 6. Examinations are held throughout the country with professional local examiners. It might therefore have been more accurate for Flint to advertise himself as a Local Examiner for the Associated Board, rather than for the two named colleges. Another exaggeration? But the real oddity in Flint’s advertisement is the word ‘Hon’. Assuming that he was not claiming to be Honourable, he must have meant Honorary, which means unpaid. Is this an altruistic side to Flint’s character, not previously apparent?

It would be nice to be able to say that after the Bishop Vesey’s debacle Flint went on to have a long and successful career, but, alas, it was not to be; he collapsed and died “with painful suddenness” at St John’s Church Pleck in July 1918, aged 60.

I am conscious that there are gaps in my knowledge of Flint’s life, and it is difficult to assess his real character from the somewhat contradictory details mentioned in this article. If anyone can throw more light on the subject I shall be very pleased to hear from them.

Britain's Cathedrals and their Music with John Betjemen: Lichfield Cathedral 18 March, 1966

From 19 November 1965 to 1 April 1966, the BBC broadcast on what would become Radio 3 a series of weekly programmes presented by John Betjemen. The programmes consist of a selection of choral and organ music performed by the cathedral musicians and details of the cathedral narrated by Betjemen.

The Archive of Recorded Church Music has made several of the 19 programmes available on their YouTube channel, and have recently passed on a copy of the broadcast from 18 March, 1966 from Lichfield.

We have made the full episode available via YouTube, and it can be heard at https://youtu.be/FJSfUFHG9UU, or via the link below

The choir is directed by Richard Greening, and the organ is played by Robert Green. The musical items in the broadcast include

• 0'27": I give you a new commandment John Sheppard
• 10'11": When David heard Michael East
• 15'23": Factum est silentium Richard Dering
• 18:38": Agnus Dei from Mass for four voices William Byrd (in English, as Betjemen explains to listeners, as it is performed at Eucharist at the Cathedral)
• 22'16": Hear my prayer Henry Purcell
• 25'25": Organ: Prelude William Harris
• 27'18": Almighty and most merciful Father Ambrose P Porter
• 29'12": Organ: Carillon Herbert Murrill
• 31'43": Te Deum in C Benjamin Britten
• 39'37": Jubilate in C Benjamin Britten

A Homily for Evensong at Lichfield Cathedral with the Presentation of RSCM Awards

This is the text of the homily given by Canon Andrew Stead, our Precentor, at Evensong on Sunday 13 May 2018, at which choristers from the Cathedral and parish churches within the diocese were presented with RSCM Dean's and Bishop's Awards. It is reproduced here with permission.

Today we celebrate the achievements of our young people from the diocese who have prepared for and then succeeded in their tests in the Royal School of Church Music’s award schemes. Living up to the RSCM’s motto of, ‘I will sing with the spirit and the understanding also’, the scheme not only focuses the young choristers on their musical abilities but quite properly these programmes seek to place that music into the context of the church’s worship as well as helping them understand the commitment that is needed to be a member of a choir.

With the Spirit - Spirited, in all the senses of that word, is what provides the backbone of our worship in our cathedrals and in our parish churches. Part of our national heritage musically, is the English Choral Tradition, of which the Church of England is a prominent custodian. The tradition of fine choral music praising God has been at the heart of Anglicanism and our cathedrals, collegiate churches and larger parish churches keep this fine tradition central to our church’s worship. It is also a vehicle for so much excellent work with young people in their formative years and it demonstrates the importance of belonging, of commitment, of responsibility, of hard work, of team work and it fosters confidence, the valuing and honing of skills, a love of music and, though the regular participation in performing in church, the firm foundations of faith.

At this point in the Church’s year we are continuing to celebrate the raising of Jesus from the dead on Easter Day, we have been singing, and continue to sing our Alleluias, and on Thursday we thought about the Ascension of Jesus into heaven and next week, as our anthem this afternoon was in anticipation of, we will celebrate the gift of the Holy Spirit and the beginning of the Christian church as God’s mission to the world. All of these feasts and festivals have their musical repertoire and our choirs help us, and it helps them, enter in to the mystery of God’s loving purposes. For those of us who attend worship week by week, or indeed for some of us here in this place, day by day, we are immensely grateful to our musicians for all that they bring to us and how for us our worship is enabled and beautified by their skill and hard work. Our spirits are often lifted beyond words and meaning to become a spiritual encounter with our Lord himself.

We are blessed here in the Cathedral with a choral foundation going back centuries. If you go on our choir’s own website you will see there the names of Lay Vicars Choral and choristers stretching back in to history who have blessed this place with their talent. Tradition here is important and the very fabric of this place not only echoes with their voices but they have left an indelible mark on it. Not least out in the Close is Vicars’ Close with some of the finest building that you will see in a small courtyard where they used to live.

In Number 6 Vicars’ Close and then in Number 7 there lived a man who was a Lay Vicar Choral here for 48 years. Predecessor to Mr Shakeshaft the present occupant of the Vicarage of Pipa Parva , John Saville arrived here in Lichfield in 1755 and died in August 1803 at the age of 67. Like Mr Shakeshaft he sang Alto but he was also able to sing the tenor part also. On the day he died he had sung two services here in the Cathedral quire. He was buried we believe in a vault in the churchyard to the south of the nave. His memorial is in the south transept and on it you will read words written by the so called ‘Swan of Lichfield’, Anna Seward, who was daughter of one of the Canons here and resident in the Palace where our present Choristers go to school.

John Saville was clearly a man of immense talent and some stature – an obituary, again penned by Anna Seward, published in The Gentleman’s Magazine read

This melancholy announcement of the loss of an excellent man, very generally known and where known always beloved will excite the sympathy of Genius and the tear of friendship. Pre-eminent were his abilities as a vocal performer from the rare union of feeling with science, of expression with skill.

His music, his learning and his skill stretched beyond Lichfield and was highly acclaimed, but the bedrock of his life was the singing of the services in this Cathedral.

Our time here in church, whether it be here in the Cathedral or in our parish churches, is the bedrock in our lives in a time which seems to lack firm foundations upon which to build. What we find in worship is sustenance and an opportunity to grow in love and in human stature as well as in devotion to Our Lord. Singing with the spirit and the understanding also, whether we be virtuoso singers like John Saville or just able to carry vaguely or even imperfectly a tune, helps us make a very different music with the whole of our lives. The final two lines on the epitaph on memorial to John Seville penned by Anna Seward reads

Sleep then, pale mortal frame, in yon low shrine, “Till Angels wake thee with a note like thine”

it speaks of a hope of resurrection that rests upon the beauty of the love of God.

Thank you to those of you here who make music in our churches and here in this Cathedral. Thank you for allowing us to benefit from your God given talent, your hard work and your commitment. Thank you for your ministry to the people of God and as you minister to us through music and also in your reverence and in your commitment to the high standards of our worship in how you conduct yourselves be assured of our prayers day by day for you. May God bless you as you sing his praises with not only the spirit but with the understanding also.

Amen.

Information regarding John Saville is taken from a more extensive study of his time at Lichfield by Michael Guest, published at http://lichfieldcathedralchoir.blogspot.co.uk/2017/02/john-saville-1736-1803-eighteenth.html.

Reprimand of James Coleman, Lay Vicar of Lichfield Cathedral, 30 July 1906

Having written about James Coleman's mysterious reprimand, I have been given a copy of the document which had been safely deposited in the Cathedral. It is a typed document, and is  transcribed here in full.

REPRIMAND OF JAMES COLEMAN, LAY VICAR

in the Chapter House, July 30 1906

I have summoned you before the Chapter to receive an official reprimand and I have written down what I have to say on behalf of the Canons and myself.

The Dean read the following -

I can recall no offence on the part of a Vicar, at least since that which led to the degradation and expulsion of the late sub-chanter, which has caused more distress to myself and the Canons than your conduct at Evensong on Saturday last and what led to it.

There was a foreshadowing of something wrong when before the beginning of the service you left the vestry in your cassock, and put on your surplice most carelessly, while the Cathedral Body were waiting; it was so unusual as to call for observation. Then during the anthem you knocked and pushed a large music book off your desk almost immediately behind a chorister who was singing a solo and might easily have been interrupted and disconcerted by the noise.

This circumstance led me to keep my eyes upon you till the close of the service, and what I saw, I felt, would make it necessary for me at once to ask for an explanation, but I saw that you left the choir when the hymn began and you did not return to the vestry till sometime after.

I asked the Canon in Residence, who sat near you, if he observed your irreverent behaviour, and be said that he had and that it as very marked and that he could not doubt that you were under the influence of drink.

I [then] found you outside the building and requested you to follow me to the deanery. I saw immediately that the Canon was right and after speaking of your behaviour I said you had been drinking. Now if you had admitted it, as it was a first offence, I should have been contented to deal with you privately and personally.

But what followed was so serious that official notice became necessary. In the first place you denied that you had been drinking, not only once but twice, though I begged you not to increase the offence by falsehood; and only when I told you that I had incontestable evidence from your breath as you passed me at the door, you confessed that you had met a friend and had been taking Brandy and soda, but that you had only taken two glasses, that you had been under a doctor for 3 weeks and supposed that being very weak it had affected you. You had forgotten that only 2 days before when I had asked you how you were you said, without hesitation, "OK! Quite well now, I am going to begin lawn tennis again".

All this was very unsatisfactory but what followed was almost worse. "Why," you asked, "do you single me out for drinking, when there are other vicars far worse than I am? I know that they are. I can prove it. I know one who has taken 8 brandies and soda though I have only taken 2! I am had up while they are left alone".

To try to exculpate yourself by bringing a secret charge against your brother vicars behind their backs shewed me yet more clearly in what state you were. You could only have done it under the influence of drink. I am thankful that it did not happen that you were put down for a solo; the result must have caused a scandal and with that large congregation, a "public scandal".

We have been unanimous in our wish to deal with you as leniently as we can consistently with our duty to the Cathedral Body and the necessity of your brother vicars knowing that you have been officially reprimanded. God grant that you may lay these words seriously to heart and be able to recover that good opinion which for the time you have forfeited.

James Coleman (Lichfield Cathedral Lay Vicar 1900-1942) and The City Music Publishing Co., Lichfield

Included with the memories that George Greaves sent was a copy of an anthem by James Coleman, published in 1934, who George remembers being the Senior Lay Vicar. This small detail led to a little further research, and two strands to this post. Firstly, about James Coleman, and secondly about the anthem and its publisher.

James Coleman was born in West Bromwich in 1876 and came from Southwell to Lichfield as Lay Vicar in 1900, where he remained until Sunday 20 September 1942 when he died suddenly on his way to the Cathedral.

Beyond the record of his installation into the Lay Vicar's Stall belonging to the Prebend of Eccleshall on 13 July 1900, and a note in October 1919 that the absence of a third Bass Lay Vicar - or his deputy - meant that £14-11-0 should be paid to both Mr J Coleman and Mr H Parker to recompense them for the extra work they would have to have done, Coleman appears to have drawn little attention from the Cathedral authorities. This may be down to the story behind a note in the Chapter Act books from 28 September 1906 which records that "The Dean reported that he had been obliged to summon James Coleman, a Vicar Choral, before Chapter to receive a formal reprimand; the circumstances are embodied in a document contained in a sealed envelope deposited with the Muniments of the Chapter".

A colleague, Frederic Hodgson, describes Coleman's voice as a "real basso-cantante, rich and voluminous" and his singing as being "refined and polished", and outside Lichfield, he was well known and his name appears nearly monthly in The Musical Times, in round ups of local performances and in the listings of singers available for work. His advertisements are regularly more extensive than others, and quote glowing reviews of his performances from both national and regional newspapers. There are around a hundred of these in the archives of The Musical Times and are too extensive to reproduce here. However, The Musical Times did print his obituary in November 1942:

JAMES COLEMAN, a baritone well known in the Midlands, aged sixty-six. He was vicar-choral of Lichfield Cathedral from 1900 to his death. During the last war he conducted the Whittington Garrison Choral Society, and recently he directed the newly-formed Lichfield Operatic Society.

The Musical Times, 83,1197 (Nov 1942) p352

Alongside his performing, he also appears to have been a prolific composer as the final page of the copy of the anthem he gave to George Greaves shows. The copy of the anthem, a setting of the first two verses of Psalm 139, O Lord, thou hast searched me out, includes an inscription reading 'To Master Greaves, with the composer's best wishes, Oct. 10/34'. It is possible download a scanned copy of the original printed anthem, and a clearer typeset edition for the musically curious.

Moving away from Coleman himself, the last page of the scan mentions that the score was published by "Lichfield : The City Music Publishing Co.". My immediate (albeit cynical) assumption was that this was some manner of musical vanity press, but a little exploration online - courtesy of library catalogues and Google - suggests it was a more significant establishment, although I am told that Coleman was involved in music publishing... The searching is, in no way, exhaustive, so any further information about the company would be welcome.

The earliest reference to The City Music Publishing Co is a book by a W Kelly, entitled Blackpool, published in 1913. However, the earliest musical references are a copy of a song, My hope by Isabel Ashforde, published around 1915 and In a Sylvan Glade, a "caprice for the pianoforte" from 1916 by Samuel Bath; it is worth noting a female composer being represented in 1915. One Caroline F Boddy is also listed amongst their publications as the principal composer (alongside a H Brearley) of a song entitled The Happy Little House in 1918. A 1920 piano work, Floramyne by Gilbert Stacey, includes an address for the company at 7 Southampton Row, London, WC1.

There are various records of Coleman's work listed against their publications, but the most significant inclusions in the company's catalogue (especially in the Cathedral Music world) are various editions of the Durham Cathedral Chant Book by Philip Ames and Conrad Eden, published between 1939 and 1962. The City Music Publishing Co. does not, therefore, appear to have been solely for the promotion of local talent or restricted to the early part of the century.

Memories of Life as a Chorister at Lichfield Cathedral 1934-1937 from George Greaves

It is always delightful to be contacted by individuals with their own memories of their time at Lichfield. Aged 95, George Greaves got in touch a few months ago to share his experiences as a chorister from the age of 11 in January 1934 to August 1937. His recollections are reproduced here as sent.

I was a boarder and shared a dormitory with five other boys in the care of Mr C R Bailey and his wife in a house in Dam Street opposite the West end of Minster Pool; Mr Bailey was the only teacher. The private choir school was also in Dam Street, behind the boarding house, and consisted of a classroom on the ground floor, a playroom on the first floor, and a recreation area outside. There were approximately 24 day boys, but the boarders were the backbone of the choir; I became head boy and No. 1 Cantoris.

We sang at services each morning and afternoon on weekdays, apart from Tuesday afternoon, with occasional exceptions for Feast Days and Festivals. There were full choral services on Saturday and Sunday. The three hours' worship on Good Friday was shared between the boys.

Of the 30 or so choir school boys, weekday services were only attended by six on each side, Decani and Cantoris, along with three Lay Vicars of each part; Mr James Coleman was the Senior Lay Vicar during my time. The choir boys were selected by region-wide voice trials which were open to all.

Bank Holiday services were especially well attended, and the congregations were treated to show pieces anthems from oratorios including Messiah and Israel in Egypt.

On weekdays, purple cassocks were worn, and red cassocks were worn on Sundays and Feast Days.

The choir was regarded as one of the country's best, and broadcast on the National Service in February 1934.

Practices were held most days for the boys, and for the whole choir on Fridays. Thursday Evensongs were unaccompanied, with notes being given on a small harmonium.

The Precentor was Canon Moncrief, assisted by Canon Hardy, the subchanter, 'the voice'. The Organist and Choirmaster was Ambrose Porter, FRCO, who lived in Darwin's old house on the border of the Close.

The boys' school day from was 8.00am until 5.00pm with a half day off on both Tuesday and Saturday.

Boys' practices were held in the Song School in the North-West corner of the Close. Although there was the "Cottage" organ there, a piano was used to accompany the rehearsals. The "Cottage" organ was a constant source of fun for the boys, and annoyance to Mr Lott (one of the visiting organists) because of the interchangeable pipes. The other visiting organists included Mr Morgan, a fiery Welshman, and Mr Pettigrew, who was later heard of in the army in Africa.

When I first started, the Bishop was the Rt Rev Kempthorne who was succeeded by Bishop Barnes. The Bishop selected two of the choristers to hold his bejewelled robe, for which they were given a shilling; I was lucky enough to be chosen on a couple of occasions.

There were small Christmas parties for the boarders (as we never went home at Christmas, unlike the day boys), and these were given by the Precentor, Subchanter and others. Canon Hardy gave us a rhyme about someone putting up shutters and sitting in the shop, which he would recite at breakneck speed with us all waiting for him to get the vowels wrong.

Most of the choristers were the exact age to be called up - in my case, to volunteer for service - in the Second World War, soon after leaving. I served in the Royal Navy from August 1941 to August 1946.

I do remember a memorial board in the classroom at school with the names of the choristers who had served in World War One, with Maltese crosses beside the names of those who had did.

The photograph is of me in January 1934, when I was aged 11, when I started in the choir. I got in by the skin of my teeth, as I was born in February 1922 and had I been 12 years old they would not have taken me!

George Greaves, aged 11 in 1934 (Chorister, 1934-1937)

A thirteenth century Alleluya for Chad at Lichfield rediscovered

The cover page of MS Rawl. D. 1225

Earlier this year, our organ scholar, Maks Adach, discovered a fragment of plainsong in the Bodleian Library in Oxford which would have been sung in the Lichfield Diocese before the Reformation. He has transcribed it and created a modern performing edition which was liturgically heard for the first time in five centuries on St Chad's Day (2 March), 2018.

His editorial introduction is reproduced below, and there is a link to download the new edition and to hear the performance recorded during the St Chad's Day Eucharist.

The subject of this critical edition is a fragment of plainsong found in the Bodleian Library. It is one of several musical items (the work of numerous scribes) found in MS. Rawl. D. 1225, a large codex containing the Martyrology of Usard. The MS is a medium-sized codex measuring 245x175mm and is 134 folios in length. Judging from the handwriting style, the MS was written in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. It belonged to St Chad’s Church, Shrewsbury, as it contains an inventory of that church’s feretory. This included the right arm of Chad, the hair-shirt of Thomas Canteloupe, and the spear that pierced Christ’s side. The Crown of Thorns is listed as missing. The Martyrology’s calendar contains the obiits of Parish benefactors and rectors. The text itself contains many additions in the margins. Among these is a substantial entry for Chad (f.35v) and one for the Dedication of Lichfield Cathedral (f.16v). The presence of these confirms that the MS was written for use in the Diocese of Lichfield.

Marginalia denoting the Dedication
Feast of Lichfield Cathedral in the MS

The plainsong fragment in question is an Alleluia Proper in honour of Chad. It is found with other items in the endleaves of the MS. It is one of three items penned by the same scribe in black, thirteenth-century square notation on red staves. The other items are all either in honour of the Blessed Virgin Mary or St Edward the Confessor. Aside from one two-part, polyphonic antiphon (f.132v), the musical items are all examples of monophonic, liturgical chant. They were almost certainly intended for use at masses at St Chad’s, Shrewsbury and are, due to the destruction of the historic collection of the Lichfield Cathedral Library in the Civil War, rare examples of the plainsong and early polyphony used in the Diocese during the pre-Reformation era.

A copy of the Alleluya (which includes a reproduction of the original manuscript) can be downloaded here, and the performance recorded on St Chad's Day 2018 can be heard here.

If you want use the edition in any way, please do contact Maks; although he is keen for it to be used more widely, it constitutes a part of a larger research project concerned with the plainsong fragments in the manuscript.

Roland James Cook: Lay Vicar at Lichfield Cathedral 1923-1967

Roland Cook was one of many Lay Vicars to have been part of the Cathedral's choral foundation. However, his death - fifty years ago today - on 16 February, 1968, aged 73, is particularly significant as it marked the death of the last member of the Corporation of the Vicars Choral to hold freehold office. This meant that once he had been appointed, he was entitled the income from the lands owned by the Corporation of Vicars Choral until his death, even after his retirement on 12 January 1967 following serving at Lichfield for 44 years.

There is a noticeboard in the Lay Vicars' vestry today which commemorates him:

The inscription reads,

'Placed here in 1969 to commemorate the former corporation of the

Vicars Choral, following the death of Roland James Cook, the last member

to hold freehold office under statutes dating from the 13th century'.

(with apologies for the poor photograph)

Before coming to Lichfield, Cook had been at Canterbury Cathedral and during his 44 years at Lichfield, he had a distinguished career as a singer. His son has been in touch and sent a photograph of his father as young man:

and a photograph from 1934 in which Cook is a part of a group of BBC Midland Singers in a studio in Birmingham:

His son comments that "the only others in the picture that I know are the musical director Edgar Morgan, a dapper man on the right hand side and the small lady in front of Dad, Margery Westbury as in Paul Temple. Edgar Morgan lived in Handsworth and was a deputy organist at the Cathedral, but I knew him as the music teacher at the Grammar School who only came in on Mondays and Fridays".

If you can offer any information about any of the other singers in this photograph, please get in touch!