Johnston, Roy

Brown, Edward Godfrey (1874–1955), conductor and musical director, was born 15 January 1874 at 74 Blake St., Barrow-in-Furness, Cumberland (Cumbria), the only son among four children of Edward Brown (1853–1941) and Emma Brown (née Godfrey). His father came from Marlow,…

Chipp, Edmund Thomas (1823–86), organist, composer, and conductor, was born 25 December 1823 in London, son of Thomas Paul Chipp (1793–1870), a distinguished performer on harp and timpani. Nothing is known of his mother. He entered Belfast musical life at a significant juncture. By…

Ferguson, Howard (1908–99), composer, pianist, and musicologist, was born 21 October 1908 at 14 Deramore Park South, Belfast, youngest among five children of Stanley Ferguson, solicitor and a managing director of the Ulster Bank, and Edith Frances Ferguson (née Carr). He was taught…

Harty, Sir (Herbert) Hamilton (1879–1941), pianist, accompanist, composer, arranger, and conductor, was born 4 December 1879 in Hillsborough, Co. Down. His father, William Michael Harty (b. Limerick, 1852; d. Hillsborough, Co. Down, 1 November 1918), became a chorister and organ…

Hay, Edward Norman (1889–1943), composer, organist and critic, was born 19 April 1889 in Faversham, Kent, the only child of parents from Coleraine, Co. Londonderry, his father a customs and excise officer on a temporary posting. When his mother died some six weeks after the birth,…

Hughes, Herbert (1882–1937), musician, critic, and folksong arranger, was born 16 March 1882 at 23 Vicinage Park, Belfast, son of Frederick Patrick Hughes, commercial traveller (later senior partner in Hughes, Dickson & Co, flour millers), and Mary Hughes (née McClean). Both…

Johnston, James (1903–91), tenor, was born 13 August 1903 at 74 York Road, Belfast, where his father owned a butcher's shop. He was the third child and the first son among seven children of Thomas Johnston and his wife Margaret (née Chapman). The children all attended Duncairn…

Nelson, John Havelock (1917–96), bacteriologist, composer and arranger, pianist, conductor, promoter of opera, and competition adjudicator, was born 25 May 1917 in Cork, eldest of the four sons of Robert Nelson, chartered accountant, and Grace Mary Nelson (née Graham). The family…

Trimble, Joan (1915–2000), pianist, composer, and newspaper proprietor, was born 18 June 1915 in Enniskillen, Co. Fermanagh, elder daughter of William Egbert Trimble (1882–1967) and Marie Trimble (née Dowse). Her grandfather …

Ware, William (1757–1826), organist, teacher, and concert promoter, was born 17 January 1757 at Armagh city; nothing is known of his parents. It was to Ware that Edward Bunting (qv) was apprenticed in 1784. Trained in Armagh cathedral…