Thomas Dunhill
a selected chronology, including some first performances
| 1877 | Born, Swiss Cottage, London, son of Henry and Jane Dunhill. Jane kept music shop downstairs at their home, where the young Thomas first listened to the sounds of the piano. |
|---|---|
| 1888 | Composing piano pieces, also ‘operettas’ with James Findlay, boyhood and lifelong friend |
| 1890 | Family moves to Kent. Piano lessons with local teacher |
| 1893 | Began studies at the Royal College of Music (RCM) under Franklin Taylor (piano) and Walter Parratt (harmony). Contemporaries incuded William Hurlstone, John Ireland, Gustav Holst, Edgar Bainton and Ralph Vaughan Williams. Head of the RCM was Sir Hubert Parry. Started diary of personal and musical events, kept daily until his death in 1946. |
| 1897 | Won RCM Open Scholarship for Composition: began studies under Charles Villiers Stanford |
| 1899 | First RCM student to win the Tagore Gold Medal.
Appointed assistant music master at Eton College. George Butterworth was one of his pupils. |
| 1903 | Presented a series of lectures, The Pianoforte and its Literature, Royal Albert Institute, Windsor |
| 1905 | Appointed Professor at the RCM, teaching harmony and counterpoint. Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music (ABRSM) tour of Australia |
| 1906 | Met Arthur Benjamin (then aged 12) in Brisbane. Was influential in arranging for Benjamin to study at the RCM five years later. |
| 1907 | Establishes series of Dunhill Chamber Concerts (1907–1916), performed at The Queen’s Hall, The Wigmore Hall and Steinway Hall, London.
Brothers Alfred and Herbert set up small tobacconist in St James’s, London. Alfred Dunhill Ltd grew to become world-famous retailer of pipes, lighters and other goods. |
| 1908 | New Zealand tour for ABRSM |
| 1910 | Jamaica and Canada tour for ABRSM.
Capricious Variations on an Old English Tune (cello and orchestra) performed under Dan Godfrey, with May Mukle as soloist, at The Winter Gardens, Bournemouth, and under Landon Ronald at The Queen’s Hall, London |
| 1911 | Phantasy Trio in Eb (violin, viola and piano) performed by Margaret Hall, Lionel Tertis and York Bowen at the Steinway Hall. |
| 1912 | The Wind among the Reeds performed, Gervase Elwes as soloist, at Royal Philharmonic Society concert, Queen’s Hall. The song-cycle includes The Cloths of Heaven.
Appointed by ABRSM to select piano music for examinations |
| 1913 | Chamber Music: A Treatise for Students published
Prelude to The King’s Threshold performed under Sir Henry Wood at Promenade Concert |
| 1914 | Appointed Editor of RCM Magazine (1914–1920)
Married Mary Penrose Arnold (Molly) 1st April, St Luke’s, Chelsea. John Ireland, organist at the church, was best man. Molly was a great grand-daughter of Dr Thomas Arnold of Rugby and great-niece of poet Matthew Arnold. Moved to 74 Lansdowne Road, Notting Hill Gate, London Enlisted in the army and served with the Irish Guards as bandsman (bassoon) |
| 1915 | Robin born |
| 1917 | David born |
| 1921 | Barbara born Appointed to editorial board of magazine Music & Youth Involved in early meetings of Performing Rights Society |
| 1922 | Symphony in A minor performed, conducted by Dunhill, at the Opera House, Belgrade. Arranged by Serbian students in London, Bratza and Dushko Yovanovitch. |
| 1923 | Molly develops first signs of tuberculosis. Family moves to Guildford. |
| 1924 | First recipient of the Cobbett Chamber Music Medal
Nanny, Wendy Moon, comes to live with the family, stays for 18 years |
| 1925 | Carnegie Award for The Enchanted Garden, performed at the RCM |
| 1927 | Mozart’s String Quartets published |
| 1928 | Sullivan’s Comic Operas published |
| 1929 | Molly dies from tuberculosis, staying at Herbert Dunhill’s home in Italian Tyrol |
| 1930 | Family moves to Platts Lane, Hampstead |
| 1931 | Tantivy Towers, light opera, first performed at the Lyric Hammersmith |
| 1937 | Gallimaufry (Die Eiskonigen, after Anderson) ballet performed at Staatsoper, Hamburg |
| 1938 | Sir Edward Elgar published |
| 1940 | Awarded honorary degree, D Mus, by Durham University |
| 1942 | Elected Fellow of the RCM
Tryptych (viola and orchestra) performed under Sir Adrian Boult, Lionel Tertis as soloist, at Promenade Concert. Married Isabella (Bel) Featonby, 23rd December, St Lawrence’s church, Frodingham, Scunthorpe Returned as music master at Eton College; Bel to teach piano there for many years. |
| 1943 | Waltz Suite performed, under Dunhill, at Promenade Concert |
| 1946 | Died 13th March, Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire. Buried at Appleby with headstone inscribed: Thomas F Dunhill, 1877-1946, Maker of Music
23rd May, Memorial service, St Martin-in-the-Fields, London: In Weston’s Yard (an Eton picture) Cantilena Romantica Allegro Moderato from Quintet in C minor Adagio Lamentoso from Sonata no 2 in F, for violin and piano Elegy (Parry) Canticum Fidei With thanks to Beryl Kington for her research into the life and work of Thomas Dunhill |