Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (1875-1912)

Samuel Coleridge-Taylor was born on 15th August 1875 in London. His father was a Negro physician from Sierra Leone, West Africa, and his mother was an English woman. When the medical practice failed, his father returned to Africa, deserting young Samuel and his mother. The boy's disadvantaged upbringing did not stifle his love of music. His violin studies progressed to the point where he was able to give his first public recital when only eight. He also sang as a choirboy in Croydon and, encouraged and helped by his choirmaster, he eventually entered the Royal College of Music in 1890. Initially he enrolled as a student of the violin, and in the same year his first important composition, a Te Deum, was published.

In 1891, when Coleridge-Taylor was still only sixteen, Novello published one of his anthems, In Thee O Lord, followed by four more in 1892. In 1892 he also began studying composition under Sir Ch