William Crathern
Encyclopedia
William Crathern was a composer of sacred and secular music.
He was baptised on 18 March 1793 at St Leonard’s, Shoreditch
, the son of Thomas Anthony Crathern and his wife Martha.
His best known secular composition was the song My Boat is On the Shore, a setting of a poem by Lord Byron for piano and voice. The words of My Boat is On the Shore are from the poem entitled “To Thomas More”, written by Byron in 1817. This was one of the earliest musical settings of Byron's work, and is estimated in the British Library catalogue to have been published in about 1820 (although there is no date on the publication itself).
Crathern's principal religious compositions, including chants and anthems, were collected in his volume of Sacred Music, which was certainly published in 1820.
In 1820, Crathern was 27 years old, and he is already described (as he is on the undated song My Boat is On the Shore) as “Organist of St Mary’s Chapel, Hammersmith”.
St Mary’s Chapel was a Church of England
chapel, built in 1814, which became a parish church in its own right in 1836. The old church, on the corner of what is now Hammersmith Road and Edith Road, London W14, was destroyed by bombs on 16 July 1944. A new church on the same site was consecrated in 1961 and it is now known as St Mary, West Kensington
.
At the 1851 census, when Crathern was about 58 years old, he was a Professor of Music and was living at 4 Serampore Terrace, Hammersmith
, with his wife Sarah and an unmarried daughter (Sarah Emma Crathern), aged 37, who was also a Teacher of Music, and one servant. There had also been a son, named Thomas Anthony Crathern after his grandfather, but he had died at the age of 28 on 5 November 1847 at the family home in Serampore Terrace.
He was baptised on 18 March 1793 at St Leonard’s, Shoreditch
Shoreditch
Shoreditch is an area of London within the London Borough of Hackney in England. It is a built-up part of the inner city immediately to the north of the City of London, located east-northeast of Charing Cross.-Etymology:...
, the son of Thomas Anthony Crathern and his wife Martha.
His best known secular composition was the song My Boat is On the Shore, a setting of a poem by Lord Byron for piano and voice. The words of My Boat is On the Shore are from the poem entitled “To Thomas More”, written by Byron in 1817. This was one of the earliest musical settings of Byron's work, and is estimated in the British Library catalogue to have been published in about 1820 (although there is no date on the publication itself).
Crathern's principal religious compositions, including chants and anthems, were collected in his volume of Sacred Music, which was certainly published in 1820.
In 1820, Crathern was 27 years old, and he is already described (as he is on the undated song My Boat is On the Shore) as “Organist of St Mary’s Chapel, Hammersmith”.
St Mary’s Chapel was a Church of England
Church of England
The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...
chapel, built in 1814, which became a parish church in its own right in 1836. The old church, on the corner of what is now Hammersmith Road and Edith Road, London W14, was destroyed by bombs on 16 July 1944. A new church on the same site was consecrated in 1961 and it is now known as St Mary, West Kensington
West Kensington
- Commercial/education :Local business consists of small shops, offices and restaurants, with the Olympia Exhibition Centre nearby. Indeed, it is the mix of local shops that give the area its character....
.
At the 1851 census, when Crathern was about 58 years old, he was a Professor of Music and was living at 4 Serampore Terrace, Hammersmith
Hammersmith
Hammersmith is an urban centre in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham in west London, England, in the United Kingdom, approximately five miles west of Charing Cross on the north bank of the River Thames...
, with his wife Sarah and an unmarried daughter (Sarah Emma Crathern), aged 37, who was also a Teacher of Music, and one servant. There had also been a son, named Thomas Anthony Crathern after his grandfather, but he had died at the age of 28 on 5 November 1847 at the family home in Serampore Terrace.