[Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (1875-1912)]
The
English historian Jeffrey Green is author of Samuel
Coleridge-Taylor, a Musical Life, an authoritative biography published by Pickering & Chatto Publishers (2011). He is also a
Guest Blogger at AfriClassical:
Aldwick,
6 St Leonards Road, Croydon
by
Jeffrey Green
Coleridge-Taylor
died at home, at Aldwick in St Leonards Road, Croydon. He had lived
there for two years. That house remained the family home as his son
(born 1900) and daughter (born 1903) grew up. His widow Jessie lived
there for at least twenty-five years before relocating to Banstead in
Surrey where her Memory Sketch of 1943 was written.
The composer’s
friend, librarian William Berwick Sayers, wrote the first biography
(1915) and on page 247 he noted “The house has now been presented
to Mrs. Coleridge-Taylor mainly by the coloured people of America,
and it is hoped that a memorial tablet may be placed upon the front
of it”. Biographer Geoffrey Self noted the moribund
Coleridge-Taylor Society of Washington revived to mount a concert in
May 1913 and gathered donations “sufficient for the house ‘Aldwick’
to be presented to his widow” (Self, The Hiawatha Man, 1995
page 24).
Visiting the house
Surrey Opera director Jonathan Butcher was shown documents left
behind when the present owner purchased the house. The indenture of
number 6, St. Leonard’s Road (with apostrophe) dated 2 December
1913 registered at Somerset House on 26 November (LVD W50052) records
the property was sold by David Waller, a builder, to Jessie
Coleridge-Taylor for £700. There is a reference to two indentures
dated 28 June 1883 and 30 April 1891. Those two dates are mentioned
in a conveyance dated 1946 when Jessie sold the property to Dorothy
Gunner of 91 Waddon Road, for £1,600. Her address was Lulworth
Cottage, Sandersfield Road, Banstead as in her 1943 Memory Sketch.
Another document
shown to Jonathan Butcher was a letter from the Greater London
Council of February 1969, to Arthur Strong of Carlton Road, South
Croydon, promising to investigate his suggestion that a plaque should
be erected on the house. The council erected its plaque on 30 Dagnall
Park, Selhurst, in 1975.
How much was the
contribution from African Americans?
15 September 2012
[Samuel
Coleridge-Taylor (1875-1912) is profiled at
AfriClassical.com,
which features a comprehensive Works List and a Bibliography by Prof.
Dominique-René de Lerma,
www.CasaMusicaledeLerma.com.
We
are collaborating with the Samuel Coleridge-Taylor Foundation of the
U.K., www.SCTF.org.uk]
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