Immanuel's Ground try to include local composers in their repertoire whenever possible, and the choice so far in Warwickshire is from:
 

from just over the border into Northamptonshire:

and again into Oxfordshire:

Link here to a history of the west gallery and other secular music of John Arnold and his connection with my family church at Great Warley, Essex.

WILLIAM PERRY (1795 - ? )
 

What we know so far about William Perry:
[NB This is a very shortened form of what we now actually know about the Perry family, which will be published in due course]

William G Perry would seem to have been publishing his father's music, for about 1820 he published in London

The accompaniment was really only a reduction of the voice parts into two systems suitable for use at the keyboard.                            

A study of the list of Subscribers is quite rewarding, as it shows the type of people who subscribed for copies (and thereby helped with the cost of publication) and the churches and chapels into which it passed. Thus in 1820 it would seem that there was a strong Society of Singers in Warwick based in the High Street Chapel, another Society in the Wesleyan Chapel, and yet a third Society at West Orchard Chapel, Coventry.

Within the musical world, as to organists, both Edmund Tims of Hampton Lucy and Henry T Elliston at Leamington had two copies, and John Elston at Hatton had one, whilst  several self-styled  Professors of Music also had single copies - Samuel Deacon of Leicester; Charles Elston and John Hewett of Leamington; Frederick Marshall (also organist) of Leamington; James Marshall (another organist) of Warwick; William Marshall & Son of Leamington and Oxford; and John Satchell Jnr. of Warwick.  James Merridew was a  music seller in Warwick, and Owen Owen the same in Leamington. A Mr Bernard, organ builder at Stratford on Avon also had a single copy, whilst on a higher level, seven copies each were sold to John Pearson of Foleshill (Coventry) and John Russell of Kidderminster.

The Brook Street Chapel
A study of Non-Conformity in Warwick gives an interesting snapshot in time and somewhat of an insight into the musical and spiritual life of its various churches and chapels. As a result of the Presbyterian Minister's Arianism, a small Congregational element separated from its parent church in Church Street (then the High Street) in about the middle of the eighteenth century. It met first in a room in the (then) High Street, following which a chapel was built about 1758 in Cow Lane, now called Brook Street. Thus it was that the Brook Street Chapel was born, which eventually became the spiritual home of William Perry, and presumably his son.

In 1760 the house of Henry Collins was registered for worship by the independents¹, and in 1784 Thomas Collins gave a room to be used as a vestry for the chapel².  The chapel was enlarged a number of times, and a still larger chapel was built on the site in 1826³, which still exists today (see photograph above).  Now taken over as an office for a firm of Architects, it once contained a gallery on three sides supported on slender pillars, and there were once some Regency style wall decorations. The principle elevation was designed by Thomas Stedman Whitwell.  

The Wesleyan Chapel
Methodism was introduced into Warwick by a lay preacher from Yorkshire in about 1801, and the house of Henry Chlist in Castle Street was licensed by him and eight others for worship in 1804. Six of these eight also had a licence for a malthouse in Gaol Lane in 1805, and by 1810 the room in Henry Chlist's house was still in use for meetings. A Wesleyan Chapel was built in Chapel Street in 1830, but this was sold in 1834 as a result of declining membership, and became the Borough National School. However, it was to this congregation that William Perry sold copies of the book of Psalm and Hymn Tunes, which hopefully they took with them when the new chapel was built in 1839 on land called Lower Fryers in Stand Street.

With the spread of Methodism, a further chapel was built in Avon Street in about 1840; this was rebuilt in 1863, and was still in use in 1965. The Stand Street Chapel was used until 1863, when it was replaced by a chapel in Market Street, and two years later a further chapel was licensed in Bowling Green Street. Both were replaced by the new building in Northgate in 1893, which is where Immanuel's Ground practice today. The Stand Street chapel was then taken over in 1864 by the Primitive Methodists, (who had formed in Warwick by about 1850), and used it until the chapel was closed in 1935.

The High Street Chapel
The other chapel in Warwick where William Perry introduced his music was the High Street chapel. This appears to have been the Presbyterian chapel, built as a meeting House in 1781 on land given to the congregation in exchange for a converted house which was absorbed into the grounds of Warwick Castle. The new chapel was registered in the name of Samuel Clemens in 1781. The congregation had been Unitarian since the mid-18th century, apparently following the doctrines of James Kettlewell, who was their minister from 1746 to 1785. With rising congregations, the chapel was enlarged in 1863 in a Gothic style with gable ends of stone ashlar.

The West Orchard Street Chapel, Coventry
A split occurred in the Vicar Lane congregation in Coventry in 1776 following the election of a minister who did not have their full support. Those who broke away assembled in various private houses under their chosen minister, John Griffiths, until 1777 when they built a small chapel at West Orchard, which seated about 300 people. After some three years vacancy Rev'd George Burder (see below) was appointed in 1783⁴; his enthusiasm as a preacher soon attracted new members to the chapel congregation and, as a result, galleries had to be erected in 1783-84⁵. In 1787 the chapel was further enlarged to seat about 600⁶.  Bombed during World War II, the Chapel was rebuilt as the West Orchard United Reformed Church at the Chesils, Styvechale, in Coventry.

____________________
¹  G.R.O. Worship returns vol. vii, no. 119.
²  Kemp, History of Warwick, p 169.
³  Collection of letters and memoirs by J. Moody - minister 1781-1801, in Birmingham Reference Library 516405.
⁴  Sibree and Caston, Indep. in Warws. 82-85, 88-89.
⁵  Ibid. 85-86, 89.
⁶   Poole, Cov. 235.

Listen to examples of William Perry's hymns (midi files) :

JOSEPH KEY ( ? - 20.9.1784 )
 

What we know so far about Joseph Key:

Joseph Key was an excise officer of Nuneaton, Warwickshire, and an amateur musician who was buried 20th September 1784. His wife, no doubt dependant upon the income from his music, and possibly quite capable of taking singing classes herself, continued to publish his music for another six years after his death.

His known publications are:

The list of subscribers printed in the first publication (1774) include "our old friend" William Craddock, and as the Midland Courier Tribune of 28 October 1955 puts it

"Indeed the list is almost a directory of the gentry and clergy of the time. They include the Rev. Thomas Liptrott, sometime headmaster of King Edward VI school, Nuneaton, who took four copies. One of the subscribers was Mr Thomas Truswell, and in a later book Mr Truswell writes the lyrics of some carols by Key.

 

In the first book he also contributes (over the initials T.T.) a poetic dedication to his musical friend under the heading

 

To MR JOSEPH KEY
on his
Eight Anthems and Te Deum

To thee, O KEY! I'll tune my loftiest Lays,
And learn to shew a just Respect to Praise;
To thee alone the sweetest Strains belong,
That ever flow'd from Instrument or Tongue:

With Strength and Vigour ev'ry Line should flow,
To praise thy music, and thy Merit show,
O could I taste of the Plerian Spring,
Or could I, like the God-like David, sing,

In thy sweet Notes my Voice I oft would raise,
In sounding forth the great JEHOVAH's Praise!
Thy Music's Charms can calm the Savage Breast,
And set the deep despairing Mind at rest;

Can melt us into soft and pitying Tears,
Can raise our Joys, and banish all our Fears.
Thy Notes appear to ev'ry Person's View,
In just Proportion, regularly true:

Here *Cherubin and Seraphim do cry
Thrice Holy to the Lord, continually.
How soft and pleasing do thy Strains appear -
What Harmony delights the list'ning Ear!

Hail, gen'rous KEY! whose Name shall ever shine,
Amidst the Works of Harmony divine!
Let ev'ry Soul triumphant Voices raise,
Divine thy Work, and endless be thy Praise!

                                                                                                                      T.T.  "
 

* Here a reference to the words of the Te Deum set by Joseph Key
 

The 1792 Directory for Nuneaton (Universal British Directory, Warwickshire County Directory), eight years after his death and four after his wife's,   gives no mention of anyone by the name of Key, but the Excise officers were:

"EXCISE OFFICE, Bull Inn, [Nuneaton].
Joseph Fydoe, collector; Edward Hyington; supervisor; Mr. Appleby, officer; Mr. Templeman, out-rider.

Apparently very much a part of the musical scene at Nuneaton, very little is known of Key other than what is set out above. A few years after his death, John Valentine, a leading Leicester composer and psalmist, visited Nuneaton to take part in one of the concerts he had organised around the County. Regional, provincial composers and performers travelled many miles over bad roads to take part in activities organised by other local musicians (no change there, then!), and one might expect that Key himself would have done likewise to support his colleagues elsewhere, and therefore quite probably knew Valentine and the musical family dynasty which thrived there, and virtually had a stranglehold on music in the City of Leicester.

His books contain music composed for a variety of occasions, ranging from simple Psalm and Carol tunes to ambitious Anthems and and elaborate fuguing-tunes, many of them containing instrumental symphonies and solos, thus making use of the many provincial musicians and small orchestras which sprang up in towns and cities at that time. His music contains many overtones and influences from George Frederick Handel; indeed his Easter Anthem contains many passages which one feels are almost a direct crib from Handel's Messiah. In these days of plagiarism being condemned, perhaps imitation being the best form of flattery might be considered as a better description of this work!

His music is found in several other printed and manuscript sources in many corners of England, cropping up all along the south coast from Kent to Dorset. Two of his carols were found with altered rhythms and harmonies in Sussex manuscripts from Ditchling and Rodmell, and used by Vic Gammon in his repertoire for Hope in the Valley, a group he founded to sing what he then considered as local compositions. Adopted by Sussex Harmony, the West Gallery Quire from Lewes in Sussex, who in many ways might be considered as their successors, subsequent research has proved them to be by Joseph Key. These included his well-known As shepherds watched their fleecy care, a carol both words and tune of which have become a part of what we now consider as the 'West Gallery' Christmas repertoire and tradition.  [Some info from Grove Music Online, contributed by Sally Drage)

Listen to examples of Joseph Keys' music  (midi files):

JOHN HILL ( fl. 1735 - 1792 )
 

What we know so far about John Hill:
 

Full details of these books and their musical content can be found in Nicholas Temperley's Hymn Tune Index, published by OUP in 1998.  The on-line version is to be found here.
References within Temperley's HTI, and used in these references:

GB-Lbl:  British Library, London
GB-Lcm: 

Listen to examples of John Hill's music (midi file): - well, you will one day!

What we know so far about William Tans'ur:

As with many of these early church composers, we know very little about him. We believe he was born in 1700, probably  in the village of Dunchurch in the north of Warwickshire, and that his parents were Edward Tanzer and Joan Alibone  who were married ....   He was baptised in the parish church in Dunchurch (on Dunsmore) on November 6th, 1706, the son of an agricultural labourer.

The name Tans'ur was William's own invention; before then it had been Tanzer, Tanzur, Tansur and Tanser, according to local pronunciation and the ability to spell.

The next record we have of him is when he married Elizabeth Butler in .... and we can trace his progress round England by reference to his books of Psalmody:

By the time he had published The Melody of the Heart in 1735, he had moved to Ewell in Surrey (op sit: Preface) and he taught psalmody up and down the country, including Barnes, Cambridge, Stamford, Boston (Lincs.), and Leicester. 
 

He eventually moved again to St Neots, Cambridgeshire, in the 1740s, where he became a bookseller, as well as being a music teacher.  He died there on October 7th, 1783.

Listen to examples of music written by William Tans'ur  (midi file): - likewise, you will one day!

JOSEPH WATTS (fl. 1749)

What we know so far about Joseph Watts:
 

Apart from the fact that Joseph Watts came from Fenny Compton, Warwickshire, and lived . . .   His one book of music was:

Careful study of the contents of his book show that, amongst the psalm tunes at least, very few make their first appearance there, suggesting that all Watts really did was to collect and reprint others' work. Two tunes only appear to be printed for the first time, and two others are what seem to be his amendments to other tunes, which qualify as variations to the originals. 

JOHN GEARY (fl. 1780)
 

What we know so far about John Geary:

Not a lot at present, except that he published one book of music, with 21 tunes in it, together with 5 anthems.

The Leicester Journal states, on 30th December 1780, that this publication is  'at the engravers and will be got ready as fast as possible.' 

The Carol in this book is perhaps his best known piece, it having been found in a church manuscript in Marsh Baldon in Oxfordshire dated as early as about 1810 (Oxford RO), and again in a manuscript from Dorset. Locally it has acquired the name of the Baldon Carol because of this connection, and arguably is one of his best pieces.

Listen to his music (midi file):

Link here to see the area around Caldecote, Coventry, Nuneaton and Mancetter, Warwickshire:
http://www.streetmap.co.uk , which shows how close together all these places are.

The probable family history is as follows:

There are considerable numbers of Gearys around this area of Warwickshire, but the only reference to any christened in Caldecote are two children born to John Geary and Mary - Mary on 16th October 1766, and John on 13th October 1772. Using the IGI, the only reference to a John Geary marrying in this area immediately before the date of Mary's christening is at Binley, SE of Coventry (and now just inside the ring-road), when a John Geary married Mary Barr on 9th September 1762.

Again, looking for possible Johns in the immediate area, the most likely candidate is from a family from Mancetter, a few miles just NW of Caldecote, where John Geary was christened on 30th October 1745, his parents being Benjamin Geary and Mary. If this is the correct John, he was one of a family of ten children all christened at Mancetter (Mary, 5th Feb 1730 [who must have died as a child]; Richard, 11th Feb 1731; Benjamin, 13th Feb 1733; Rachel, 7th Jan 1736;  John, 5th Nov 1739 [this John must again not have survived]; Mary, 3rd Mar 1743;  John, 30th Oct 1745; Elizabeth, 30th Oct 1745; Thomas 19th Nov 1746; Sarah, 11th Oct 1750). John and Elizabeth look as though they were twins. Benjamin went on to marry another Sarah, and had a family of at least two boys and two girls, all at Mancetter.

Previous generations at Mancetter were his grandparents Richard Geary and Sarah with their four children (Richard, b. 1698; Abbegall, 3rd Jan 1700; Joseph, 19th Nov 1703 and Benjamin, 4th Jan 1705).

CAPEL BOND (1730-1790)

What we know so far about Capel Bond:

Capel Bond was an English composer and organist at two churches in Coventry. Baptised on December 14th 1730 in Gloucester, he was the son of a bookseller, William Bond,  and was probably taught music at the Crypt School in Gloucester by his uncle, the Rev'd Daniel Bond.  From the age of 12 he was apprenticed to the organist, Martin Smith,  at Gloucester Cathedral.

He moved to Coventry in 1749, where, at the age of 19, he held the position of organist at St. Michael and All Angel's. This he did for three years, and then also became organist at Holy Trinity in 1752, this being the largest Anglican parish church in England, and which later became Coventry Cathedral. He held both these posts until his death in 1790

He married a girl called Anne Spooner, whose parents were Abraham Spooner and Anne Birch. [See the Spooner family tree at http://www.spoonergen.com/trees/UK-Thomas/d0000/f0000058.html#I028]

He composed concerti grossi, concertos for trumpet and bassoon, and anthems, and organised many concerts both in Coventry and the midlands generally. In Coventry he organised subscription concerts and expanded the local musical society by introducing instruments for the accompaniment of the singers. He conducted Messiah and Samson at one of his music festivals, and was also responsible for the founding of a music festival in Birmingham, conducting its first one in 1768.

His publications include:

"Subscriptions for the latter included the composer John Valentine, Handel's librettist Charles Jennens (who requested six sets) and many musical societies from all over the country. Both sets of music went on sale in London and Coventry. The first concerto, with solo trumpet, probably dates back to 1754 and was performed by "Mr. Adcock, the first trumpet of the Vauxhall Gardens London" in that year and also at the 1768 Birmingham festival." 
[This, and other quotes, are taken directly from http://www.rslade.co.uk/bond/index.html , for which I am greatly  indebted]

He was an eminent musician, an indulgent husband, and stealy in his friendships. Exemplary in the constant practise of his Christian and social duties, he died on 14 February 1790, at
[from:  http://www.classical-composers.org/cgi-bin/ccd.cgi?comp=bond]

See also entry in new edition of Groves.

In recognition of his 'superior merit and regular attendance' as organist at Holy Trinity in 1770 he was awarded a £10 per annum increase to his £30 annual salary. It was about this time that, presumably due to some deterioration in health, his musical activities lessened and he made his will. However, he survived another nine years and died on 14th February 1790. He was buried at St. Bartholomew's Church, Binley, Coventry - his tombstone reads:
 

Rev'd JOHN EAGLETON (1785-1832)
 

What we know so far about John Eagleton:

According to James T. Lightwood in The Music of the Methodist Hymn-Book, (London 1938), John Eagleton was born in Coventry in 1785 and was one of the first scholars at the Sunday School founded in that town by the Rev'd George Burder. Being very fond of music, he acted as leader of the choir until his voice broke. He then became a Wesleyan local preacher, and on reaching his 21st birthday he succeeded his father in the pastorate of a meeting-house near Coventry. Later he had charge of a Congregational church in Vicar Lane, Coventry.

which was in use at Ramsden Street, Huddersfield, for many years.
 

John Eagleton is said, therefore, to have composed many hymn tunes, including JUSTIFICATION, found in several hymnals including the Methodist Hymn Book, and Centenary Tune Book. To date, however, only seven have been found in print before 1821 - DESERTION, TILBURY, JUSTIFICATION, REDEMPTION, AFFECTION, CONFIDENCE, and CRUCIFIXION. Of these, TILBURY and DESERTION have only been found in American publications before 1821, the first and second editions of compilations by Samuel Dyer (A New Selection of Sacred Music, consisting of . . . psalm and hymn tunes, Baltimore, Maryland, 1817 and 1819 respectively. [Second Ed. 1819 of Samuel Dyer is in our possession].
 

The other five tunes have so far only been traced^* to a publication by Charles Rider of Manchester in 1820 (A Selection of Hymn Tunes for the use of the Sunday School in Elm Street, Manchester [Vol. 1]. [Manchester] : [ Charles Rider], [1820-] ) this being the only known copy, and which is in all probability a reprint of an earlier edition of 1816. If this is the case the tunes by Eagleton may well have been part of the 9 extra tunes which the 1820 edition contained, because it seems inconceivable that they would have appeared in the 1816 edition as well as in Sacred Harmony, which as recorded by Lightwood, was also 1816.

Henry Parr, in his work entitled Church of England Psalmody, 1880, a copy of which is in the library of the Royal School of Church Music, also refers to Eagleton's publication, and  states   ". . . T[une] 90 appears in Sacred Harmony, A Set of Tunes . . . Composed in an easy Style.  Obl. 4vo. The work contains twenty-seven Tunes in three parts."  Whilst no date of publication is quoted, this, surely, is therefore the work to which Lightwood refers. [S & E Macadam, 2005].

RICHARD DRAYTON (fl. 1727)
 

What we know so far about Richard Drayton:
 

Again, not a lot at present, except that he published one book of music, with 46 tunes in it, together with 12 anthems, 1 chant, and 1 hymn setting with solos.

This is probably the same book advertised in the Northampton Mercury as being published 'this day', 8th May 1727, although it was therein referred to as A New Book of Psalmody: or, A Choice Collection of Psalm Tunes. No publisher or compiler's name was given.   Copy in GB-NHro:  ZB 582/4

Rev'd G BURDER (fl. 1752-1832)
 

Revd. George Burder, is known to have been alive between 1752-1832, but whether these are his exact dates has yet to be proved.  He was a Nonconformist divine, in early manhood an engraver, but in 1776 he began preaching.

He was one of the founders of the British and Foreign Bible Society and the Religious Tract Society, and Secretary of the [London] Missionary Society.  Author of Village Sermons &c.

He came from Coventry,  and wrote the tune BETHEL in August 1777,  and also LUTON. In 1783 he was appointed as minister to the West Orchard Street Chapel, Coventry, where he remained until 1803.  More details of his ministry are written above.
 

MICHAEL BEESLY  (1700 - 1760)

What we know so far about Michael Beesly:

Michael Beesly was a psalmodist, and is considered to be one of the first, if not the first, compiler of harmonised psalm tunes who introduced the fuguing tune into English psalmody, and as such was the main innovator into its development. Nicholas Temperley has debated this point in detail in several publications. [1]  [2]  [3]   He published books of psalms between 1740 and 1756, the early books thought to have been printed in Oxford, and the three later ones in Upton, near Blubery, Berks.  Blubery, now spelled Blewbury, has been moved into Oxfordshire from Berkshire following the 1975/6 local authority boundary changes. 

His publications are:

As can be seen, the various editions had differing contents, and to some extent, like Matthew Wilkins, these may have been dictated by whatever plates he had to hand, and whatever teaching he was undertaking at the time. The dates of each of the editions is taken from the dates the original owners inscribed in their copies, and (according to Temperley) the contents of each book also dictate a logical progression timewise.

Early records show that the name 'Beesly' was fairly prolific around this area of what was then Berkshire.  Link here to Multimap for a map of the area south of Abingdon, from which you will see how close Upton is to Blewbury. One possible scenario from the IGI is that a Michael Beesely married an Ann Stevenson on 8th October 1698 at West Hanney, Berkshire, England, their son, also Michael (Beesley), being christened at Sunningwell (just north of Abingdon, and about five miles south of where we live) on 23rd June 1700. The father, recorded as Michaell Beesely, was christened at Sunningwell on 9th June 1667, the son of John Beesely and Elizabeth. Their other recorded children are Elizabeth (1655), George (1659), and Anthony (1669).

A further Michael Beesly was christened at Sunningwell on 9th June 1650, the son of George Beesly and Mary (their only recorded child).  These are the only three recorded Michaels in Berkshire at that time, from a list of 1223 people with that surname and over the time from 1550-1750, including several others with different Christian names in Upton and Blewbury, and, provided all the Beasleys have been recorded from the area, leads one to surmise that the Michael we are looking for is the one christened on 23rd June 1700. Further research is however necessary to prove this point, especially because of the other Beeslys recorded as being at Upton.

_______________________

MATTHEW WILKINS (1704-72),
and also his wife ELIZABETH WILKINS (d. 1778)

What we know so far about Matthew Wilkins, and his wife Elizabeth:
 

Matthew Wilkins was born in Great Milton, a short way south-east of Oxford, in July 1704. He was a butcher in the village and because he also taught music, he  presumably also taught the village quire.  There is a collection of instruments dating from his time in a locked case at the west end of the Parish Church.

As an itinerant Singing Master, he published his books in several editions, usually collections of other people's music and for use in his teaching work. His publications are as follows:

By 1750 Matthew Wilkins seems to have given up using a London printer for his publications, for several editions are known to exist of his book, around this date, although it is fair to say that no one book yet found has the same contents as any other. Quite possibly he took from the shelves of his local printing press in Great Milton whatever copy came to hand which was suitable for the teaching work he had on at the time. Our copy of his Book of Psalmody has two plates of the same psalm, showing a certain degree of individuality!

In about 1750 he also produced another edition of the same book, but with enlarged contents:

Again, in about 1760, he produced yet another edition with the same title, but with entirely new contents:
 

At this point the story takes a different turn, for Matthew Wilkins died in 1773, and his widow -Elizabeth Wilkins - continued to publish his music. As she died in 1778*, the date of the next publication must be somewhere between these to dates:

IMMANUEL'S GROUND
Warwick's West Gallery Quire