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The couple
appear in records at other addresses. In 1911, they were in Streatham, just before the birth of their first daughter, Margaret.
Frederick was
the son of a saw mill proprietor and he appears with the family in the 1901
census in Finchley. He had at least six siblings, including Cedric who was killed
in the Battle of the Somme. Frederick's wife Margaret also lost a brother in the war – Keith Clayton was killed in August 1918.
According to
the 1911 census, Frederick declared himself to be a professor of music. In 1939
he was a lecturer and teacher.
With the suggestion of a
musical career, I wondered if Frederick might be known to a wider world and
indeed he is.
He was a
conductor and founder of the Goldsmiths Choral Union and was principal
conductor for more than 40 years. He founded the Streatham School of Music in
1919 (in 1923 he appears in the electoral register living in Streatham).
During the
Second World War he continued to rehearse and play in London and after the war, he was presented with an inscribed silver bowl
by the Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths, “In recognition of his outstanding
contribution to choral singing in London during the war”.
He retired from conducting in 1971 at the age of 85 with a celebratory concert at the Royal Albert Hall, conducting the Goldsmiths Choral Union in a performance of The Dream of Gerontius by Edward Elgar.
