Bower, John Dykes

Composer

b Gloucester 1905, d Farnborough, Kent 1981. A great-grandson of J B Dykes (qv); Cheltenham Coll and Corpus Christi Coll Cambridge (Organ Scholar, 1922; Fellow 1933–37); he held a number of posts as organist at Truro Cathedral (1926–29), New Coll Oxford (1930–33), Durham Cathedral (1933–36) and, finally and mainly, St Paul’s Cathedral from 1936 to1967. A musical editor for the 1950 A&M (AMR, where 3 of his tunes appear), he chaired the A&M board and shared in the launch of its pioneering supplements 100 Hymns for Today and More Hymns for Today (1969 and 1980—both to be incorporated later in the 1983 edn). Hon DMus (Oxford) and Hon FRCO (both 1944); Associate Director of RSCM (1945–52); CVO (1953), knighted 1968. No.899.