Purday, Charles Henry

Composer

b Folkestone, Kent 1799, d Notting Hill, London 1885. Born into a musical family he became a musician, publisher and lecturer in music. From the 1840s he was Precentor (Conductor of the Psalmody) at the Church of Scotland in Crown Court, just off London’s Drury Lane, during the ministry of its founder Dr John Cumming, whose preaching drew crowds who with their horse-drawn vehicles jammed the surrounding streets. A composer and arranger for brass and other instruments, he was an enthusiast for choral and congregational singing and suggested that everyone should have a tune-book. With a fine voice himself, he sang at Queen Victoria’s coronation. Having suffered as a composer over publication and copying rights, he made copyright law reform one of his concerns, publishing in 1877 a book urging clearer legislation and stronger action. Other volumes included The Sacred Musical Offering (1833), A Church and Home Tune Book (1857), and in 1854 Crown Court Psalmody: One Hundred and One Popular Psalm Tunes and Chants. No.28.