Roberts, John Henry

Composer

b ?Mynydd Llandegai, Pen-rallt, Y Gefnan, Caernarvons 1848, d Liverpool 1924. As a boy he worked in Penrhyn slate quarry, Bethesda, and was organist at 14 in a Wesleyan Methodist Chapel. A quarry clerk at Bryneglwys, Abergynolwyn, at 19, the year he began to compose hymns and anthems; he formed a quarry choir who sang as the Harlech Music Festival in 1868. At Gloucester he studied music under S S Wesley (qv), then from 1870 to 1874 at the RAM. He held several organ appointments (notably Chatham St Welsh Calvinistic Methodist Chapel, Liverpool) and took the external Cambridge MusB in 1882. In 1886 he founded the Cambrian Sch of Music; he gained several musical distinctions, and edited and published hymnals. But he disliked publicity, even declining invitations to adjudicate at festivals for that reason. No.10.