George Dyson

DYSON, (Sir) George. b. Halifax, West Yorkshire, 28 May 1883; d. Winchester, 28 September 1964. His father was a blacksmith and his mother a weaver. Although from a working — or rather artisan — class background in the industrial north, Dyson was very much the product of musical parents whose encouragement led to his first celebrity as the organist of his local Baptist church, North Parade Baptist Church; the young Dyson became an FRCO at the age of sixteen. Winning an open scholarship to London’s Royal College of Music in 1900 he went on to become the voice of public school music and Director of the College from 1937 to 1952, the first alumnus of the College to do so. At the RCM Dyson...