George Thomas Thalben-Ball

THALBEN-BALL, (Sir) George Thomas. b. Sydney, Australia, 18 June 1896; d. Wimbledon, London, 18 January 1987. Born in Australia, he settled in England in 1900 with his English-born parents and was a chorister and piano pupil of George Dorrington Cunningham (1878-1948) who, at that time, was organist of Alexandra Palace (Cunningham, who later became organist at St Alban’s, Holborn, was considered one of the most gifted organists of his generation; only Thalben-Ball, Arnold Richardson and Walter Alcock were considered his equals). Thalben-Ball (known as a young man as George Thomas Ball) became a student at the Royal College of Music in 1910 at the tender age of 14; he impressed the public...