Henry George Ley

LEY, Henry George. b. Chagford, Devon, 30 December 1887; d. Feniton, Honiton, Devon, 24 August 1962. A gifted chorister at St George’s Chapel, Windsor, where his teacher Walter Parratt* became his mentor, he gained an exhibition to the Royal College of Music in 1904 after two years at Uppingham School (1903-4). In 1906 he won an organ scholarship to Keble College, Oxford. After Basil Harwood*’s untimely resignation from Christ Church in 1909, Ley was appointed organist, even though he was only 22 and still an undergraduate. At Oxford he was a distinguished pupil of Ernest Walker and Hugh Allen*, taking his BMus in 1911 and his DMus in 1919. He assisted as precentor at St Peter’s College,...