Mary Ann Sidebotham

SIDEBOTHAM, Mary Ann. b. London, 31 July 1833; d. Ryde, Isle of Wight, 20 February 1913. According to Frost (1962) she was a talented musician. She lived with her brother Thomas, vicar of St Thomas on the Bourne, Farnham, Surrey, where she was church organist. She was a friend of the composer Henry Thomas Smart*, and it may have been at his suggestion that she became music editor of The Children’s Hymn Book, for use in children’s services, Sunday schools, and families (1881), edited by Frances Carey Brock*, to which she contributed some tunes. She collaborated again with Mrs Carey Brock to produce A Collection of Twelve Christmas Carols (1894). With the initials ‘M.A.S.’, Sidebotham...