Chronology of Brian’s personal life

William Havergal Brian is born at 35 Ricardo Street, Dresden
Berlioz died 7 years ago, Beethoven 49 years ago, Byrd 253 years ago;
Bruckner is 52 and writing his fifth symphony, Brahms is 43 and finishing his first, Stanford is 24, Elgar 19, Mahler 16, Delius 14, Strauss 12, Vaughan Williams 4, Holst 2

Starts at village school

St James Parish School, Longton

Leaves school. Starts work at a colliery weighing coal trucks

Leaves colliery. Becomes apprentice joiner, later a railway office boy

Organist Holy Trinity Church, Meir. Joins men’s choir. Plays violin in various local orchestras

HB’s paternal grandfather, Benjamin the tailor, dies aged 86

Organist Odd Rode Parish Church

Marries Isabel (Belle) Alice Priestley

HB’s grandmother Mary Watson dies

First child born – Sterndale Harold Benedict Brian – named after Sterndale Bennett

Joins James Alcock’s orchestra played cello

Death of HB’s father, Benjamin Brian – of acute pleurisy aged 48

Death of grandmother – Hannah Brian – aged 90

Birth of second child – Hector William Brian – named after Hector Berlioz

Death of second child – Hector William Brian – of tubercular peritonitus

Birth of third child – Margery Isabelle Brian

Leaves job at timber yard. Becomes traveller for another timber merchant and will stay until 1910

Birth of another son – George Halford Brian – named after the Birmingham conductor who formed the Halford orchestra

Critic on Musical World until the paper folds in February 1908

Birth of another son – Dennis Brian – Isabel’s last child

Sponsored by Herbert Minton Robinson, Secretary of the bone china firm Minton

Private Number 1546 No 1 Company of Honorable Artillery Company. Finsbury, East London

Discharged from Army because of flat feet

Clerk at Audit Offices of Canadian Forces Contigent at Westminister House, Millbank, London

Teaches at Royal College of Music

Assistant Editor, Musical Opinion

Birth of daughter – Elfreda Brian – by Hilda Mary Hayward

Isabel dies of a heart condition

Marries Hilda at Camberwell Register Office

Undergoes minor eye operation at Royal Eye Hospital, St George’s Circus SE London

Clerk at Chislehurst, Kent

HB’s youngest daughter, Elfreda (b1928) dies; HB retrospectively dedicates Symphony 2 to her

William Havergal Brian dies at Shoreham–by–Sea, Sussex, England