Alfred Joseph Clements (1858 – 6 January 1938) was the Organiser and secretary of the South Place Sunday Concerts in London for over 50 years, from 1887–1938. During that period Clements arranged over 1,300 concerts featuring 1,500 artists. The first concerts were held at the South Place Ethical Chapel, Finsbury in 1878, organised by the specially assembled Peoples Concert Society. But in 1887 the Society ran short of funds. At that point Alfred Clements was appointed as first Honorary Secretary, with George Hutchinson as Assistant Secretary. Clements remained in his position for over 50 years, from 1887 until his death in 1938. Composer

Richard Henry Walthew Richard Henry Walthew, often known as Richard H. Walthew (4 November 187214 November 1951) was an English composer and pianist, and an important figure in English chamber music during the first half of the 20th century. Life Richard Henry Walt ...

also had a long association with the Sunday Concerts, from the early 1900s until his death in 1951. The thousandth concert was played on 20 February 1927. In 1929 the South Place Ethical Society had the Conway Hall in

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purposely built for it, and the concert series has continued there ever since with the exception of the war years. The two-thousandth concert was held at the Queen Elizabeth Hall on 9 March 1969.Frank V Hawkins. ''The Story of 2,000 Concerts'' (1969) They are still running every Sunday today. In 1901 Alfred Clements was working as a printer and living with his wife Dora Mary Clements née Varian at 10 Leighton Crescent, Kentish Town, London. In 1926 he was awarded the Cobbett Gold Medal for services to Chamber Music. When he died on 6 January 1938, he was living at 8 Finchley Way, Finchley London. Probate of his will was to his widow Dora, and his effects totalled £995 10s. He is commemorated by a gold inlaid relief plaque at

Conway Hall The Conway Hall Ethical Society, formerly the South Place Ethical Society, based in London at Conway Hall, is thought to be the oldest surviving freethought organisation in the world and is the only remaining ethical society in the United Kin ...

, London. Both Clements and his wife are named in the Book of Remembrance in the Musicians’ Chapel at St Sepulchre-without-Newgate.

Clements Memorial Prize

In 1938 a chamber music composition prize was established in his name.'An Alfred J. Clements Memorial Chamber Music Prize', ''The Times'', 7 April, 1938, p.12 The initial prize was awarded to Frederick T Durrant for his Clarinet Quintet in E flat - subsequently performed at the Conway Hall in 1946. Other prize winners have included: *

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, String Quartet No 1 (1941). *

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, Piano Trio (1942) * David Wynne, String Quartet No 1 (1944). *

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, Clarinet Quintet (1945). *

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, Trio in one movement (1946). *

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, Wind Quintet (1947). *

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, String Quartet No 1 (1948, joint winner). *

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, String Quartet No 1 (1948, joint winner). * Iain Hamilton, String Quartet No 1 (1950). *

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, Quintet (1953). * Geoffrey Winters, String Quartet No 1, Op. 10 (1956). * Sebastian Forbes, Piano Quintet (1963). *

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, String Quartet No 1 (1965). *

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(1967) *

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, ''Algol Of Perseus'', piano trio (1973). * Christopher Bochmann, String Quartet No 2 (1978). * Richard Steinitz, String Quartet (1981, joint winner). * Ian MacQueen, Wind Octet (1981, joint winner). * Ian White, ''Undertones (in memoriam Tony Hancock)'' for tuba and string quartet (2000). The prize was put into abeyance in the late 1970s, and revived occasionally after that, most recently in 2021 when the winner was Noah Max with his ''Sojourn'' piano trio.
Newly-written string trios in competition
', The Arts Desk, 18 October, 2021

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Clements, Alfred J People associated with Conway Hall Ethical Society 1858 births 1938 deaths British secularists British printers Music promoters Impresarios