Charlton Templeman Speer (21 November 1859 – 27 October 1921) also known as Charlton T. Speer was an English

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Defi ...

and

spiritualist Spiritualism is the metaphysical school of thought opposing physicalism and also is the category of all spiritual beliefs/views (in monism and dualism) from ancient to modern. In the long nineteenth century The ''long nineteenth century'' i ...

Career

Speer was born in

Cheltenham Cheltenham (), also known as Cheltenham Spa, is a spa town and borough on the edge of the Cotswolds in the county of Gloucestershire, England. Cheltenham became known as a health and holiday spa town resort, following the discovery of mineral s ...

, he was the son of physician

Stanhope Templeman Speer Stanhope Templeman Speer (20 October 1823 – 9 February 1889) was a British physician and mountain climber. Speer worked at Brompton Hospital in London and specialized in treating chest diseases. He has been described as the first physician to ...

. During the 1870s,

William Stainton Moses William Stainton Moses (1839 – 5 September 1892) was an English cleric and spiritualist medium. He promoted spirit photography and automatic writing, and co-founded what became the College of Psychic Studies. He resisted scientific examination ...

tutored Speer. He became a successful composer and Professor of piano at the

Royal Academy of Music The Royal Academy of Music (RAM) in London, England, is the oldest conservatoire in the UK, founded in 1822 by John Fane and Nicolas-Charles Bochsa. It received its royal charter in 1830 from King George IV with the support of the first Duke of ...

. Like his father, Speer was a convinced spiritualist. He joined the

London Spiritualist Alliance The College of Psychic Studies (founded in 1884 as the London Spiritualist Alliance) is a non-profit organisation based in South Kensington, London. It is dedicated to the study of psychic and spiritualist phenomena. History British National Assoc ...

in March 1884. He married Amy Matilda Hallett in 1887. He died in

Sutton, London Sutton is the principal town in the London Borough of Sutton in South London, England. It lies on the lower slopes of the North Downs, and is the administrative headquarters of the Outer London borough. It is south-south west of Charing Cross ...

."Charlton Templeman Speer"
Rootsweb.

Compositions

Among his compositions were: *Zara, opera; *Odysseus, opera; *Hélène (opera); *An opening in C for orchestra; *The ballad Guinevere; *The suite Cinderella for orchestra; *The Mayor of Lake Regillus, for choir and orchestra; *King Arthur symphonic poem; *Pieces for piano, vocal melodies and religious music.

Publications

*''Biography of W. Stainton Moses''. I
''Spirit teachings Through the Mediumship of William Stainton Moses (M.A., Oxon)''
(1894)

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Speer, Charlton Templeman 1859 births 1921 deaths Alumni of the Royal Academy of Music English spiritualists Parapsychologists People from Cheltenham