Edward Henry Purcell (died 1765), organist, was the son of Edward Purcell and grandson of the English

Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...

master,

Henry Purcell Henry Purcell (, rare: September 1659 – 21 November 1695) was an English composer. Purcell's style of Baroque music was uniquely English, although it incorporated Italian and French elements. Generally considered among the greatest E ...

. He was a chorister in the

Chapel Royal The Chapel Royal is an establishment in the Royal Household serving the spiritual needs of the sovereign and the British Royal Family. Historically it was a body of priests and singers that travelled with the monarch. The term is now also applie ...

in 1737.Holman, Peter, and Thompson, Robert 'Edward Henry Purcell' in ''Grove Music Online'' (ed. L. Macy), , accessed 15 March 2008 Upon the death of his father in 1740, he succeeded him as organist of St Clement, Eastcheap. He was also organist of

St Edmund, King and Martyr St Edmund, King and Martyr, is an Anglican church in Lombard Street, in the City of London, dedicated to St Edmund the Martyr. Since 2001 it houses the London Centre for Spirituality, now (2017) renamed the London Centre for Spiritual Directi ...

, between 10 September 1747 and 10 October 1753, from whence he became organist at St John, Hackney,Dawe, Donovan 'Edward Purcell' in ''Organs and Organists of the City of London''. Padstow: Dawe. 136. all the while retaining his post at St Clement's. (N.B. the present

Hackney church Hackney was a parish in the historic county of Middlesex. The parish church of St John-at-Hackney was built in 1789, replacing the nearby former 16th-century parish church dedicated to St Augustine (pulled down in 1798). The original tower of th ...

is a later building). At Hackney he was rebuked for lightness and for irregular attendance.'Hackney: The Parish Church' in ''A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 10: Hackney'' (1995). 115–122. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=22711. Date accessed: 24 March 2008 It may be that Edward Henry is the same Purcell, a printer, who was publishing music at the sign of the Handel's Head, Wood Street in 1751.Humphries, Charles and Smith, William C. (1979) ''Music Publishing in the British Isles''. Oxford: Basil Blackwell. 265. Evidently Edward Henry was living very close to poverty at the end of his life, for it was noted in the 20 June 1761 edition of the ''London Gazette'' that he was being pursued for debt:

An Act for Relief of Insolvent Debtors, I do hereby give Notice, That I intend to Compel Edward Henry Purcell, late of
Mincing Lane Mincing Lane is a short one-way street in the City of London linking Fenchurch Street to Great Tower Street. In the late 19th century it was the world's leading centre for tea and spice trading. Etymology Its name is a corruption of Mynchen La ...
, London, Musician, who is a Prisoner in the Custody of the Keeper of the
King's Bench Prison The King's Bench Prison was a prison in Southwark, south London, England, from medieval times until it closed in 1880. It took its name from the King's Bench court of law in which cases of defamation, bankruptcy and other misdemeanours were hea ...
, in the County of Surry, ..to deliver in and subscribe upon Oath a Schedule of his Estate and Effects ..Witness my hand the 22d day of June, 1761. Henry Saffory.

He was buried, alongside his father, near the organ gallery in

St Clement Eastcheap St Clement Eastcheap is a Church of England parish church in Candlewick Ward of the City of London. It is located on Clement's Lane, off King William Street and close to London Bridge and the River Thames. Clement was a disciple of St Peter the ...

References

English classical organists British male organists Publishers (people) from London 1765 deaths Year of birth unknown Musicians from London People imprisoned for debt Male classical organists {{organist-stub