Gerald Graham 'Graham' Peel (1877 – November 1937) was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

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 ...

Life

Graham Peel's father was Gerald Peel, a millionaire Lancashire cotton spinner and magistrate of

Pendlebury Pendlebury is a town in the City of Salford, Greater Manchester, England. The population at the 2011 Census was 13,069. It lies north-west of Manchester city centre, north-west of Salford and south-east of Bolton. Historically in Lancash ...

, near

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. During his life, Peel was one of the first persons 'to take parties inside prisons to entertain the inmates', and of unobtrusive character, was later remembered for his generosity. Clothes and jobs for prisoners were provided through Peel with his involvement in the Dorset and Bournemouth Discharged Prisoners' Aid Society. He was a resident of 'Marden Ash',

Bournemouth Bournemouth () is a coastal resort town in the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole council area of Dorset, England. At the 2011 census, the town had a population of 183,491, making it the largest town in Dorset. It is situated on the Southern ...

on his death, after a year's illness. A

philanthropist Philanthropy is a form of altruism that consists of "private initiatives, for the Public good (economics), public good, focusing on quality of life". Philanthropy contrasts with business initiatives, which are private initiatives for private goo ...

, he died leaving £191,499.

Compositions

Peel wrote more than 100

songs A song is a musical composition intended to be performed by the human voice. This is often done at distinct and fixed pitches (melodies) using patterns of sound and silence. Songs contain various forms, such as those including the repetition ...

, many of them settings of

A. E. Housman Alfred Edward Housman (; 26 March 1859 – 30 April 1936) was an English classical scholar and poet. After an initially poor performance while at university, he took employment as a clerk in London and established his academic reputation by pub ...

. Many settings were for folk songs and

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

forte solos, and performed afar as

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. His tunes included: ::Almond, wild almond ::Go down to Kew in lilac time ::Her loveliness ::In summer time on Bredon (well regarded, and written c. 1908) ::Loveliest of trees ::Oh like a Queen ::Spring waters ::The early morning ::The lute-player ::The wild swan The 1920 tune 'The challenge' was composed by Peel to the words of the poem of the same name by Scottish-Australian poet and bush balladeer Will H. Ogilvie (1869–1963).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Peel, Graham 1877 births 1937 deaths 20th-century English composers English songwriters Musicians from Bournemouth Prison music