John Spray (c.1768 – 21 January 1827) was an acclaimed tenor singer, known for performing works by

John Andrew Stevenson Sir John Andrew Stevenson (November 1761 – 14 September 1833) was an Irish composer. He is best known for his piano arrangements of ''Irish Melodies'' with poet Thomas Moore. He was granted an honorary doctorate by the University of Dublin and ...

, who wrote a number of pieces for him including the popular ''Faithless Emma''.Our Portrait Gallery – Sir John A. Stevenson, Mus. Doc.
''The Dublin University Magazine'', April 1851, p. 499. Spray was born in Southwell, Nottinghamshire, and was a chorister there. He moved to Dublin in 1795 to work as vicar choral for the Dublin cathedrals (

St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin Saint Patrick's Cathedral ( ir, Ard-Eaglais Naomh Pádraig) in Dublin, Ireland, founded in 1191 as a Roman Catholic cathedral, is currently the national cathedral of the Church of Ireland. Christ Church Cathedral, also a Church of Ireland ca ...

and

Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin Christ Church Cathedral, more formally The Cathedral of the Holy Trinity, is the cathedral of the United Dioceses of Dublin and Glendalough and the cathedral of the ecclesiastical province of the United Provinces of Dublin and Cashel in the ( ...

).Leeper, Alexander
Historical Handbook to the Monuments, Inscriptions, etc. of the National Collegiate and Cathedral Church of St. Patrick Dublin
p. 78 (1891).Bumpus, John Skelton
Sir John Stevenson: a biographical sketch
p. 49-50 (1893) He received an honorary doctorate in music from

Dublin University The University of Dublin ( ga, Ollscoil Átha Cliath), corporately designated the Chancellor, Doctors and Masters of the University of Dublin, is a university located in Dublin, Ireland. It is the degree-awarding body for Trinity College Dubl ...

in 1821.Boydell, Barra
''A History of Music at Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin'' (Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2005), pp. 104–05.
/ref> A memorial to Spray stands in the north transept of St. Patrick's.St. Patrick's Cathedral's Close News
(January 2013)

References

1827 deaths English tenors People from Southwell, Nottinghamshire Year of birth uncertain {{UK-singer-stub