William Done (4 October 1815 – 17 August 1895) was an English cathedral organist, who served at

Worcester Cathedral Worcester Cathedral is an Anglican cathedral in Worcester, in Worcestershire, England, situated on a bank overlooking the River Severn. It is the seat of the Bishop of Worcester. Its official name is the Cathedral Church of Christ and the Bles ...

Background

He was born in

Worcester Worcester may refer to: Places United Kingdom * Worcester, England, a city and the county town of Worcestershire in England ** Worcester (UK Parliament constituency), an area represented by a Member of Parliament * Worcester Park, London, Engla ...

on 4 October 1815, the son of a baker. He was a chorister at Worcester Cathedral from 1825 (under Charles E. J. Clarke, the Cathedral Organist), then an articled pupil of Clarke from 1828 to 1835, and then Clarke's deputy organist. When Clarke died in 1844, Done succeeded him as Organist. He remained organist for 51 years. In 1894, after 50 years of service, he was awarded the

Lambeth degree A Lambeth degree is an academic degree conferred by the Archbishop of Canterbury under the authority of the Ecclesiastical Licences Act 1533 (25 Hen VIII c 21) (Eng) as successor of the papal legate in England. The degrees conferred most commonl ...

of D.Mus. In 1889, Done (by this stage in his seventies) handed his duties to the Assistant Organist

Hugh Blair Hugh Blair FRSE (7 April 1718 – 27 December 1800) was a Scottish minister of religion, author and rhetorician, considered one of the first great theorists of written discourse. As a minister of the Church of Scotland, and occupant of the ...

, but remained titular Organist until his death in 1895, whereupon Blair succeeded him.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Done, William English classical organists British male organists Cathedral organists 1815 births 1895 deaths 19th-century English musicians 19th-century British male musicians Musicians from Worcester, England 19th-century classical musicians Male classical organists 19th-century organists