Sir Alfred Scott Scott-Gatty ( Gatty; 26 April 1847 – 18 December 1918) was a long serving officer of arms at the

College of Arms The College of Arms, or Heralds' College, is a royal corporation consisting of professional officers of arms, with jurisdiction over England, Wales, Northern Ireland and some Commonwealth realms. The heralds are appointed by the British Sover ...

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

and a successful

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 Def ...

Personal life

Alfred Scott-Gatty was born in Ecclesfield,

West Riding of Yorkshire The West Riding of Yorkshire is one of three historic subdivisions of Yorkshire, England. From 1889 to 1974 the administrative county County of York, West Riding (the area under the control of West Riding County Council), abbreviated County ...

(now part of

Sheffield Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire ...

South Yorkshire South Yorkshire is a ceremonial and metropolitan county in the Yorkshire and Humber Region of England. The county has four council areas which are the cities of Doncaster and Sheffield as well as the boroughs of Barnsley and Rotherham. ...

) with the given name of Alfred Gatty. He was the son of

Alfred Gatty Alfred Gatty (18 April 1813 – 20 January 1903) was a Church of England vicar and author. He was born in London to Robert Gatty, a solicitor, and Margaret Jones. In 1831 he entered Exeter College, Oxford, graduating in 1836. He was ordained a d ...

Bellerby Bellerby is a village and civil parish in the Richmondshire district of North Yorkshire, England, about south-west of Richmond. The village has one pub, the ''Cross Keys'', a small and historic Anglican church and a Methodist chapel. It is f ...

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a Historic counties of England, historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other Eng ...

who was serving as

Vicar A vicar (; Latin: '' vicarius'') is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior (compare "vicarious" in the sense of "at second hand"). Linguistically, ''vicar'' is cognate with the English pre ...

of Ecclesfield and his wife,

Margaret Margaret is a female first name, derived via French () and Latin () from grc, μαργαρίτης () meaning "pearl". The Greek is borrowed from Persian. Margaret has been an English name since the 11th century, and remained popular through ...

. Scott-Gatty was educated at Marlborough and Christ's College,

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

. He assumed the name of Scott-Gatty in 1892, Scott being his mother's maiden name.

Heraldic career

Scott-Gatty began his heraldic career with his appointment as Rouge Dragon Pursuivant of Arms In Ordinary in 1880. He held that post for six years until his promotion to the office of York Herald of Arms in Ordinary. During his service as such he was in July 1901 appointed an Esquire of the

Order of St. John The Order of Knights of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem ( la, Ordo Fratrum Hospitalis Sancti Ioannis Hierosolymitani), commonly known as the Knights Hospitaller (), was a medieval and early modern Catholic military order. It was headqu ...

(EsqStJ), and in December 1903 promoted to a Knight of Grace of the same order. Scott-Gatty was appointed

Garter Principal King of Arms The Garter Principal King of Arms (also Garter King of Arms or simply Garter) is the senior King of Arms, and the senior Officer of Arms of the College of Arms, the heraldic authority with jurisdiction over England, Wales and Northern Ireland. T ...

in 1904 and held that office until his death in 1918. It was under Scott-Gatty that the College of Arms reinstituted the process of granting badges to armigers. He was knighted for his services when he was appointed a

Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order The Royal Victorian Order (french: Ordre royal de Victoria) is a dynastic order of knighthood established in 1896 by Queen Victoria. It recognises distinguished personal service to the British monarch, Canadian monarch, Australian monarch, o ...

(KCVO) in June 1911, an honour personally bestowed by the King.

Composing career

As a composer he was an

amateur An amateur () is generally considered a person who pursues an avocation independent from their source of income. Amateurs and their pursuits are also described as popular, informal, self-taught, user-generated, DIY, and hobbyist. History ...

, but his work was popular and highly regarded in its day. The works that he produced were largely for voices and aimed primarily at amateur performers. It included two modest

operetta Operetta is a form of theatre and a genre of light opera. It includes spoken dialogue, songs, and dances. It is lighter than opera in terms of its music, orchestral size, length of the work, and at face value, subject matter. Apart from its ...

s, ''Sandford and Merton's Christmas Party'' (1880) and ''Not At Home'' (1886). It also included three musical plays specifically for children: '' Rumpelstiltskin'', ''The Goose Girl'' (1895) and ''The Three Bears'' (1896). For the most part, these musical plays were set to words written by his sister, the noted children's writer Mrs Ewing. His songs ran into hundreds, many of them with texts by himself. A few of the best known titles were ''Ae Fond Kiss'', ''Crofte and Ye Faire Ladye'', ''True Till Death'', and ''Country House Ditties'' (1898). His concern to provide music for

children A child ( : children) is a human being between the stages of birth and puberty, or between the developmental period of infancy and puberty. The legal definition of ''child'' generally refers to a minor, otherwise known as a person younger ...

, already noted, was pursued in ''Little Songs for Little Voices'' published in three volumes, including 76 short and simple songs. They were his earliest compositions and appeared in '' Aunt Judy's Magazine'', edited first by his mother, then by his sister. Two of these songs, The Sneezing Song and Three Little Pigs were sung by Scott-Gatty himself in a concert at Doncaster Grammar School on 21 June 1870, long before they were published. He sang Three Little Pigs again in 1871 along with Camomile Tea, Tittle Tattle and The Yawning Song. Scott-Gatty's most popular songs were the Plantation Songs (1893–1895) for baritone solo and mixed voice chorus. These included 24 songs in total, issued in four volumes. At that time such songs were novelties in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and ...

. The earliest recordings of Scott-Gatty date from December 1898 when the Georgia Glee Singers cut a version of ''Goodnight'' for the Gramophone Company, several other of the songs proved popular items with Melba in 1905 recording a version of the same song. During the 1930s, long after Scott-Gatty's death, several of these were rearranged for baritone and male voice chorus by

Leslie Woodgate Hubert Leslie Woodgate (15 April 190018 May 1961) was an English choral conductor, composer, and writer of books on choral music. He was born in London, and educated at Westminster School and the Royal College of Music. During the 1920s, he was ...

and others had their accompaniments scored for orchestra by various hands. At least one of them, a duet, ''Good Night'', was heard on 30 January 1891, years before it was published. It was performed in the Gattys' home territory in South Yorkshire, in a concert given in the surroundings of the Marble Saloon of Wentworth Woodhouse, near Rotherham, then the seat of Earl Fitzwilliam. It was sung by Scott-Gatty and his wife and the duet, according to a contemporary press report "caused a furore of enthusiasm."

Arms

Succession

References

External links

CUHAGS Officer of Arms Index
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Scott-Gatty, Alfred 1847 births 1918 deaths Alumni of Christ's College, Cambridge People from Ecclesfield English officers of arms English genealogists English composers Fellows of the Society of Antiquaries of London Musicians from Sheffield Knights Commander of the Royal Victorian Order Knights of the Order of St John 19th-century English musicians Garter Principal Kings of Arms Place of death missing