William Crathern (14 February 1793 – 1861) was an organist and composer of sacred and secular music. He was baptised on 18 March 1793 at St Leonard’s,

Shoreditch Shoreditch is a district in the East End of London in England, and forms the southern part of the London Borough of Hackney. Neighbouring parts of Tower Hamlets are also perceived as part of the area. In the 16th century, Shoreditch was an impor ...

, the son of Thomas Anthony Crathern and his wife Martha. He was organist at St Paul's Church,

Deptford Deptford is an area on the south bank of the River Thames in southeast London, within the London Borough of Lewisham. It is named after a ford of the River Ravensbourne. From the mid 16th century to the late 19th it was home to Deptford Dock ...

, and later served at

St Magnus the Martyr St Magnus the Martyr, London Bridge, is a Church of England church and parish within the City of London. The church, which is located in Lower Thames Street near The Monument to the Great Fire of London, is part of the Diocese of London and un ...

in London, before taking up the post of organist of St Mary's Chapel,

Hammersmith Hammersmith is a district of West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It is the administrative centre of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, and identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. ...

. St Mary’s Chapel was a

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain ...

chapel, built in 1814, which became a parish church in its own right in 1836. The old church, on the corner of what is now

Hammersmith Road Hammersmith is a district of West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It is the administrative centre of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, and identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. It ...

and Edith Road, London W14, was destroyed by bombs on 16 July 1944. A new church on the same site was consecrated in 1961 and it is now known as St Mary,

West Kensington West Kensington, formerly North End, is an area in the ancient parish of Fulham, in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, England, 3.4 miles (5.5 km) west of Charing Cross. It covers most of the London postal area of W14, includin ...

. His best known secular composition was the song ''My Boat is On the Shore'', a setting of a poem by

Lord Byron George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron (22 January 1788 – 19 April 1824), known simply as Lord Byron, was an English romantic poet and Peerage of the United Kingdom, peer. He was one of the leading figures of the Romantic movement, and h ...

for piano and voice. The words of My Boat is On the Shore are from the poem entitled “To Thomas More”, written by Byron in 1817. This was one of the earliest musical settings of Byron's work, and is estimated in the British Library catalogue to have been published in about 1820 (although there is no date on the publication itself). Crathern's principal religious compositions, including chants and anthems, were collected in his volume of ''Sacred Music'', which was certainly published in 1820. In 1820, Crathern was 27 years old, and he is already described (as he is on the undated song My Boat is On the Shore) as “Organist of St Mary’s Chapel, Hammersmith”. His setting of ''I was glad'' was published by Robert Cocks and Co. in London.

Carl Czerny Carl Czerny (; 21 February 1791 – 15 July 1857) was an Austrian composer, teacher, and pianist of Czech origin whose music spanned the late Classical and early Romantic eras. His vast musical production amounted to over a thousand works and ...

's ''Twenty Short Voluntaries'' opus 698, for organ, were dedicated to Crathern. This was because Crathern was ''"very active within the profession... quite possibly using Czerny’s methods"''. At the 1851 census, when Crathern was about 58 years old, he was a Professor of Music and was living at 4 Serampore Terrace,

, with his wife Sarah and an unmarried daughter (Sarah Emma Crathern), aged 37, who was also a Teacher of Music, and one servant. There had also been a son, named Thomas Anthony Crathern after his grandfather, but he had died at the age of 28 on 5 November 1847 at the family home in Serampore Terrace. William Crathern's death was registered in the Kensington district in 1861.

References

External links

British Library Catalogue for William Crathern
{{DEFAULTSORT:Crathern, William 1793 births 1861 deaths English composers