Chronological list of English classical composers

Last updated September 03, 2024

This is a chronological list of classical music composers living or working in England or originating from there. Entries are alphabetical within each year.

Medieval

Godric (c. 1065–1170)
W. de Wycombe (fl. c. 1275–1279)
John Hanboys (14th century); may be J. de Alto Bosco (fl. c. 1370)
Johannes Alanus (14th century; died 1373?)
Aleyn (fl. c. 1400)
Byttering (fl. c. 1410–1420)
Pycard (fl. c. 1410)
Roy Henry (fl. c. 1410)

Renaissance

Leonel Power (c. 1370/1385–1445)
John Dunstaple (c. 1390–1453)
John Hothby (c. 1410–1487)
John Plummer (c. 1410 – c. 1483)
Henry Abyngdon (c. 1418–1497)
William Haute (c. 1430–1497)
Robert Morton (c. 1430 – post-1479)
Richard Hygons (c. 1435 – c. 1509)
Walter Frye (fl. c. 1443 – c. 1474)
Gilbert Banester (c. 1445–1487)
Walter Lambe (c. 1450 – c. 1504)
John Browne (b. c. 1453, fl. c. 1490)
Robert Fayrfax (1464–1521)
Richard Davy (c. 1465 – c. 1538)
William Cornysh the younger (1468–1523)
Robert Johnson (c. 1470 – post-1554)^[1]
Thomas Ashewell (c. 1478 – post-1513)
John Redford (c. 1486–1547)
Nicholas Ludford (c. 1490–1557)
Henry VIII (1491–1547)
John Taverner (1495–1545)
Christopher Tye (c. 1505 – c. 1572)
Anthony de Countie (died 1579)
Thomas Tallis (c. 1505–1585)
John Merbecke (c. 1510 – c. 1585)
John Sheppard (c. 1515–1559)
Richard Farrant (c. 1525–1580)
William Mundy (c. 1528 – pre-1591)
Robert Parsons (c. 1535–1572)
Robert White (c. 1538–1574)
William Byrd (c. 1540–1623)
Anthony Holborne (c. 1545–1602)
Francis Cutting (c. 1550–1595/1596)
John Mundy (c. 1555–1630)
Thomas Morley (1557–1602)
Peter Philips (c. 1560–1628)
William Brade (1560–1630)
John Bull (c. 1562–1628)
John Dowland (1563–1626)
Giles Farnaby (c. 1563–1640)
William Leighton (c. 1565–1622)
Thomas Campion (1567–1620)
Philip Rosseter (1568–1623)
Tobias Hume (c. 1569–1645)
John Coprario (John Cooper; Giovanni Coperario) (1570–1626)
John Farmer (c. 1570 – c. 1601)
Thomas Lupo (1571–1627)
Martin Peerson (1571/1573–1650)
John Ward (1571–1638)
Daniel Bacheler (1572–1618)
Thomas Tomkins (1572–1656)
Ellis Gibbons (1573–1603)
John Wilbye (1574–1638)
John Bennet (c. 1575 – post-1614)
Thomas Cutting (late 16th c. lutenist to Arbella Stuart, Christian IV and Henry Frederick, Prince of Wales)
Alfonso Ferrabosco the younger (c. 1575–1628)
Thomas Weelkes (1576–1623)
John Maynard (c. 1577 – c. 1633)
Richard Dering (c. 1580–1630)
Michael East (c. 1580–1648)
Thomas Ford (c. 1580–1648)
Orlando Gibbons (1583–1625)
Robert Johnson (1583–1633)
Thomas Robinson (c. 1588 – post-1609)

Baroque

Nicholas Lanier (1588–1666)
Richard Mico (1590–1661)
John Jenkins (1592–1678)
Henry Lawes (1595–1662)
John Wilson (1595–1674)
John Hilton (1599–1657)
William Lawes (1602–1645)
Christopher Simpson (c. 1602/1606–1669)
William Child (1606–1697)
Thomas Brewer (1611 – c. 1660)
Henry Cooke (c. 1616–1672)
Christopher Gibbons (1615–1676)
Matthew Locke (c. 1621–1677)
John Banister (c. 1624/1630–1679)
Pelham Humphrey (1647–1674)
Michael Wise (1647–1687)
John Blow (1649–1708)
William Turner (1651–1740)
Henry Purcell (1659–1695)
Daniel Purcell (1664–1717)
Johann Christoph Pepusch (John Christopher, 1667–1742)
John Eccles (1668–1735)
Henry Eccles (1670–1742)
Jeremiah Clarke (c. 1674–1707)
John Weldon (1676–1736)
William Croft (1678–1727)
William Corbett (1680–1748)
Abiell Whichello (1683–1747)
George Frideric Handel (1685–1759)
Thomas Roseingrave (1688–1766)
William Babell (1689/1690–1723)
Robert Woodcock (c. 1690–1728)
Maurice Greene (1696–1755)
Richard Jones (late 17th c. – 1744)
Joseph Gibbs (1699–1788)

Classical era

Thomas Chilcot (c. 1707–1766)
Charles Avison (1709–1770)
Thomas Arne (1710–1778)
Thomas Gladwin (1710–1799)
William Boyce (1711–1779)
John Hebden (1712–1765)
John Stanley (1712–1786)
James Nares (1715–1783)
John Garth (1721–1810)
Charles Burney (1726–1814)
Capel Bond (1730–1790)
William Jackson (1730–1803)
Thomas Sanders Dupuis (1733–1796)
Thomas Linley the elder (1733–1795)
Benjamin Cooke (1734–1793)
John Bennett (c. 1735–1784)
Philip Hayes (1738–1797)
William Herschel (1738–1822)
Michael Arne (1740/1741–1786)
Samuel Arnold (1740–1802)
Samuel Webbe (1740–1816)
James Hook (1746–1827)
William Shield (1748–1829)
John Stafford Smith (1750–1836)
John Marsh (1752–1828)
Thomas Linley the younger (1756–1778)
Stephen Storace (1762–1796)
Matthew Camidge (1764–1844)
John Addison (c. 1765–1844)
Thomas Attwood (1765–1838)
Samuel Wesley (1766–1837)

Romantic

William Crotch (1775–1847)
Thomas Adams (1785–1858)
George Pinto (1785–1806)
Sir Henry Bishop (1787–1856)
Cipriani Potter (1792–1871)
Robert Lucas de Pearsall (1795–1856)
John Goss (1800–1880)
John Lodge Ellerton (1801–1873)
Elias Parish Alvars (1808–1849)
Samuel Sebastian Wesley (1810–1876)
George Alexander Macfarren (1813–1887)
William Christian Sellé (1813–1898)
Henry Smart (1813–1879)
William Sterndale Bennett (1816–1875)
Henry Charles Litolff (1818–1891)
Edmund Chipp (1823–1886)
Henry Hiles (1826–1904)
John Baptiste Calkin (1827–1905)
George Tolhurst (1827–1877)
Francis Edward Bache (1833–1858)
Ebenezer Prout (1835–1909)
Joseph Barnby (1838–1896)
Alice Mary Smith (1839–1884)
Sydney Smith (1839–1889)
John Stainer (1840–1901)
Michael Maybrick (Stephen Adams) (1841–1913)
Arthur Sullivan (1842–1900)
Hubert Parry (1848–1918)
Arthur Goring Thomas (1850–1892)
Frederick Corder (1852–1932)
Frederic Cowen (1852–1935)
Bertram Luard-Selby (1853–1918)
Maude Valérie White (French-born, 1855–1937)
Frederic Cliffe (1857–1931)
Rosalind Ellicott (1857–1924)
Edward Elgar (1857–1934)
Isidore de Lara (1858–1935)
Ethel Smyth (1858–1944)
John Henry Maunder (1858–1920)
Basil Harwood (1859–1949)

Modern

Frederick Delius (1862–1934)
Edward German (1862–1936)
Liza Lehmann (1862–1918)
Arthur Somervell (1863–1937)
Edwin Lemare (1866–1934)
Granville Bantock (1868–1946)
Haldane Stewart (1868–1942)
Walford Davies (1869–1941)
Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872–1958)
Ethel Barns (1874–1948)
Gustav Holst (1874–1934)
Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (1875–1912)
Donald Tovey (1875–1940)
Havergal Brian (1876–1972)
William Hurlstone (1876–1906)
Thomas Dunhill (1877–1946)
Henry Balfour Gardiner (1877–1950)
Roger Quilter (1877–1953)
Rutland Boughton (1878–1960)
Adam Carse (1878–1958)
Joseph Holbrooke (1878–1958)
Theodore Holland (1878–1947)
Frank Bridge (1879–1941)
John Ireland (1879–1962)
Cyril Scott (1879–1970)
Edgar Bainton (1880–1956)
John Foulds (1880–1939)
Hubert Bath (1883–1945)
Arnold Bax (1883–1953)
George Dyson (1883–1964)
William Henry Harris (1883–1973)
Lord Berners (1883–1950)
York Bowen (1884–1961)
George Butterworth (1885–1916)
Ernest Farrar (1885–1918)
Rebecca Clarke (1886–1979)
Eric Coates (1886–1957)
Armstrong Gibbs (1889–1960)
Ivor Gurney (1890–1937)
Arthur Bliss (1891–1975)
Herbert Howells (1892–1983)
Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji (1892–1988)
Eugene Goossens (1893–1962)
Peter Warlock (1894–1930)
Ernest John Moeran (1894–1950)
Gordon Jacob (1895–1984)
George Thalben-Ball (1896–1987)
William Baines (1899–1922)
Herbert Sumsion (1899–1995)
Alan Bush (1900–1995)
Gerald Finzi (1901–1956)
Victor Hely-Hutchinson (1901–1947)
Edmund Rubbra (1901–1986)
William Walton (1902–1983)
Lennox Berkeley (1903–1989)
Leighton Lucas (1903–1982)
Robin Milford (1903–1959)
Thomas Pitfield (1903–1999)
Percy Whitlock (1903–1946)
Richard Addinsell (1904–1977)
William Alwyn (1905–1985)
Constant Lambert (1905–1951)
Walter Leigh (1905–1942)
Alan Rawsthorne (1905–1971)
Michael Tippett (1905–1998)
Arnold Cooke (1906–2005)
Eric Fenby (1906–1997)
Benjamin Frankel (1906–1973)
Elisabeth Lutyens (1906–1983)
Roy Douglas (1907–2015)
Imogen Holst (1907–1984)
Elizabeth Maconchy (1907–1994)
Brian Easdale (1909–1995)
Ronald Binge (1910–1979)
Stanley Bate (1911–1959)
Phyllis Tate (1911–1987)
Percy M. Young (1912–2004)
Benjamin Britten (1913–1976)
George Lloyd (1913–1998)
Harold Truscott (1914–1992)
William Lloyd Webber (1914–1982)
Humphrey Searle (1915–1982)
Denis ApIvor (1916–2004)
Bernard Stevens (1916–1983)
Richard Arnell (1917–2009)
John Gardner (1917–2011)
Francis Jackson (1917—2022)
John W. Duarte (1919–2004)
Geoffrey Bush (1920–1998)
Peter Racine Fricker (1920–1990)
Malcolm Arnold (1921–2006)
Ruth Gipps (1921–1999)
Robert Simpson (1921–1997)
Peter Wishart (1921–1984)
Raffaello de Banfield (1922–2008)
Doreen Carwithen (1922–2003)
Arthur Butterworth (1923–2014)
Madeleine Dring (1923–1977)
Stephen Dodgson (1924–2013)
Angela Morley (1924–2009)
Buxton Orr (1924–1997)
Ernest Tomlinson (1924–2015)
Daphne Oram (1925–2003)
Christopher Shaw (1925–1995)
Arthur Wills (1926–2020)
Wilfred Josephs (1927–1997)
John Joubert (1927–2019)
Graham Whettam (1927–2007)
Geoffrey Winters (born 1928)
Kenneth Leighton (1929–1988)
Betty Roe (born 1930)
Alexander Goehr (1932–2024)
George Newson (1932-2024)
Justin Connolly (1933–2020)
Harrison Birtwistle (1934–2022)
Peter Maxwell Davies (1934–2016)
Peter Dickinson (1934-2023)
Anthony Gilbert (composer) (1934-2023)
Nicholas Maw (1935–2009)
Richard Rodney Bennett (1936–2012)
Nigel Brooks (1936-2024)
Cornelius Cardew (1936–1981)
Patrick Gowers (1936–2014)
Colin Mawby (1936–2019)
Anthony Payne (1936–2021)
John White (1936–2024)
David Bedford (1937–2011)
Gordon Crosse (1937–2021)
Edwin Roxburgh (born 1937)
Michael Parsons (born 1938)
Christopher Steel (1938–1991)
Andrew Carter (born 1939)
Jonathan Harvey (1939–2012)
John McCabe (1939–2015)
Patric Standford (1939–2014)
Geoffrey Burgon (1941–2010)
Derek Bourgeois (1941–2017)
Timothy Salter (born 1942)
Gavin Bryars (born 1943)
Edward Cowie (born 1943)
Frank Denyer (born 1943)
Brian Ferneyhough (born 1943)
Robin Holloway (born 1943)
Bill Hopkins (1943–1981)
David Matthews (born 1943)
Michael Nyman (born 1944)
John Tavener (1944–2013)

Contemporary

John Rutter (born 1945)
Michael Finnissy (born 1946)
Colin Matthews (born 1946)
Giles Swayne (born 1946)
Paul Patterson (born 1947)
Hugh Shrapnel (born 1947)
Howard Skempton (born 1947)
Michael Berkeley (born 1948)
Diana Burrell (born 1948)
Grayston Ives (born 1948)
John Casken (born 1949)
Sam Richards (born 1949)
Dave Smith (born 1949)
Philip Wilby (born 1949)
Nicholas Sackman (born 1950)
Ronald Corp (born 1951)
Cecilia McDowall (born 1951)
Judith Bingham (born 1952)
Oliver Knussen (1952–2018)
Dominic Muldowney (born 1952)
Patrick Doyle (born 1953)
Peter McGarr (born 1953)
Robert Saxton (born 1953)
Richard Blackford (born 1954)
Benedict Mason (born 1954)
Judith Weir (born 1954)
John Woolrich (born 1954)
Ian Venables (born 1955)
Sally Beamish (born 1956)
Philip Grange (born 1956)
Steve Elcock (born 1957)
Francis Pott (composer) (born 1957)
Janet Wheeler (born 1957)
Howard Goodall (born 1958)
Lionel Sainsbury (born 1958)
Patrick Hawes (born 1958)
Simon Holt (born 1958)
Errollyn Wallen (born 1958)
Jonathan Dove (born 1959)
Steve Martland (1959–2013)
John Palmer (born 1959)
Peter Seabourne (born 1960)
George Benjamin (born 1960)
Mark-Anthony Turnage (born 1960)
Paul Carr(born 1961)
David Sawer (born 1961)
Jack Gibbons (born 1962)
Philip Cashian (born 1963)
Graham Fitkin (born 1963)
Michael Zev Gordon (born 1963)
John Pickard (born 1963)
John Powell (born 1963)
James Whitbourn (born 1963)
Debbie Wiseman (born 1963)
Ivan Moody (1964–2024)
Matthew Taylor (born 1964)
Julian Anderson (born 1967)
Rebecca Saunders (born 1967)
Joe Cutler (born 1968)
Roxanna Panufnik (born 1968)
James Francis Brown (born 1969)
Patrick Nunn (born 1969)
Jonathan Powell (born 1969)
Thomas Adès (born 1971)
Joby Talbot (born 1971)
David Jennings (born 1972)
Tansy Davies (born 1973)
Andrew March (born 1973)
Julian Cochran (born 1974)
Sophie Viney (born 1974)^[2]
Tim Benjamin (born 1975)
Luke Bedford (born 1978)
Charlotte Bray (born 1982)
Sasha Siem (born 1984)
Freya Waley-Cohen (born 1989)
Lucy Armstrong (born 1991)
Anna Appleby (born 1993)
Grace Evangeline Mason (born 1994)

References

↑ "Robert Johnson (1)". HOASM. Retrieved 26 June 2011.
↑ Partington, Angela (11 March 2003). "One enchanted evening". The Guardian (UK). London. Retrieved 9 November 2020.

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[1] "Robert Johnson (1)". HOASM. Retrieved 26 June 2011.

[2] Partington, Angela (11 March 2003). "One enchanted evening". The Guardian (UK). London. Retrieved 9 November 2020.

[1]

[2]