Edmund Ayrton Mus Doc

Edmund Ayrton, Mus.Doc

Edmund Ayrton is not a direct ancestor, but he had an interesting and illustrious career and isn’t far off track, so I couldn’t leave him out. He is a first cousin of mine, six times removed!

His father Edward Ayrton had a brother, Rev Francis Ayrton, who is a direct ancestor. It was the son of Francis, Thomas Ayrton, who came to London from Ripon on a pony to seek his fortune in the city, and Matilda Adriana Ayrton was his granddaughter.

Edmund, born in 1734, is worth knowing about not only because of his musical career as Master of the Children of the Chapel Royal and Organist of St Paul’s Cathedral – and being buried in the Cloisters of Westminster Abbey, but because his house at 24 James Street (now Buckingham Gate), with a three-acre garden, was said to be haunted. Because of that, he got it cheap!

His son William Ayrton is also pretty interesting, since he was a founder member of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and as an impresario introduced the opera Don Giovanni to England.

Alan Ray-Jones

From \\\'The Chaplin and Skinner Families\\\' page 20:

For most of the details of Dr. Edmund Ayrton\\\'s life see Facts. He obtained the house at No. 24 St James Street Westminster - a large house with a garden of over three acres - for a very modest sum, as it had the reputation of being haunted.

His grandson, Mr. William Scrope Ayrton, who was a Commissioner in Bankruptcy, died in 1855; and this branch of the family is now [ie in 1899] represented by Mr. W. Scrope Ayrton of Kensington and his brother, Mr. Edward Ayrton, of Bentham, Yorkshire.

From the Home Cyclopaedia, Barnes. New York 1856
Ayrton, Edmund, a composer of cathedral music, and one of the directors of the Commemoration of Handel.


From The Oxford Dictionary of Music, © Oxford University Press 1994:

Ayrton, Edmund (Ripon, 1734 - Westminster, 1808)
Eng. organist and composer.

Master of Children of Chapel Royal 1780-1805. His son William (London, 1777 - London, 1858) was a mus. critic and a founder of the Philharmonic Soc. As dir. of It. opera at King\\\'s Th., London, was first to stage Don Giovanni in Britain (1817).

The portrait above of Edmund in his robes is attributed to John Hoppner, painted around 1903. It is mentioned briefly in a book about Hoppner published shortly thereafter, and the extract attached below is taken from a copy that was given to Margaret Hawdon (née Ayrton) on Christmas Day 1905 by her sister Mary. Edmund was their great-grandfather.

END