Background
He was born in Cleethorpes, Lincolnshire, and studied music with E. P. Guthrie and J. S. Robinson in nearby Grimsby.
He was born in Cleethorpes, Lincolnshire, and studied music with E. P. Guthrie and J. S. Robinson in nearby Grimsby.
In 1936 while at Saint Matthew"s, he earned an external Bachelor of Music from Durham University.
He was then organist of Old Clee parish church, and was supplementing his modest income by playing in the local theatre and by working as a compass adjuster. After nine years, he left for the Church of the Ascension in Hamilton, Ontario, but stayed there only nine months. From 1946 to 1948 he was organist of Christ Church Cathedral in Vancouver, British Columbia, director of the Vancouver Bach Choir, and an instructor at the British Columbia Institute of Music and Drama.
He left Vancouver to become master of music at Saint Andrew"s Cathedral in Sydney, Australia, but in 1953 returned to All Saints in Winnipeg.
On a visit to Cambridge University on his way back from Australia, he experienced the annual Advent Carol service of King"s College, and the next year introduced the tradition to Canada at All Saints" Church. He was briefly at Christ Church Cathedral in Nassau, Bahamas, before moving to All Saints" Cathedral in Edmonton, Alberta, in 1958, where he remained until his retirement in 1980.
From 1968 to 1977 he also taught for the Department of Music of the University of Alberta in Edmonton.