H. Hugh Bancroft

Henry Hugh Bancroft (1904-02-29 – 1988-09-11)was a British organist and composer who was organist of fivecathedrals.He was born in Cleethorpes, Lincolnshire, and studied music with E.P. Guthrie and J.S. Robinson in nearby Grimsby.

He attained the FRCO diploma in 1928. 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. Seeking better prospects, he left for Canada in 1929 to become organistof St. Matthew's Anglican Church in Winnipeg, Manitoba. In 1936 while at St. Matthews, he earned an external BMus from Durham University. After nine years, he left for the Church of the Ascension in Hamilton, Ontario,but stayed there only nine months. In 1937, he was back in Winnipeg, at the downtown parish of All Saints,where he developed a men and boys choir of national renown, and initiated choral evensongs on the model of the Church of England cathedrals.

From 1946 to 1948 he was organist of
Christ Church Cathedral in Vancouver,British Columbia, director of the Vancouver Bach Choir, andan instructor at the British Columbia Institute of Music and Drama.He left Vancouver to become master of music at
St. 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, the Bahamas,before moving to All Saints Cathedral in Edmonton, Alberta in 1958.From 1968 to 1977 he also taught for the Department of Music of the University of Alberta in Edmonton.

Honours

* FRCCO (Royal Canadian College of Organists) 1976
* DMus (Cantuar) 1977
* LL D (Alberta) 1980

Recordings

* "Organ Music From All Saints" (1970, ST-56722-23)

References

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