John Thomas, Royal Harpist • 1826–1913.

The Blue Place at the street John Thomas was born in. 

Last month, a Blue Plaque commemorating the life of the Royal Harpist, John Thomas, was unveiled in his hometown of Bridgend. Having worked on this with Bridgend Town Council, to accompany the event, I wanted to write something short about John and his life.

The quotes in this article (unless specified) are taken from John’s own biographical notes written in the 1880s. A few weeks ago, I was given the opportunity to see his personal papers at the National Library of Wales.

In his own words: “I was born at Bridgend, Glamorganshire, South Wales on St David’s Day 1826 and am the eldest of a musical family.”

Born on St David’s Day, 1826, John Thomas was the eldest of seven children born to John Thomas, a tailor, and his wife Catherine Jones of Elder Lane.

John’s father was a member of an amateur wood and brass band in Bridgend. As soon as John was of age, he (and later his brothers) joined the band alongside his father.

John later recalled that his first band performance took place during the County Elections at Bridgend, his instrument of choice at that time was the Piccolo. A few years later, with the disbanding of the band, John was given his first harp. It was an old Welsh triple harp bought by his father from the ‘Old Widow Jones’ of Newton Nottage.

He took to this instrument immediately and in 1838, at the aged of eleven, John competed at the Abergavenny Eisteddfod organised by Lady Llanover. John won the top prize of a new Bassett Triple Harp. As a result of this, John was invited to London by Sir Charles Morgan of Tredegar and played for many of London’s high society.

Portrait of John Thomas - Triple Harp won by John Thomas in 1838 (RCM)

John’s musical talent caught the eye of Lady Ada Lovelace (Lord Bryon’s daughter) and she was so impressed that she offered to fund three-quarters of his education if his father could find the other quarter. As a result of this offer, the Thomas family left Bridgend for London and John began to study at the Royal Academy of Music in 1841. In later life, John would talk of how Ada “adopted him, artistically speaking.”

The 1841 Census tells us that the Thomas family had taken residence at Flying Horse Court in Middlesex. John (snr) was listed as a ‘Journeyman and Tailor’ with three of his sons, including John, listed as ‘Musicians.’ (1)

While at the Royal Academy, John studied the harp under J B Chatterton, composition under Charles Lucas and later under Cipriani Potter. It is said that John would return home every day and teach his siblings what he had been taught during the day.

His first composition in his studentship was a Harp Concerto in B-Flat, which was followed by a symphony, several overtures and operas that were performed at the Royal Academy. John left the Royal Academy as a student in 1846 and was then made an associate, the honorary member and soon appointed a Professor of the Harp.

In 1851, John was appointed Harpist at Her Majesty’s Theatre under Mr Balfe. In the autumn of the same year, John went on his first professional tour “of the continent” and continued for the next ten years to spend the winter months aboard giving concerts. He played at the Royal Courts of France, Italy, Russia and Austria. It was while he was on tour he became briefly engaged to the famous Belgian soprano Desiree Artot.

Portrait of John Thomas - 'Welsh Melodies' by John Thomas.

On the 4th of July 1862, he gave the first concert of Welsh National Music at St James’s Hall. The concert included a choir of over 400 people accompanied by a band of twenty harps. His collection of Welsh Melodies was performed with a full orchestra and a bi-lingual choir of 400 voices. These became annual concerts that continued for over 40 years.

As a result of this concert, John published his collection of Welsh Melodies and the collection was later expanded to four collections.

At the 1866 Chester Eisteddfod, John was presented with a purse of £500 collected by his contemporaries in recognition of “the services I have rendered to the cause of music in my native country.”

In 1871 The Welsh Choral Union was established in London. It consisted of 200 voices with John as the conductor. A sum of money from each concert was collected to fund what became the ‘John Thomas Scholarship’ at the Royal Academy of Music for young Welsh musicians.

In his autobiographical notes written during the 1880s, John made a list of what he considered his musical achievements. It isn’t quite a definitive list, but it gives us an insight into what achievements he considered important.

• 1852 • John composed a concert in E-Flat and played it at a concert for the Philharmonic Society.
• 1861 • The title of ‘Pencerdd Gwalia’ (Chief Musician of Wales) was bestowed on John during the Aberdare Eisteddfod.
• 1863 • John composed ‘Llewelyn’ a dramatic cantata for the Swansea Eisteddfod.
• 1866 • John composed ‘The Bride of Neath Valley’ a Welsh cantata for the Chester Eisteddfod.
• 1871 • On the death of J B Chatterton, John was appointed Royal Harpist to Queen Victoria.
• 1878 • John published ‘Mozart’s Posthumous Concerto’ for harp and flute. In addition to this, he arranged an orchestral accompaniment for the pianoforte. The work was originally composed in Paris in 1778.
• 1878 • On the 13th of March, John gave a lecture on “National Music of Wales” to the Cymmrodorion. The lecture was “illustrated” by the Welsh Choral Union and a band of twenty harps.

In his own words: “There has hardly been an Eistedfodd of any importance for the last twenty years for which I have not been engaged as an adjudicator at the morning meetings and harpist at the evening concerts.”

The 1871 census tells us that John was lodging at 53 Welbeck Street. His occupation is listed as ‘Master Musician.’ 53 Welbeck Street would later become the Thomas family home and it was in the drawing room of the house that John taught his pupils.

A former pupil, who remained anonymous gives us an interesting account of what John was like as a person and a teacher:

“Though to a certain extent, both in the face and bearing he carries the stamp of his calling it is none of the dreamy musician species. Concentrated energy, verve, and willpower are shown by his trenchant utterances and quick purposeful movements, indicating a leader rather than a led among men and though if usually grave, even solemnity, a sense of humour is by no means wanting.”

“Thomas believes in a firm foundation; his musical children must learn many hard lessons in the School of Melody and if he is temporarily cruel respecting this, it is but to be eventually kind. The eye that falls with unerring precision upon faulty or careless rendering, can fill with tears of pity, and the ear so keen in detecting false harmonies can lend itself to a genuine tale of woe, and it is in these quieter moments, teaching cares being laid aside, and the master becomes the man that we see Mr Thomas at his best.”

A view of 53 Welbeck Street - London.

In 1878, John married Alice Ann Keate. She was the daughter of Dr Henry Keate Esq of Shrewsbury. It is uncertain when Alice and John first met. We know that for some time, Alice (along with many other young ladies) was a pupil of John’s at the Royal Academy of Music. The couple had one son, John Lewellyn who was born in 1880. Sadly, during the same year and while John was on tour, Alice died at 53 Welbeck Street. She was 25 years old.

Five years after the death of his first wife, John married Joan Frances Denny. Again, it is uncertain when Joan and John first met but we do know that Joan was a pupil of John’s at the Royal Academy.

John and Joan had three children: Arthur Thomas (d.1886) Ada Myfanwy (d.1889) and Gwilym Ivor (b. 1893). As you may have already guessed, Ada was named after Lady Ada Lovelace, the woman to whom John Thomas owed his musical career. (2)

In 1893, John attended the Grand National Eisteddfod at the World’s Fair in Chicago. He performed many of his works, solos from the Welsh Harmonies including ‘Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau’ with a band of twenty harps, and a choir of 1,000 voices.

Following the death of Queen Victoria, John was appointed Royal Harpist to King Edward VII. John was the last Royal Harpist until the now King Charles III reinstated the position in 2000.

At the age of 72, John performed his last public concert at The Empress Rooms in London on the 17th of January 1905. In the same year, after over 40 years living at Welbeck Street, John and his wife Joan retired to ‘Llandulas’ in New Barnet. It was at ‘Llandulas’ that in his 88th year, John died on the 19th of March 1913, following a heart attack two months prior.

John’s funeral service took place at St Mark’s Church (New Barnet) on Tuesday the 25th of March. At the service, Sydney Scott played a select few of John’s compositions including ‘Spring and Autumn’ with Ben Davies leading a full choir. Following the service, John was buried at Hampstead Cemetery.

Portrait of John Thomas - The Funeral Card of John Thomas.

(1) & (2) I will be writing a separate series of articles about John’s family.

(First published on https://medium.com/@hellohistoria)