Dale, Benjamin James

Composer

b Highbury, Middlesex (N London) 1885, d Kensington, W London 1943. Composed an overture Horatius, publicly performed in London, when only 14. He studied at the RAM from 1902 to 1905, where he wrote a piano Sonata in D Minor, his first major work. He returned to the RAM as Warden, Prof of Harmony (from 1909) and later of Composition. Interned in wartime Germany until 1918, he wrote music there for the prison camp. Later he became organist at Wesley’s Chapel, City Road, and St Luke’s (Kensington or Hammersmith?) W London. In the 1930s he was a member of the BBC’s Advisory Panel; he composed one cantata, many pieces for the viola, and an orchestral work performed posthumously at a Promenade Concert. His work with the Associated Board also took him to Australia and New Zealand. No.113.