1916 in British music

This is a summary of 1916 in music in the United Kingdom.

Events

28 March – Sir Hubert Parry's choral setting of William Blake's poem "And did those feet in ancient time", is premièred at the Queen's Hall, London, having been written on 10 March.
Gustav Holst completes composition of his orchestral suite The Planets, Op. 32.

Popular music

Harry Castling & Harry Carlton – "The Tanks That Broke the Ranks Out in Picardy"
A. J. Mills, Fred Godfrey & Bennett Scott – "Take Me Back to Dear Old Blighty"
Ivor Novello and Lena Guilbert Ford – "Keep the Home Fires Burning"
Frederic Weatherly & Eric Coates – "Green Hills Of Somerset"
Frederic Weatherly & Haydn Wood – "Roses of Picardy"
P. G. Wodehouse, Herbert Reynolds & Emmerich Kallman – "Throw Me A Rose"

Classical music: new works

Kenneth J. Alford – The Great Little Army, march
Frederick Delius – Cello Sonata
Gustav Holst – The Planets
John Ireland – ''Two Songs, 1916''

Opera

Rutland Boughton – ''The Round Table''

Musical theatre

13 May – The Happy Day by Seymour Hicks, with music by Sidney Jones and Paul Rubens, and lyrics by Adrian Ross, opens at Daly's Theatre, starring Winifred Barnes, José Collins and Arthur Wontner, where it runs for 241 performances.
3 August – The musical comedy Chu Chin Chow, written, produced, directed and starring Oscar Asche, with music by Frederic Norton, premières at His Majesty's Theatre in London's West End, starring Asche himself, Frank Cochrane and Courtice Pounds. It will run for five years and a total of 2,238 performances, a record that will stand for nearly forty years.

Births

3 January – Joan Ingpen, opera talent manager
8 February – Jimmy Skidmore, jazz musician
13 February – John Reed, actor and opera singer
3 March – Bernard Stevens, composer
17 March – Ray Ellington, singer
14 April – Denis ApIvor, composer
9 May – Bernard Rose, organist and composer
9 July – Edward Heath, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, organist and conductor
11 July – Reg Varney, actor and pianist
11 August – Benny Lee, comedy actor and singer
18 August – Moura Lympany, pianist
29 November – Helen Clare, singer
date unknown – Malcolm MacDonald, composer

Deaths

21 January – George Musgrove, theatre and opera producer, 62
13 May – Jessie MacLachlan, Gaelic singer, 50
2 August – Hamish MacCunn, composer, 48
5 August – George Butterworth, composer, 31
13 November – Frederick Septimus Kelly, composer and Olympic rower, 35
24 November – John Francis Barnett, composer and music teacher, 79