Amy Horrocks

Amy Elise 'Horrocks', a life-long pacifist, was an English music educator, composer and pianist, born to English parents and Hannah Horrocks in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, where it is suggested that Francis Horrocks was constructing tramways. Amy had an elder sister, Marian, also born in Brazil, but who died there in 1862 aged 1 year. Contrary to one report, she did not have a brother. She had a close association with the Royal Academy of Music as both a student, teacher and Fellow and enjoyed a degree of professional success, including several performances of her work at the Proms.

Early life

The family are recorded in the Scottish census of 1871, as lodgers in Edinburgh, so presumably they left Brazil between 1867 and 1871 and are possibly taking a holiday. When they return from Brazil the family settles initially in Cheshire. Francis had a loose family connection to the area with his elder brother Thomas having been born and died in Chester as an infant in 1827, during the time their father was stationed there while serving as a quartermaster in the Royal Fusiliers.
Amy’s early education from the age of about six is at Miss Frances Anne Gregson’s Highbury College in Bowdon, Cheshire, which opened in the 1870s and continued to operate into the early twentieth century. The school site is now occupied by Altrincham Preparatory School for Boys. Kendrick shines a little bit of light on the school, and mentions lessons in French, German, Mathematics, Science, Sewing. Cooking, Physical Training, Deportment, Dancing, Tennis and Ping-Pong, but there is no evidence of music teaching being particularly noteworthy: “Miss Gregson … is said to have claimed … that you could teach anything as long as you were one lesson ahead of your pupils… The supreme asset to the school was Gertrude, academically brilliant, with a reputation as a teacher. She was the first woman to attain degree standard at London University, in about 1887, at which date the University did not grant degrees to women. She had read English at London, but also had mathematical gifts, and at the age of forty was accepted at Manchester University for a degree course in Chemistry… The school’s motto was ‘Semper ad Lucem'."
But in 1879 the family relocates to London and are living at 35 Bartholomew Road, Kentish Town and Amy is enrolled at North London Collegiate School for Girls, the country’s oldest academic girls’ school, founded by Frances Mary Buss in 1850. Amy joins the school in May 1880 and is a pupil of Music Master John Blockley who “in addition to teaching pianoforte playing, gave lessons in class and solo singing and harmony, and was also a composer”. No mention is made of Amy’s musical prowess while at the school and she leaves in Easter 1882.
Indeed it might be argued that Frances Buss did not consider music teaching to be very important. A letter of hers written in 1868 about establishing a school states that “I would rigidly and entirely omit all arrangements for teaching instrumental music, which I believe to be the bane of girls’ schools, in the time wasted and the expense entailed.” However she does make an exception for musical harmony “… by which I mean the laws of musical construction, an interesting, and, in an educational point of view, a most useful subject for mental training. Instrumental music—the piano chiefly—might fairly be left to a private teacher, as might dancing also.” However, by 1872, thankfully, her views had moved on significantly: “I want to teach music grandly - thoroughly in classes - making each girl understand what she plays, as well as if she were reading some passage of poetry, teaching her to find out the musician’s thought; his mode of expressing it; other ways of expression of the same thought, viz. words. The grammar of music should be known to every musician.” She evidently began to understand the importance of musical education as after her death in 1894, a teacher at the school reflected that “I was afraid at first that she would not understand my point of view with respect to the study of music in high schools, but, instead of being misunderstood, she gave me her sympathy and help from the first in my endeavour to make music an earnest and educational part of school-work. … She was always so glad to find that the majority of girls who did well in music were just those who were doing well in other school-work. … She was never shocked at my hopes, mostly very wildly expressed, for the future of music in the education of girls. Music, above all studies, needs backing up with the advantage of a thoroughly good education. It has always been my endeavour to keep it from encroaching unfairly on the time and strength of the girls. Miss Buss understood this, and helped to make it understood.”
After Amy leaves, the school does record Amy’s successes at the Royal Academy of Music, noting her Certificate of Merit for Harmony, Bronze and Silver Medals for Pianoforte, Potter Exhibition and Sterndale Bennett prize as well as one of her performances, commenting “Amy Horrocks played the pianoforte part of a Sonata for the Pianoforte and Violincello, one of her own compositions … It is always gratifying to us to see our pupils coming to the fore in whatever line they have chosen after leaving our midst.” Two years later the school magazine again notes, “Miss Amy Horrocks, who has been studying for some time at the Royal Academy, also held a successful concert, at which several of her own compositions were performed”. Another magazine article quotes the Daily Graphic: “The name of A. E. Horrocks is new to us, but to judge by his cantata, ‘The Wild Swans’, the composer is evidently above the average degree of merit. The cantata suffers from a poor libretto, which does not afford much scope for development, but every advantage has been taken, and the result is most musicianly and full of promise. It is an excellent little work, and may be recommended to small choirs of female voices, who care for good music." Amy’s song, ‘At Peep of Dawn’ is performed at the school concert in 1897 and her ‘Collection of Two-Part Songs’ is bought for the library in 1902.

Amy at the Royal Academy of Music

By the time of the 1881 census the family have moved and are living at 17 Goldhurst Terrace in Hampstead. In the 1891 census the family are living at 163 Goldhurst Terrace which is actually the same house: According to Camden History Society, "in 1877 Goldhurst Road was approved from Finchley Road as far as Fairhazel Gardens. The name was officially changed to Goldhurst Terrace the following year when the extension from Fairhazel Gardens to Priory Road was agreed. For many years the houses were numbered and named in ‘East’ and ‘West’ sections on either side of Fairhazel Gardens which caused great confusion. Before all the houses were built, a renumbering order was issued in 1896". What is now 163 Goldhurst had already been constructed by 1894 and sits west of Fairhazel Gardens so would have been subject to renumbering as it seems it would have been labelled as the West section prior to 1896.
It is presumably shortly after this when Amy starts her musical career, studying piano and composition under the pianist Adolf Schlösser and musician Francis William Davenport at the Royal Academy which she enters in 1882 at the tender age of 15.
Amy is referred to as a Professor of Music in the 1891 census, having been elected as an Associate of the Academy in 1890 and a Fellow in 1895. She wins various awards while a student, including the Potter Exhibition prize in 1888 and the Sterndale Bennett Prize in 1889.
Highlights of Amy’s student career at the Royal Academy are captured in various newspaper articles:-

The Musical Times describes the annual distribution of prizes at the Royal Academy earlier that year on July 28, 1883. Amy wins prizes for piano and French. And in 1885, describes that year’s prize ceremony in which Amy wins a silver medal for piano and a bronze medal for harmony. In 1886 an article describes a chamber concert given by Royal Academy students at St James’s Hall “before a large audience. The excellent system of training pursued in the Academy was amply manifested … Miss Selina Quicke in a ‘Love Song’ by Amy Horrocks deserve honorable mention.”
The Era mentions Amy’s performance on the pianoforte in a concert at St James’s Hall on 1 April 1887.
The Standard gives more high praise for another concert at St James’s Hall mentioning Amy Horrocks on the pianoforte. The Era comments “The well-known duet by Mendelsohn in D major for pianoforte and violincello afforded Miss Amy Horrocks and Mr Allen Gill an opportunity for the display of considerable talent. Miss Amy Horrocks played the pianoforte part with refinement and capital execution, and the good tone and finished method of Mr Allen Gill certainly merited cordial recognition, which the audience did not fail to give in the measure deserved.” The Musical Times adds that: “high commendation is due to Miss Amy Horrocks and Mr. Allen Gill for their rendering of three movements of Mendelsohn’s sonata in D, for piano and violincello”.
Another glowing report in The Musical Times notes “At each final Concert of the term, it has been our pleasant duty to note a distinct advance in the average of merit displayed by the pupils, and under these circumstances it is not surprising to find that the numbers enrolled in Academy are steadily increasing. … At a concert given in Steinway Hall … the choir was in a chorus by Amy Horrocks ‘The Return of May’”.
The Lancashire Evening Post, The Queen and The Illustrated London News all report: “Royal Academy of Music. The competition for the Westmorland Scholarship took place on Saturday, when it was awarded to Marie Hooton. There were ten candidates. The Potter Exhibition was also competed for, and adjudged to Amy E. Horrocks. There were twenty-eight candidates.”
The East London Observer reports: “Last week a grand evening concert, under the direction of Mr. W.G. McNaught, A.R.A.M., was given in the hall of the City of London College, Moorfields, in aid of the building fund of that most deserving institution. … succeeded by Miss Amy Horrocks with a pianoforte solo, Schumann’s ‘Novellette in F.’ … Miss Ethel Barnard came next with ‘The Bird and the Rose,’ by Miss Amy Horrocks, who accompanied … Miss Amy Horrocks and Miss Emily Johnston followed with ‘Allegreto and Allegro’ from Grieg’s ‘Sonata in F.’”
Lloyds Weekly London Newspaper reports: “Royal Academy of Music. Some of the more advanced students at this institution appeared at a concert at St. James’s hall on Monday afternoon, directed by the Principal, Dr. A.C. MacKenzie … Some variations on an original theme by Miss Amy E. Horrocks, for piano, violin, viola and violincello, containing effective passages for each of the instruments, proved one of the chief successes of the afternoon.” However, The Era felt that “Among the most interesting of these efforts we may mention the original Variations for pianoforte, violin, viola and violincello by Miss Amy E. Horrocks. There was scope for much variety in a piece of this kind, and perhaps we cannot credit Miss Horrocks with having done all that was possible in affording the instrumentalists a chance for individual display, and this seemed rather a pity, when she had such talented interpreters associated with her as Mr Walenn, Mr Dyson, and Mr Allen Gill. Miss Horrocks played the pianoforte part extremely well. She had chosen a capital theme for the variations, an original melody, and her ideas were well worked out. All that we suggest respecting the solo portions is that, of course, additional interest is given to a movement when there is greater freedom and variety of style.” But The Musical Times adds “At a Chamber Concert given by the students of the Royal Academy of Music in St James’s Hall … the programme and the performance were alike excellent. … The programme also included … an extremely interesting set of Variations on a theme in F, for pianoforte, violin, viola and violincello, the work of Miss Amy Horrocks. The knowledge of the capabilities of the several instruments shown in the work, and the manner in which they are employed, are most creditable to the taste and musicianship of the composer.”
The Bath Chronicle and Reading Mercury report “The Sterndale Bennett prize at the Royal Academy of Music has been awarded to Amy Horrocks. There were 29 candidates.” And The Western Daily Press and The Queen both report “The Sterndale Bennett prize at the Royal Academy of Music has been awarded to Miss Amy Horrocks. There were twenty-nine competitors.”
The Musical Times reports “At the Royal Academy Chamber Concert, given at St. James’s Hall … some interesting work was done. A Sonata in G, for violincello and pianoforte, by Miss Amy E. Horrocks, elicited very favourable opinions.”. But The Pall Mall Gazette considers that the concert “disclosed no fresh artist or composer likely to excite musical circles” and dismisses Amy’s sonata as “essentially student music”.
The Musical Times presents a report of a seasonal concert, praising many performances by various students and mentions that “Talent and merit were made manifest in various degrees by every one of the soloists, these comprising Miss Amy Horrocks, Miss Maude Wilson, Miss Mabel Lyons, and Miss Plaistowe.” The concert is also reported in The Pall Mall Gazette. Equally The Weekly Dispatch reports that ''“words of encouragement may be bestowed especially on Miss Amy Horrocks”.''