Harrison Oxley
Thomas Frederick Harrison Oxley was a British organist, who was appointed Organist of St Edmundsbury Cathedral aged 24. At the time, he was the youngest cathedral organist in the country. He was the first English cathedral organist to supplement the boys' voices in the cathedral choir with those of girls; he began to use girls' voices as early as the 1960s as a separate choir and to support the boys' voices for large events. The cathedral choir then became a permanent mixed treble line from the early 1970s until 1984.
Life
Oxley was born on 3 April 1933. His father was an organist and metallurgist, and Oxley learned how to play the organ from watching his father at St Francis of Assisi's Church, Bournville, Birmingham, where he was the deputy organist. Aged 11, Oxley played for G. D. Cunningham, the Birmingham City Organist, whose advice was that Oxley should study at King Edward's School, Birmingham and aim for a career as a musician. He won a silver medal from the Associated Board for his results in a piano examination when he was 12, and won the under-20 piano class aged 13. As a pupil at King Edward's, he studied under the school's Director of Music, Willis Grant, who appointed him as his Assistant. He became organ scholar of Christ Church, Oxford in 1951, under Thomas Armstrong; he was appointed assistant organist in 1953 and obtained a first-class degree in music from the University of Oxford in 1954.Oxley was a noted organ recitalist, in Britain and in the United States, and composed both choral and organ music, his 'Elegy' becoming a standard in the repertoire of 20th century organ music.
A stroke in 2003 meant that he had to re-learn how to play the piano and organ. His daughter, Ruth Oxley, said that he practised regularly, learning virtually "from scratch" after his stroke, and made an unexpected "amazing recovery" in terms of his playing. He died of heart failure on 6 April 2009; his funeral was held at St Edmundsbury Cathedral.