In Black History Month, give Samuel Coleridge-Taylor his due

In Black History Month, we should also remember Samuel Coleridge‑Taylor, the great composer who is buried in Bandon Hill cemetery, Wallington (UK Black History Month kicks off aiming to ‘reclaim narratives’, 1 October).

The inscription on his headstone includes four bars of music from The Song of Hiawatha and a tribute: “Too young to die: his great simplicity, his happy courage in an alien world, his gentleness, made all that knew him love him,” from his friend, the poet Alfred Noyes.

By the time he died in 1912, aged 37, he and his family had received no royalties from The Song of Hiawatha (he’d sold the rights early in order to get income). He was held in high regard by friends and musicians, who organised a memorial concert for him at the Royal Albert Hall, which raised £1,400 for his family; then used his case to help found the Performing Right Society, an effort to help composers by adding royalties for musicians’ performances to their publishing revenue.

He was also the first black recipient of a blue plaque, which was erected on his former home in South Norwood, London.
David Murray
Wallington, Surrey

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