(b Northampton, 23 May 1901; d Gerrards Cross, 13 Feb 1986). English composer. A pupil of Scott and of Holst and Morris at the RCM (1921-5), he worked as a pianist, teacher and critic before his appointment as lecturer at Oxford (1947-68). His music took some while to develop independence from Ireland, Bax and Holst, but his First Symphony (1937) begins to show a characteristic style of rhapsodic growth tautened by thematic working and almost incessant polyphonic activity. His later works include ten more symphonies, of which no. 9 is an oratorio-like work (Sinfonia sacra, 1972), besides concertos for viola, piano and violin, four string quartets (1933-77), masses and motets (he became a Roman Catholic in 1948).

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