Father of heaven, in whom our hopes confide

Sir Henry Walford Davies (1869-1941) was an English composer, conductor and organist from Shropshire who became well-known for his radio broadcasts on music with the BBC. From 1882, he was a treble at St George's Chapel, Windsor, where he would eventually serve his last full-time post as director of the choir from 1927. Walford Davies received two degrees from Cambridge, including a doctorate in 1898, and was awarded a scholarship for composition at the Royal College of Music in London in 1890. In 1898, Walford Davies became director of music at the Temple Church, City of London, where his national esteem began to grow. During the First World War, Walford Davies took an active stand in continuing musical activities, organising concerts for troops and composing the famous 'Royal Air Force March Past'. He lectured in music at University College, Aberystwyth, and received a knighthood in 1922. He was appointed Master of the King's Music in 1934.