Arthur Henry Mann

Arthur Henry Mann (1850–1929) was an English organist, choirmaster, teacher, editor, and composer whose long career at King’s College, Cambridge, helped reshape one of England’s most influential choral foundations. Born in Norwich on May 16, 1850, he was a chorister and later assistant organist at Norwich Cathedral, where he studied under Zechariah Buck. He earned the Bachelor of Music degree from Oxford in 1874 and the Doctor of Music in 1882. Early appointments took him to St Peter’s, Wolverhampton, St Michael’s, Tettenhall, and Beverley Minster.

In 1876 Mann won the King’s College organistship in an open competition and remained in the post until his death in 1929. King’s College records credit his tenure with raising choral standards and gradually replacing lay clerks with undergraduate choral scholars. He also served as Cambridge University organist from 1897 and worked for many years at The Leys School. When Dean Eric Milner-White introduced the Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols at King’s on Christmas Eve 1918, Mann directed its music; the service became one of the best-known Anglican Christmas traditions.

Mann edited and composed church music in addition to his institutional work. He was music editor of The Church of England Hymnal in the 1890s, prepared chant and psalm resources, and in 1888 issued the first published edition of Thomas Tallis’s forty-part motet Spem in alium. His hymn tune ANGEL’S STORY, written in 1881 for Emily Huntington Miller’s I Love to Hear the Story, later became widely associated with O Jesus, I Have Promised and other 7.6.7.6 D texts. He also composed WATERMOUTH, another tune later paired with Frances Ridley Havergal’s hymns. Mann died in Cambridge on November 19, 1929.