Henry Fothergill Chorley

Henry Fothergill Chorley was an English journalist, music critic, novelist, dramatist, poet, and influential commentator on Victorian musical life. Born near Billinge in Lancashire in 1808 to Quaker parents, he moved with his family to Liverpool after his father’s death. He was educated at the Royal Institution in Liverpool and developed strong interests in literature and music before leaving an unsatisfying commercial career for journalism.

Chorley began contributing to The Athenæum around 1830 and joined its staff in London in 1833. He became one of the periodical’s principal literary and music critics, retaining the connection for more than three decades. His position brought him into contact with major writers and musicians, including Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Robert Browning, Charles Dickens, Felix Mendelssohn, and Ignaz Moscheles. Among his prose works was Music and Manners in France and Germany, published in 1841, and he also wrote novels, plays, songs, reviews, and biographical studies.

Although Chorley was not chiefly a hymn writer, his work in musical journalism connected him with John Pyke Hullah and the emerging English movement for organized music education. His hymn writing is therefore best understood as a small part of a much broader literary and musical career. Chorley retired from The Athenæum in the late 1860s and died in London in 1872.