Davies, (Henry) Walford (1869–1941)

English composer and broadcaster. His compositions include the cantata Everyman (1904), the ‘Solemn Melody’ (1908) for organ and strings, chamber music, and part songs. He also wrote sacred music and pieces for children. He was a popular radio broadcaster, particularly in his British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) series Music and the Ordinary Listener (1926–30).

He was educated at St George's Chapel, Windsor, under Walter Parratt (1841–1924), and at the Royal College of Music in London, where Charles Stanford was his composition master. He held various organist's appointments, and graduated in music from Cambridge University in 1898, when he was appointed organist and choirmaster at the Temple Church. He was professor of music at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth, from 1919. He resigned from the Temple in 1923 and became organist at St George's, Windsor, in 1927. In 1934 he succeeded Edward Elgar as Master of the King's Musick.