14 Facts About Herbert Murrill

Herbert Henry John Murrill was an English musician, composer, and organist.

Herbert Henry John Murrill was born in London, at 19, Fircroft Road in Upper Tooting, the eldest of three children.

Herbert Murrill lived with his family in South London, where his father Walter was a cork merchant.

Herbert Murrill was a chorister and a scholarship student at Haberdashers' Aske's Boys' School in Hatcham from 1920 to 1925.

Herbert Murrill was awarded a scholarship to the Guildhall School of Music, but in 1925 went instead to the Royal Academy of Music, where he studied with York Bowen, Alan Bush and Stanley Marchant.

Herbert Murrill remained there until 1928, winning medals for piano, organ, harmony and aural training, while at the same time serving as the organist of St Nicholas Church in Chiswick.

Herbert Murrill then became an organ scholar at Worcester College, Oxford, from 1928 to 1931, studying with William Harris, Ernest Walker and Hugh Allen.

Herbert Murrill was for a time in the 1930s organist of Christ Church, Lancaster Gate, London and St Thomas' Church, Regent Street.

Towards the end of 1951 Herbert Murrill was diagnosed with cancer, and had left his post at the BBC by Christmas.

Herbert Murrill died in London and was cremated at Marylebone Crematorium on 29 July 1952.

Herbert Murrill's affinities were Francophile and mildly middle-Stravinskian, both influences tempered by an English take on neo-classicism.

Herbert Murrill wrote film scores for And So to Work and The Daily Round, short educational films directed by Richard Massingham, as well as incidental music for two plays by W H Auden, The Dance of Death and, by Christopher Isherwood, The Dog Beneath the Skin.

Herbert Murrill requested in his will that the quartet's slow movement, marked con intensita, be played at his funeral.

Herbert Murrill was responsible for the official, martial orchestral version of the Indian national anthem, approved by Jawaharlal Nehru before independence in 1947.