GORDON JACOB
1895-1984

Biographical Summary

5 July 1895Born in London to Stephen and Clara Jacob, the seventh son and the last child in a family of tenStephen and Clara Jacob
1898His father, Stephen Jacob, died in India (Jacob was just three years old)
Educated at Dulwich College
26 August 1914Enlisted in the Infantry: active service in World War I
18 September 1916 Anstey in uniform, 1915Closest brother Anstey died in the Somme
April 1917Taken POW, one of 60 survivors out of a battalion of 800 Gordon Jacob with 
iends at Bad Colberg Prisoner of War Camp    
Studied at the Royal College of Music, London, with Stanford, Parry, Howells, Boult and Vaughan Williams

Taught briefly at Birkbeck and Morley Colleges, also in London

1924Gordon and Sydney Jacob    Married his first wife, Sidney Gray
1926 Returned to the RCM as a lecturer for 40 years. He was on the teaching staff there from 1924 until his retirement in 1966, and his pupils included Malcolm Arnold, Imogen Holst, Joseph Horovitz, Elizabeth Maconchy and Bernard Stevens
1935Gained doctorate (DMus) (London)
1943Awarded the John Collard Fellowship by the Worshipful Company of Musicians
1946Awarded FRCM (Fellow of the Royal College of Music)
1947Awarded honorary FRAM (Fellow of the Royal Academy of Music)
1951Provided music for the Festival of Britain
1953Arranged the National Anthem with Fanfare for the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II  Gordon Jacob dressed for Queen Elizabeth's coronation
1959BBC TV documentary 'Gordon Jacob' (directed by Ken Russell)
8 August 1959Married Margaret Gray    Gordon and Margaret Jacob
1966 Retired from his professorship at the Royal College of Music
1968Awarded the CBE in the Queen's New Years Honours List
1981Guest of honour at an International Conference of Symphonic Wind Bands
8 June 1984 Died, Saffron Walden     Gordon Jacob laughing
By the time Gordon Jacob died on 8 June 1984, aged 89, he had written over 700 pieces of music and several books. In 1995, the book Gordon Jacob, A centenary biography by Eric Wetherell was published.


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