Henry David Leslie

As a teenager, he studied the cello with Charles Lucas and later played that instrument in concerts at the Sacred Harmonic Society for several years.

[1] Leslie's dramatic overture, The Templar (1852), was followed by and his well-regarded oratorios Immanuel (1854) and Judith (1858), and some chamber music.

According to The Times, this choir "held the palm among London societies for finished singing of unaccompanied music, both ancient and modern".

[2] In 1857, Leslie married Mary Betsy, one of his pupils, the daughter of physician William Henry Perry.

The couple moved to Mary's family home, now known as Bryn Tanat Hall, at Llansanffraid, near Oswestry on the Welsh border.

[1] Leslie's operetta Romance, or, Bold Dick Turpin, first performed in 1857, was presented at Covent Garden in 1860.

Some of these became very popular, including the trio "O memory", "The Pilgrims", and "Annabelle Lee" set to a poem by Edgar Allan Poe.

Its professors included Arthur Sullivan, Julius Benedict, and other prominent musicians, but the college survived only two years.