John Baptiste Calkin

[1] When nineteen Calkin was appointed organist, precentor, and choirmaster of St Columba's College, Dublin, in succession to Edwin George Monk.

St. Columba's College was a school mainly for boys of the upper classes and for candidates for the ministry of the Church of Ireland; music and the Irish language were prominent features in the curriculum.

[1] In 1883, Calkin became professor at the Guildhall School of Music under Thomas Henry Weist-Hill, and concentrated on teaching and composing.

[1] Calkin died at Hornsey Rise Gardens on 15 April 1905 and was buried, with his brother George, in a family grave (plot no.17965) on the western side of Highgate Cemetery.

[2] Calkin's setting of "Fling out the Banner" (by Bishop G. W. Doane) had a great vogue in America and the British colonies, and was included in the Canadian Book of Common Praise (1909), edited by Sir George Martin.