Walking with the Ancestors - HJ Gauntlett

HJ Gauntlett

On hearing 'Once In Royal David's City', your initial thoughts might not immediately turn to the market town of Wellington. Yet it was here in 1805 that HJ Gauntlett, the creator of the popular carol, was born. Gauntlett's family lived in Wellington until 1814, when his father, Rev Henry Gauntlett, a curate at All Saints parish church, took up a post in Olney, Buckinghamshire, where his son was appointed organist. During that time, Thomas Attwood, the organist at St Paul's in London, unsuccessfully attempted to persuade Henry to become his assistant. Rev Gauntlett was apparently unhappy at the prospect of his son becoming a professional musician and, aged 21, he was subsequently articled to a firm of London solicitors for eight years in 1826.