# Chronological list of English classical composers

This is a chronological list of classical music composers living or working in England or originating from there. Entries are alphabetical within each year.

## Medieval

* Godric (c. 1065–1170)
* W. de Wycombe (fl. c. 1275–1279)
* John Hanboys (14th century); may be J. de Alto Bosco (fl. c. 1370)
* Johannes Alanus (14th century; died 1373?)
* Aleyn (fl. c. 1400)
* Byttering (fl. c. 1410–1420)
* Pycard (fl. c. 1410)
* Roy Henry (fl. c. 1410)

## Renaissance

* Leonel Power (c. 1370/1385–1445)
* John Dunstaple (c. 1390–1453)
* John Hothby (c. 1410–1487)
* John Plummer (c. 1410 – c. 1483)
* Henry Abyngdon (c. 1418–1497)
* William Haute (c. 1430–1497)
* Robert Morton (c. 1430 – post-1479)
* Richard Hygons (c. 1435 – c. 1509)
* Walter Frye (fl. c. 1443 – c. 1474)
* Gilbert Banester (c. 1445–1487)
* Walter Lambe (c. 1450 – c. 1504)
* John Browne (b. c. 1453, fl. c. 1490)
* Robert Fayrfax (1464–1521)
* Richard Davy (c. 1465 – c. 1538)
* William Cornysh the younger (1468–1523)
* Robert Johnson (c. 1470 – post-1554)
* Thomas Ashewell (c. 1478 – post-1513)
* John Redford (c. 1486–1547)
* Nicholas Ludford (c. 1490–1557)
* Henry VIII (1491–1547)
* John Taverner (1495–1545)
* Christopher Tye (c. 1505 – c. 1572)
* Anthony de Countie (died 1579)
* Thomas Tallis (c. 1505–1585)
* John Merbecke (c. 1510 – c. 1585)
* John Sheppard (c. 1515–1559)
* Richard Farrant (c. 1525–1580)
* William Mundy (c. 1528 – pre-1591)
* Robert Parsons (c. 1535–1572)
* Robert White (c. 1538–1574)
* William Byrd (c. 1540–1623)
* Anthony Holborne (c. 1545–1602)
* Francis Cutting (c. 1550–1595/1596)
* John Mundy (c. 1555–1630)
* Thomas Morley (1557–1602)
* Peter Philips (c. 1560–1628)
* William Brade (1560–1630)
* John Bull (c. 1562–1628)
* John Dowland (1563–1626)
* Giles Farnaby (c. 1563–1640)
* William Leighton (c. 1565–1622)
* Thomas Campion (1567–1620)
* Philip Rosseter (1568–1623)
* Tobias Hume (c. 1569–1645)
* John Coprario (John Cooper; Giovanni Coperario) (1570–1626)
* John Farmer (c. 1570 – c. 1601)
* Thomas Lupo (1571–1627)
* Martin Peerson (1571/1573–1650)
* John Ward (1571–1638)
* Daniel Bacheler (1572–1618)
* Thomas Tomkins (1572–1656)
* Ellis Gibbons (1573–1603)
* John Wilbye (1574–1638)
* John Bennet (c. 1575 – post-1614)
* Thomas Cutting (late 16th c. lutenist to Arbella Stuart, Christian IV and Henry Frederick, Prince of Wales)
* Alfonso Ferrabosco the younger (c. 1575–1628)
* Thomas Weelkes (1576–1623)
* John Maynard (c. 1577 – c. 1633)
* Richard Dering (c. 1580–1630)
* Michael East (c. 1580–1648)
* Thomas Ford (c. 1580–1648)
* Orlando Gibbons (1583–1625)
* Robert Johnson (1583–1633)
* Thomas Robinson (c. 1588 – post-1609)

## Baroque

* Nicholas Lanier (1588–1666)
* Richard Mico (1590–1661)
* John Jenkins (1592–1678)
* Henry Lawes (1595–1662)
* John Wilson (1595–1674)
* John Hilton (1599–1657)
* William Lawes (1602–1645)
* Christopher Simpson (c. 1602/1606–1669)
* William Child (1606–1697)
* Thomas Brewer (1611 – c. 1660)
* Henry Cooke (c. 1616–1672)
* Christopher Gibbons (1615–1676)
* Matthew Locke (c. 1621–1677)
* John Banister (c. 1624/1630–1679)
* Pelham Humphrey (1647–1674)
* Michael Wise (1647–1687)
* John Blow (1649–1708)
* William Turner (1651–1740)
* Henry Purcell (1659–1695)
* Daniel Purcell (1664–1717)
* Johann Christoph Pepusch (John Christopher, 1667–1742)
* John Eccles (1668–1735)
* Henry Eccles (1670–1742)
* Jeremiah Clarke (c. 1674–1707)
* John Weldon (1676–1736)
* William Croft (1678–1727)
* William Corbett (1680–1748)
* Abiell Whichello (1683–1747)
* George Frideric Handel (1685–1759)
* Thomas Roseingrave (1688–1766)
* William Babell (1689/1690–1723)
* Robert Woodcock (c. 1690–1728)
* Maurice Greene (1696–1755)
* Richard Jones (late 17th c. – 1744)
* Joseph Gibbs (1699–1788)

## Classical era

* Thomas Chilcot (c. 1707–1766)
* Charles Avison (1709–1770)
* Thomas Arne (1710–1778)
* Thomas Gladwin (1710–1799)
* William Boyce (1711–1779)
* John Hebden (1712–1765)
* John Stanley (1712–1786)
* James Nares (1715–1783)
* John Garth (1721–1810)
* Charles Burney (1726–1814)
* Capel Bond (1730–1790)
* William Jackson (1730–1803)
* Thomas Sanders Dupuis (1733–1796)
* Thomas Linley the elder (1733–1795)
* Benjamin Cooke (1734–1793)
* John Bennett (c. 1735–1784)
* Philip Hayes (1738–1797)
* William Herschel (1738–1822)
* Michael Arne (1740/1741–1786)
* Samuel Arnold (1740–1802)
* Samuel Webbe (1740–1816)
* James Hook (1746–1827)
* William Shield (1748–1829)
* John Stafford Smith (1750–1836)
* John Marsh (1752–1828)
* Thomas Linley the younger (1756–1778)
* Stephen Storace (1762–1796)
* Matthew Camidge (1764–1844)
* John Addison (c. 1765–1844)
* Thomas Attwood (1765–1838)
* Samuel Wesley (1766–1837)

## Romantic

* William Crotch (1775–1847)
* Thomas Adams (1785–1858)
* George Pinto (1785–1806)
* Sir Henry Bishop (1787–1856)
* Cipriani Potter (1792–1871)
* Robert Lucas de Pearsall (1795–1856)
* John Goss (1800–1880)
* John Lodge Ellerton (1801–1873)
* Elias Parish Alvars (1808–1849)
* Samuel Sebastian Wesley (1810–1876)
* George Alexander Macfarren (1813–1887)
* William Christian Sellé (1813–1898)
* Henry Smart (1813–1879)
* William Sterndale Bennett (1816–1875)
* Henry Charles Litolff (1818–1891)
* Edmund Chipp (1823–1886)
* Henry Hiles (1826–1904)
* John Baptiste Calkin (1827–1905)
* George Tolhurst (1827–1877)
* Francis Edward Bache (1833–1858)
* Ebenezer Prout (1835–1909)
* Joseph Barnby (1838–1896)
* Alice Mary Smith (1839–1884)
* Sydney Smith (1839–1889)
* John Stainer (1840–1901)
* Michael Maybrick (Stephen Adams) (1841–1913)
* Arthur Sullivan (1842–1900)
* Hubert Parry (1848–1918)
* Arthur Goring Thomas (1850–1892)
* Frederick Corder (1852–1932)
* Frederic Cowen (1852–1935)
* Bertram Luard-Selby (1853–1918)
* Maude Valérie White (French-born, 1855–1937)
* Frederic Cliffe (1857–1931)
* Rosalind Ellicott (1857–1924)
* Edward Elgar (1857–1934)
* Isidore de Lara (1858–1935)
* Ethel Smyth (1858–1944)
* John Henry Maunder (1858–1920)
* Basil Harwood (1859–1949)

## Modern

* Frederick Delius (1862–1934)
* Edward German (1862–1936)
* Liza Lehmann (1862–1918)
* Arthur Somervell (1863–1937)
* Edwin Lemare (1866–1934)
* Granville Bantock (1868–1946)
* Haldane Stewart (1868–1942)
* Walford Davies (1869–1941)
* Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872–1958)
* Ethel Barns (1874–1948)
* Gustav Holst (1874–1934)
* Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (1875–1912)
* Donald Tovey (1875–1940)
* Havergal Brian (1876–1972)
* William Hurlstone (1876–1906)
* Thomas Dunhill (1877–1946)
* Henry Balfour Gardiner (1877–1950)
* Roger Quilter (1877–1953)
* Rutland Boughton (1878–1960)
* Adam Carse (1878–1958)
* Joseph Holbrooke (1878–1958)
* Theodore Holland (1878–1947)
* Frank Bridge (1879–1941)
* John Ireland (1879–1962)
* Cyril Scott (1879–1970)
* Edgar Bainton (1880–1956)
* John Foulds (1880–1939)
* Hubert Bath (1883–1945)
* Arnold Bax (1883–1953)
* George Dyson (1883–1964)
* William Henry Harris (1883–1973)
* Lord Berners (1883–1950)
* York Bowen (1884–1961)
* George Butterworth (1885–1916)
* Ernest Farrar (1885–1918)
* Rebecca Clarke (1886–1979)
* Eric Coates (1886–1957)
* Armstrong Gibbs (1889–1960)
* Ivor Gurney (1890–1937)
* Arthur Bliss (1891–1975)
* Herbert Howells (1892–1983)
* Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji (1892–1988)
* Eugene Goossens (1893–1962)
* Peter Warlock (1894–1930)
* Ernest John Moeran (1894–1950)
* Gordon Jacob (1895–1984)
* George Thalben-Ball (1896–1987)
* William Baines (1899–1922)
* Herbert Sumsion (1899–1995)
* Alan Bush (1900–1995)
* Gerald Finzi (1901–1956)
* Victor Hely-Hutchinson (1901–1947)
* Edmund Rubbra (1901–1986)
* William Walton (1902–1983)
* Lennox Berkeley (1903–1989)
* Leighton Lucas (1903–1982)
* Robin Milford (1903–1959)
* Thomas Pitfield (1903–1999)
* Percy Whitlock (1903–1946)
* Richard Addinsell (1904–1977)
* William Alwyn (1905–1985)
* Constant Lambert (1905–1951)
* Walter Leigh (1905–1942)
* Alan Rawsthorne (1905–1971)
* Michael Tippett (1905–1998)
* Arnold Cooke (1906–2005)
* Eric Fenby (1906–1997)
* Benjamin Frankel (1906–1973)
* Elisabeth Lutyens (1906–1983)
* Roy Douglas (1907–2015)
* Imogen Holst (1907–1984)
* Elizabeth Maconchy (1907–1994)
* Brian Easdale (1909–1995)
* Ronald Binge (1910–1979)
* Stanley Bate (1911–1959)
* Phyllis Tate (1911–1987)
* Percy M. Young (1912–2004)
* Benjamin Britten (1913–1976)
* George Lloyd (1913–1998)
* Harold Truscott (1914–1992)
* William Lloyd Webber (1914–1982)
* Humphrey Searle (1915–1982)
* Denis ApIvor (1916–2004)
* Bernard Stevens (1916–1983)
* Richard Arnell (1917–2009)
* John Gardner (1917–2011)
* Francis Jackson (1917—2022)
* John W. Duarte (1919–2004)
* Geoffrey Bush (1920–1998)
* Peter Racine Fricker (1920–1990)
* Malcolm Arnold (1921–2006)
* Ruth Gipps (1921–1999)
* Robert Simpson (1921–1997)
* Peter Wishart (1921–1984)
* Raffaello de Banfield (1922–2008)
* Doreen Carwithen (1922–2003)
* Arthur Butterworth (1923–2014)
* Madeleine Dring (1923–1977)
* Stephen Dodgson (1924–2013)
* Angela Morley (1924–2009)
* Buxton Orr (1924–1997)
* Ernest Tomlinson (1924–2015)
* Daphne Oram (1925–2003)
* Christopher Shaw (1925–1995)
* Arthur Wills (1926–2020)
* Wilfred Josephs (1927–1997)
* John Joubert (1927–2019)
* Graham Whettam (1927–2007)
* Geoffrey Winters (born 1928)
* Kenneth Leighton (1929–1988)
* Betty Roe (born 1930)
* Alexander Goehr (1932–2024)
* George Newson (1932-2024)
* Justin Connolly (1933–2020)
* Harrison Birtwistle (1934–2022)
* Peter Maxwell Davies (1934–2016)
* Peter Dickinson (1934-2023)
* Anthony Gilbert (composer) (1934-2023)
* Nicholas Maw (1935–2009)
* Richard Rodney Bennett (1936–2012)
* Nigel Brooks (1936-2024)
* Cornelius Cardew (1936–1981)
* Patrick Gowers (1936–2014)
* Colin Mawby (1936–2019)
* Anthony Payne (1936–2021)
* John White (1936–2024)
* David Bedford (1937–2011)
* Gordon Crosse (1937–2021)
* Edwin Roxburgh (born 1937)
* Michael Parsons (born 1938)
* Christopher Steel (1938–1991)
* Andrew Carter (born 1939)
* Jonathan Harvey (1939–2012)
* John McCabe (1939–2015)
* Patric Standford (1939–2014)
* Geoffrey Burgon (1941–2010)
* Derek Bourgeois (1941–2017)
* Timothy Salter (born 1942)
* Gavin Bryars (born 1943)
* Edward Cowie (born 1943)
* Frank Denyer (born 1943)
* Brian Ferneyhough (born 1943)
* Robin Holloway (born 1943)
* Bill Hopkins (1943–1981)
* David Matthews (born 1943)
* Michael Nyman (born 1944)
* John Tavener (1944–2013)
Contemporary
* John Rutter (born 1945)
* Michael Finnissy (born 1946)
* Colin Matthews (born 1946)
* Giles Swayne (born 1946)
* Paul Patterson (born 1947)
* Hugh Shrapnel (born 1947)
* Howard Skempton (born 1947)
* Michael Berkeley (born 1948)
* Diana Burrell (born 1948)
* Grayston Ives (born 1948)
* John Casken (born 1949)
* Sam Richards (born 1949)
* Dave Smith (born 1949)
* Philip Wilby (born 1949)
* Nicholas Sackman (born 1950)
* Ronald Corp (born 1951)
* Cecilia McDowall (born 1951)
* Judith Bingham (born 1952)
* Oliver Knussen (1952–2018)
* Dominic Muldowney (born 1952)
* Patrick Doyle (born 1953)
* Peter McGarr (born 1953)
* Robert Saxton (born 1953)
* Richard Blackford (born 1954)
* Benedict Mason (born 1954)
* Judith Weir (born 1954)
* John Woolrich (born 1954)
* Ian Venables (born 1955)
* Sally Beamish (born 1956)
* Philip Grange (born 1956)
* Steve Elcock (born 1957)
* Francis Pott (composer) (born 1957)
* Janet Wheeler (born 1957)
* Howard Goodall (born 1958)
* Lionel Sainsbury (born 1958)
* Patrick Hawes (born 1958)
* Simon Holt (born 1958)
* Errollyn Wallen (born 1958)
* Jonathan Dove (born 1959)
* Steve Martland (1959–2013)
* John Palmer (born 1959)
* Peter Seabourne (born 1960)
* George Benjamin (born 1960)
* Mark-Anthony Turnage (born 1960)
* Paul Carr(born 1961)
* David Sawer (born 1961)
* Jack Gibbons (born 1962)
* Philip Cashian (born 1963)
* Graham Fitkin (born 1963)
* Michael Zev Gordon (born 1963)
* John Pickard (born 1963)
* John Powell (born 1963)
* James Whitbourn (born 1963)
* Debbie Wiseman (born 1963)
* Ivan Moody (1964–2024)
* Matthew Taylor (born 1964)
* Julian Anderson (born 1967)
* Rebecca Saunders (born 1967)
* Joe Cutler (born 1968)
* Roxanna Panufnik (born 1968)
* James Francis Brown (born 1969)
* Patrick Nunn (born 1969)
* Jonathan Powell (born 1969)
* Thomas Adès (born 1971)
* Joby Talbot (born 1971)
* David Jennings (born 1972)
* Tansy Davies (born 1973)
* Andrew March (born 1973)
* Julian Cochran (born 1974)
* Sophie Viney (born 1974)
* Tim Benjamin (born 1975)
* Luke Bedford (born 1978)
* Charlotte Bray (born 1982)
* Sasha Siem (born 1984)
* Freya Waley-Cohen (born 1989)
* Lucy Armstrong (born 1991)
* Anna Appleby (born 1993)
* Grace Evangeline Mason (born 1994)