Introduction

Biography

Thomas was the son of John Du­puis, a Hu­gue­not re­fu­gee said to have held an ap­point­ment at court, and hus­band of Mar­tha Skel­ton.

Thomas was brought up as a cho­ris­ter in the Cha­pel Roy­al un­der Ber­nard Gates and John Tra­vers. In 1758, he was elect­ed a mem­ber of the Roy­al So­cie­ty of Mu­si­cians.

By 1773, he was or­gan­ist of the Charl­otte Street Cha­pel (now St. Pe­ter’s Cha­pel), near Buck­ing­ham Pal­ace. In 1779, on the death of Will­iam Boyce, he was elect­ed or­gan­ist and com­pos­er to the Cha­pel Roy­al.

In 1790 he earned Mus. Bac. and Mus. Doc. de­grees at Ox­ford Uni­ver­si­ty. In the same year he orig­in­at­ed a sort of mu­sic­al club, known as the Gra­du­ates’ Meet­ing.