Introduction

Biography

Born in­to a mu­sic­al fa­mi­ly, George was the son of John El­vey and Abi­gail Har­di­man.

He start­ed his ca­reer as a boy, sing­ing at Can­ter­bu­ry Ca­thed­ral. Lat­er, he re­ceived for­mal train­ing at the Can­ter­bu­ry Ca­thed­ral School, the Roy­al Ac­ad­e­my of Mu­sic, and Ox­ford Uni­ver­si­ty (MB 1838, MD 1840).

Around 1835, he was ap­point­ed Mas­ter of the Boys and or­gan­ist at St. George’s Cha­pel, Wind­sor (one of his tunes, St. George’s Wind­sor, takes its name from this lo­ca­tion). He served at St. George’s for al­most half a cen­tu­ry.

He was knight­ed in 1871 for his Fes­tiv­al March, played at the wed­ding of Prin­cess Lou­ise.