Introduction

Biography

William was the son of Wil­liam and Lu­cy Fil­by, and hus­band of Eli­za Mat­thews.

He stu­died in France, and played the or­gan at St. Pe­ter’s Church, Ham­mer­smith (1849); Brom­ley Par­ish Church, Kent (1853); the Lon­don church­es of St. Pe­ter, Wal­worth; St. Mat­thew, Bays­wa­ter; and St. Luke, West­bourne Park; Ho­ly Tri­ni­ty, Mar­gate, Kent; Ho­ly Tri­ni­ty, Ste­pney; and St. Paul, West Green­wich (1884).

He al­so served as or­gan­ist at the In­ter­na­tion­al Ex­hi­bi­tions of 1882 and 1885, wrote and lec­tured on church mu­sic, op­era and mu­sic edu­ca­tion, and com­posed or­gan vol­un­ta­ries, op­er­et­tas, songs, part songs and chor­us­es.