Henry George Bonavia Hunt

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FAMILY HISTORY

The Rev'd Henry George Bonavia Hunt, founder of the Trinity College of Music (1847 - 1917) was also known as the Rev'd Henry G Bonavia-Hunt. He was born in Malta. He was a British subject and his father, William, was engaged there at as Private Secretary / Lay Vicar to the Bishop of Jerusalem. His grandfather, also William, b 1790 from Sutton in Suffolk, was a brush maker.

His surname was really Hunt; Bonavia was a family name that was inserted as a forename as it had been his mother's maiden name. Henry Hunt's Mother, originally Marietta, but later Mary, was Maltese and the daughter of a doctor of Italian extraction. Hunt became known in later times as Bonavia-Hunt and by the time his son, The Rev'd Noel Aubrey Bonavia-Hunt (b1883) was busy and writing vast quantities on the subject of the organ between 1910 and the 1960, the family were very clearly no longer ordinary 'Hunt', but rather the much more fitting 'Bonavia-Hunt'

The family (like most middle-class families) came from humble beginnings along one line, with The Rev'd H. G Bonavia-Hunt's Grandfather belonging to the simple working class. However, in just two generations, his Grandson was ordained in the Church of England, founder of what is now one of the most highly prestigious international conservertoires of music and examining institutions in the world and a member the Oxford University (Christ Church) Alumni list. He appears there as 'arm', ie., having a recognised family coat of arms.

TRINITY COLLEGE OF MUSIC, LONDON

The Rev'd Henry G. B. Hunt's old College, the Trinity College of Music has recently moved to buildings of unparalleled beauty and historical importance (the Old Royal Naval College in Greenwich). There is an integral partnership with the distinguished dance school, Laban. Further, the College now owns the Blackheath Concert Halls nearby. The Rev'd G Hunt would be astonished to see how his Trinity College of Music, which began as a simple Church Music Society, has grown and flourished, thanks to a long succession of able and energetic principals.

In 1872 Hunt founded an organisation that was at first known as the Church Choral Society and it had as its object the promotion of higher standards of church music, within the background of the Oxford Movement. Hunt had been studying Law up until that time, but, bravely, he abandoned this. He engaged the help of a number of organists and choirmasters, including E.J.Hopkins, Goss and Richard Willing (later of All Saints' Margaret Street). By the following year, 1873, the Society had become known as The College of Church Music and a system of examinations (the first forerunners of the LTCL and FTCL) was in place. In 1876 the college was incorporated as Trinity College of Music. In 1878 a further development was the foundation of the Masonic Lodge Trinity College Lodge No. 1765 of the United grand Lodge of England. This was the beginning TCM's long association with freemasonry. It is fascinating to see the original consecration document of this lodge. Finally, Gladstone was involved in the College in its early years.

Hunt was ordained in 1878. He was a curate in Surrey and from thereonin he remained as Warden of Trinity

He was known in his time for his extraordinary powers of focus and for his organisational ability. His writings were published and are still available through archives and he was a regular correspondent to the Musical Times over the years. He studied at Oxford and at also took a degree from Trinity College Dublin. He was a lecturer for London University (of which Trinity became a College with thanks to his early efforts towards establishing a chair in music) and a composer too.

H.G.Bonavia Hunt's memory

The old buildings of the Trinity College of Music, 11 - 13 Mandeville Place, W1, is a place where the ghost of The Rev'd H G B Hunt has been seen many times over the years, particularly on the 1st floor corridor, such was his involvement in the place for so long. Sadly, he is long past living memory, or even memory of living memory, for even the very most senior of the grand old men and women who stand in the ranks of Trinity's distinguished retired professors, cannot remember anyone who remembered him. A portrait of The Rev'd H.G.Bonavia Hunt, used to hang in a strange garrett at the top of old Trinity College of Music, London, fittingly it was home to one of the college organs. One hopes that it now rests, properly, in the new building. The Rev'd H.G. Bonavia-Hunt is nearly unknown at Trinity. Not a single member of the undergraduate population there would know of him and a very few staff, only those who have been imported from the old Trinity buildings would realise his importance.

Those who have gained either their fine musical education or those who are employed at Trinity, and indeed those who have benefitted from the work of the college in any way, may thank The Rev'd Henry G. B. Hunt for the Trinity College of Music, London and for Trinity College London (now Trinity Guildhall), the international exams board.