{{Short description|Australian composer (1810–1883)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} '''Charles Sandys Stuart Shipley Packer''' (1810–1883), commonly referred to as '''Charles S. Packer''', was an Australian classical music composer, born in Reading, Berkshire, England.<ref name=adb>{{cite book|url=https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/packer-charles-sandys-stuart-shipley-4353|title=Australian Dictionary of Biography|first=E. J.|last=Lea-Scarlett|chapter=Packer, Charles Sandys (Stuart Shipley) (1810–1883) |publisher=National Centre of Biography, Australian National University|via=Australian Dictionary of Biography}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.australianmusiccentre.com.au/artist/packer-charles-sandys|title=Charles Sandys Packer : Australian Music Centre|website=www.australianmusiccentre.com.au}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://imslp.org/wiki/Category:Packer,_Charles_Sandys|title=Category:Packer, Charles Sandys - IMSLP/Petrucci Music Library: Free Public Domain Sheet Music|website=imslp.org}}</ref> He was a graduate of The Royal Academy of Music in London. Packer was convicted of embezzlement and sentenced to penal transportation to Tasmania in 1839 on the ship ''Mangles.''<ref>{{cite web|url=https://convictrecords.com.au/convicts/packer/charles-sandys/43030|title=Convict Records: Charles Sandys Packer|website=convictrecords.com.au}}</ref> On release, he became a successful teacher and performer<ref>{{cite web|url=http://trove.nla.gov.au/list?id=4037 |title=Charles Sandys Packer - Lists - Trove |publisher=Trove.nla.gov.au |date= |accessdate=2017-10-09}}</ref> In 1863, he was convicted of bigamy and sentenced to five years' imprisonment in Darlinghurst Gaol with hard labour.<ref name=adb/>
He was accompanist to the Sydney Choral Society, of which Joseph Massey was conductor, meeting at the Sydney School of Arts, and which performed the Handel oratorios Messiah and Judas Maccabaeus with some success.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article165299909 |title=Music |newspaper=The Sydney Mail and New South Wales Advertiser |volume=LXIX |issue=2068 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=24 February 1900 |accessdate=12 April 2022 |page=438 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref>
On 30 November 1871, as organist to the York Street Wesleyan Church,<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article13248395 |title=Advertising |newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald |volume=LXIV |issue=10,460 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=28 November 1871 |access-date=14 June 2024 |page=8 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> he shared the programme with Frederick Morley at the opening of the Bourke Street Wesleyan Church organ.
He died in poverty in 1883.<ref name=counts>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article253066407 |title=He Counts His Silent Bars |newspaper=Sydney Punch |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=21 July 1883 |access-date=15 June 2024 |page=2 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref>
==Works== * 1855 City of Sydney Polka<ref>{{cite web|url=http://imslp.org/wiki/Category:Packer%2C_Charles_Sandys |title=Category:Packer, Charles Sandys - IMSLP/Petrucci Music Library: Free Public Domain Sheet Music |publisher=Imslp.org |date= |access-date=2017-10-09}}</ref> * Reminiscence of the garden palace * The crown of thorns : an oratorio — "his greatest work"<ref name=counts/> * The royal Charlie polka * The song of the angels * Exchange ball schottische * The captive's child : ballad * Arm! arm! : Australian patriotic song) * Little Nell : a ballad * My Johnny was a shoemaker * Lily Lee (arrangement) * Queen of the west : new ballad (orchestration)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://trove.nla.gov.au/version/171071758 |title=Queen of the west [music] : new ballad / words and music by L. H. Lavenu ; symphonies and accompaniments by Charles Packer. - Version details - Trove |publisher=Trove.nla.gov.au |date= |accessdate=2017-10-09}}</ref> * Australia hail! Australian national hymn
==Recordings== * 1999 Classical Music Of Colonial Australia - Polka<ref>Classical Music Of Colonial Australia</ref>
==Family== The organist Frederick Augustus Packer was a nephew.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.organ-biography.info/index.php?id=Packer_FrederickAugustus_1839|title=Biographical Dictionary of the Organ - Frederick Augustus Packer|first=Warwick Bardon|last=Henshaw|website=www.organ-biography.info}}</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Packer, Charles Sandys}} Category:1810 births Category:1883 deaths Category:Australian conductors (music) Category:Australian male composers Category:Australian composers Category:English emigrants to colonial Australia Category:Australian poets Category:Alumni of the Royal College of Music Category:19th-century male musicians Category:British people convicted of bigamy Category:Prisoners and detainees of New South Wales