{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} '''Harry Crane Perrin''' (19 August 1865 – 6 November 1953)<ref name="Mclean">{{cite web |last1=Mclean |first1=Eric |title=Harry Crane Perrin |url=https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/harry-crane-perrin-emc |website=The Canadian Encyclopedia |publisher=Historica Canada |accessdate=26 September 2019 |date=16 December 2013}}</ref> was a cathedral organist at Canterbury Cathedral, England,<ref>Watkins Shaw, ''The Succession of Organists''</ref> and an academic who served as the first dean of music at McGill University, Canada.

==Background== Perrin was born in Wellingborough, Northamptonshire.<ref name="Mclean"/><ref name="Master">{{cite journal |title=Master Musicians |journal=The Musical Journal |date=June 1907 |volume=20 |issue=234 |pages=87–88 |url=https://www.proquest.com/openview/eef32974a9cac2c9/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=2559 |accessdate=26 September 2019}}</ref><ref name="Venn"/><ref name="GazetteObit"/> He attended Wellingborough Grammar School,<ref name="Master"/><ref name="Venn"/><ref name="GazetteObit"/><ref name="ILN1907"/> and studied music under Sir Robert Prescott Stewart at Trinity College, Dublin,<ref name="Mclean"/><ref name="Master"/><ref name="Venn"/><ref name="ILN1907"/> graduating with a Bachelor of Music in 1890,<ref name="Venn">{{cite book |last1=Venn |first1=John |title=Alumni Cantabrigienses: A Biographical List of All Known Students, Graduates and Holders of Office at the University of Cambridge, from the Earliest Times to 1900, Volume 2 |date=1953 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=9781108036153 |page=96 |edition=2011 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BFn-UAo5ZqUC&q=Perrin&pg=PA95 |accessdate=26 September 2019}}</ref> as a Fellow of the Royal College of Organists in 1892,<ref name="Venn"/> and as a Doctor of Music in 1901.<ref name="Venn"/><ref name="GazetteObit"/><ref name="ILN1907"/>

He composed the cantatas "Abode of Worship" and "Pan's Pipes" (both published by Breitkopf),<ref name="Mclean"/> ''Song of War'' (published by Weekes),<ref name="Mclean"/> morning and evening services, anthems, hymn tunes and songs (some of which were published by Novello & Co).<ref name="Mclean"/><ref name="Venn"/><ref name="ILN1907"/><ref>''Memorials of the Cathedral & Priory of Christ in Canterbury,'' by Woodru C. Eveleigh (Charles Eveleigh)</ref>

He was organist at St Columba's College, Dublin,<ref name="Mclean"/><ref name="ILN1907"/> at Lowestoft,<ref name="Mclean"/><ref name="ILN1907"/> and, following a competition on the organ at Westminster Abbey,<ref name="Master"/><ref name="GazetteObit"/> at Coventry Cathedral.<ref name="Mclean"/><ref name="ILN1907"/> He was organist and choirmaster at Canterbury Cathedral for ten years.<ref name="Mclean"/><ref name="ILN1907"/><ref name="Keillor"/> In 1908, he moved to Canada to take up an appointment as professor of music at McGill University in Montreal and director of the Conservatorium<ref name="Mclean"/><ref name="ILN1907">{{cite journal |title=Portraits and World's News |journal=The Illustrated London News |date=19 October 1907 |page=6 |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0001578/19071019/025/0006 |accessdate=26 September 2019 |location=London, England}}</ref><ref name="Keillor">{{cite book |last1=Keillor |first1=Elaine |title=Music in Canada: Capturing Landscape and Diversity |date=2008 |publisher=McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP |isbn=9780773533912 |page=126 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=P4rf9W02vv0C&q=%22Harry+Crane+Perrin%22&pg=PT139 |accessdate=26 September 2019}}</ref><ref name="King">{{cite news |title=Canterbury |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0001404/19080229/029/0002 |accessdate=26 September 2019 |work=Canterbury Journal and Farmers' Gazette |date=29 February 1908 |location=Canterbury, England |page=2}}</ref><ref name="Elliott"/> and was presented to King Edward VII prior to his departure.<ref name="King"/> Perrin restructured the curriculum at the Conservatorium so that instead of simply learning an instrument or singing, students also studied the history and theory of music.<ref name="Curriculum">{{cite news |title=Changes In Music. McGill Conservatorium Adopts Curriculum More In Accord University Idea |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/419727799/?terms=%22Harry%2BCrane%2BPerrin%22 |accessdate=26 September 2019 |work=The Gazette |date=26 March 1909 |location=Montreal, Quebec, Canada |page=14}}</ref> In 1920, a Faculty of Music was established at the university,<ref name="Elliott">{{cite book |last1=Elliott |first1=Robin |last2=Smith |first2=Gordon Ernest |title=Istvan Anhalt: Pathways and Memory |date=2001 |publisher=McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP |isbn=9780773521025 |page=36 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tfI2W86k5d0C&q=%22Harry+Crane+Perrin%22&pg=PA36 |accessdate=26 September 2019}}</ref> and Perrin was its first dean until his retirement in 1930.<ref name="Venn"/><ref name="GazetteObit">{{cite news |title=McGill's First Dean of Music Dies in England |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/419534967/?terms=%22Harry%2BCrane%2BPerrin%22 |accessdate=26 September 2019 |work=The Gazette |date=17 November 1953 |location=Montreal, Quebec, Canada |page=29}}</ref> He also established an orchestra<ref name="Mclean"/><ref name="Keillor"/> and a choir there,<ref name="Mclean"/> and developed a Canada-wide system of musical examinations.<ref name="Mclean"/><ref name="Keillor"/>

He married Enid Hilda Pridmore in Coventry in 1896; they had one son and one daughter.Perrin died at his home in Exeter, Devon, in 1953.<ref name="GazetteObit"/>

==Career== Organist of:

*St. Columba's College, Rathfarnham 1886 - 1888<ref name="Master"/><ref name="Venn"/> *St. John's Church, Lowestoft 1888 - 1892<ref name="Master"/><ref name="Venn"/> *St. Michael's Church, Coventry 1893 - 1898<ref name="Mclean"/><ref name="Master"/><ref name="Venn"/><ref name="GazetteObit"/><ref>{{cite news |title=St Michael's Musicians |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000337/19320201/068/0003 |accessdate=26 September 2019 |work=Coventry Evening Telegraph |date=1 February 1932 |location=Coventry, England |page=3}}</ref> *Canterbury Cathedral 1898 - 1908<ref name="Mclean"/><ref name="Venn"/><ref name="GazetteObit"/>

{{s-start}} {{s-culture}} {{s-bef|before=William Henry Longhurst}} {{s-ttl|title=Organist and Master of the Choristers of Canterbury Cathedral |years=1898-1908}} {{s-aft|after=Clement Charlton Palmer}} {{end}}

==References== {{Reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Perrin, Harry Crane}} Category:English classical organists Category:Cathedral organists Category:1865 births Category:1953 deaths Category:Academic staff of McGill University Category:People from Wellingborough Category:British male classical organists