{{Short description|English singer (1870–1957)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{Use British English|date=January 2013}} {{Infobox musical artist | name = Kennerley Rumford | image = Kennerley rumford baritone 01.jpg | caption = Kennerley Rumford, c. 1905. | birth_name = Robert Henry Kennerley Rumford | birth_date = {{birth date|df=y|1870|09|02}} | birth_place = [[Hampstead]], London, England | death_date = {{death date and age|df=y|1957|03|09|1870|09|02}} | death_place = [[North Stoke, Oxfordshire]], England | occupation = Singer | years_active = 1896–1957 | module = {{Infobox person | embed = yes | spouse = {{plainlist| * {{marriage|[[Clara Butt]]|1900|1936|end=d}} * {{marriage|Dorothy Jane Elwin|1941}} }} | children = 3 }}}}
'''Robert Henry Kennerley Rumford''' (2 September 1870 – 9 March 1957) was an [[United Kingdom|English]] [[baritone]] singer of the 20th century. He was first known for his performances of [[oratorio]]s, but following his marriage to the well-known [[contralto]] singer [[Clara Butt]], he toured with her throughout the English-speaking world singing repertoire of a more popular type. He was twice mentioned in dispatches while serving on the Western Front during the [[World War I|First World War]].
==Early and personal life== Kennerley Rumford was born in [[Hampstead]], [[London]], [[England]] in 1870<ref name=BREG /> the son of Joseph Kennerley Rumford who was related to [[Benjamin Thompson|Count Rumford]] the celebrated scientist.<ref name=WHO13 /> He was educated at King's School [[Canterbury]] and also in [[Frankfurt]] and [[Paris]].<ref name=WHO13 /> He studied singing in Paris under [[Giovanni Sbriglia]] (in 1894) and [[Jacques Bouhy]], and in London under [[George Henschel]].<ref name=WHO13 /><ref name=DENT /><ref name=GROVE /> He also studied under Blume, Lierhammer and [[Jean de Reszke]].<ref name=DENT /> On 26 June 1900 he married the contralto singer [[Clara Butt]] – they had one daughter and two sons before Clara died in 1936.<ref name=BREG /><ref name=WHO13 /><ref name=WHOWASWHO /> In 1941 he married Dorothy Jane Elwin.<ref name=WHOWASWHO />
==Career== Rumford made his first appearance in 1896 at [[St James's Hall]] in London.<ref name=WHO13 /> He went on to sing at the [[Birmingham Triennial Music Festival|Birmingham]] and [[Handel]] festivals and at nearly all the principal London and provincial concerts and festivals.<ref name=WHO13 /> He made his reputation with works of a serious kind such as [[Bach]]'s [[St. Matthew Passion]] (Bach Festival at [[Queen's Hall]] 6 April 1897) and [[Brahms]]'s [[Vier ernste Gesänge|Ernste Gesänge]] (St. James's Hall Popular Concert 31 January 1898).<ref name=GROVE /> He appeared before both [[Queen Victoria]] and King [[Edward VII]].<ref name=WHO13 />
After his marriage to Clara Butt he performed with her in concerts of a more popular kind – they performed "Grand Concerts" at the [[Royal Albert Hall]] in London and in tours all over the English-speaking world.<ref name=GROVE /> During the First World War (1914–1917) Rumford served in France where he was twice mentioned in dispatches; later (from 1917) he worked in the Special Intelligence Department of the War Office.<ref name=GROVE /><ref name=WHOWASWHO />
==Recordings== Rumford's earliest recording dates from 1899, when he recorded "Night Hymn at Sea" ([[Arthur Goring Thomas|Goring Thomas]]) with Clara Butt on a 7-inch Berliner disc.<ref name=CHARM /> Between 1909 and the mid-1920s he made a number of recordings for [[His Master's Voice (British record label)|His Master's Voice]] and (from 1915) the Columbia Graphophone Company, some solo but many with Clara, for example "The Yeomen of England" from [[Merrie England (opera)|Merrie England]] ([[Edward German]]) in 1909 (solo), "[[Abide with Me]]" (Liddle) in 1909 (with Clara) and "O That We Two were Maying" in 1925 (with Clara).<ref name=CHARM/>
==Death== He died in [[North Stoke, Oxfordshire]], England on 9 March 1957 aged 86.<ref name=BREG/> He is buried in St Mary churchyard, North Stoke, Oxfordshire.
==References== {{Reflist|2|refs= <ref name=DENT>''A Dictionary of Modern Music and Musicians'', J.M.Dent and Sons Ltd, London 1924, p. 427</ref> <ref name=WHO13>''Who's who in Music'', Saxe Wyndham, Boston, 1913, p. 180</ref> <ref name=GROVE>''Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians'', Third Edition, Macmillan and Co., London, 1928, Vol. IV, p. 487</ref> <ref name=WHOWASWHO>''Who Was Who'', Vol. V, Adam & Charles Black, London, Fourth Edition, 1984, p. 954. {{ISBN|0-7136-2598-8}}</ref> <ref name=CHARM>[http://www.charm.rhul.ac.uk/index.html The AHRC Research Centre for the History and Analysis of Recorded Music]. Retrieved 30 April 2013</ref> <ref name=BREG>[http://www.gro.gov.uk/gro/content/certificates British General Register Office] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120415013820/http://www.gro.gov.uk/gro/content/certificates/ |date=15 April 2012 }} – Birth certificate: 1870 Vol 1A page 577. Marriage certificate: 1900 Vol. 6A page 1A. Death certificate: 1957 Vol 6B page 881. Payment required.</ref> }}
==External links== {{commons category|Kennerley Rumford}} *{{Find a Grave|20141}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Rumford, Robert Henry Kennerley}} [[Category:1870 births]] [[Category:1957 deaths]] [[Category:People from Hampstead]] [[Category:English operatic baritones]] [[Category:Singers from the London Borough of Camden]]