Amy Woodforde-Finden

Amy Woodforde-Finden (1860 – 13 March 1919) was a composer who is best known for writing the music to “Kashmiri Song” from Four Indian Love Lyrics by Laurence Hope. Biography Amy Woodforde-Finden was born Amelia Rowe Ward in 1860 at Valparaíso, Chile, the youngest daughter of American parents, Alfred and Virginia Worthington Heath Ward. Alfred served as a US Consul after being recommended by Balie Peyton, US Ambassador to Chile under President Zachary Taylor. Her father died in 1867 and her mother moved the family to London, where Virginia became a naturalized British citizen in 1873. Around that time Amy displayed a skill for composition and became a student of Carl Schloesser and Amy Horrocks. Her early work, published as Amy Ward, though promising, was received only tepidly. At the age of 34, she married Brigade-Surgeon Woodforde-Finden, who served during the Second Afghan War and Third Burmese War with the Bengal establishment of the Indian Medical Service; they lived in India for several years, and during her time there she wrote and published what would become her most famous pieces: Kashmiri Song (1902) and A Lover in Damascus (six songs, 1904, text Charles Hanson Towne). Ka