Marian Arkwright

Marian Ursula Arkwright (25 January 1863 – 23 March 1922) was an English composer, pianist and string player (viola and double bass). She was one of the first women in England to earn a Bachelor of Music degree (in 1895), and the first woman to earn a doctorate in music, which she gained in 1913. Arkwright worked as an orchestral musician, composer and conductor, and received a prize for an orchestral work from The Gentlewoman. Life Marian Arkwright was born in Norwich, Norfolk, England on 25 January 1863, a descendent of Richard Arkwright, the inventor of the Spinning Jenny. Her brother was the musicologist Godfrey Edward Pellew Arkwright. Arkwright studied piano with Bernhard Althaus (1831–1917) and also took piano lessons from Charles Hallé. She also studied double bass with Charles Henry Winterbottom and composition with J.S. Liddle, organist at Newbury. She was awarded the L.R.A.M. in 1891, earned a Bachelor of Arts in music at Durham University in 1895, and a doctorate in music at the same university in 1913, After completing her studies, she worked as an orchestral musician and composer and conducted orchestras including the Newbury Amateur Orchestral Union. In 1906 she rece