Thomas Chilcot

Thomas Chilcot (1707?1766), was an English organist and composer. Life Thomas Chilcot of Bath, Somerset was born in the West of England (probably Bath) in or about 1707. He was the son of John Chilcot and Elizabeth Powell. Records of his birth, like most other records from his life, are now lost. Chilcot was educated at Bath Charity School, whose headmaster, Henry Dixon, had a strong interest in church music. On 6 July 1721 Chilcot (presumably aged 14) was apprenticed to Josiah Priest, the organist of Bath Abbey since 1714 - seemingly the only occasion on which the school allowed a pupil to be apprenticed to a musician. On Priest’s death, just four years later, Chilcot was made Abbey organist on a probationary basis. At what should have been the conclusion of Chilcot’s apprenticeship, in 1728, the appointment was made permanent. As City musician in fashionable Bath, Chilcot rapidly established a remarkable relationship with many noble families, attracting their patronage and subscriptions to his publications. He became a member and subsequently Grand Master of the Royal Cumberland Lodge of Freemasons. He was also amongst the original members of the Royal Society of Musicians, found