Song Writers
Harry Sydney 1815 - 1870
Song Writer & Music Hall Manager
In "The Melodies Linger On", Walter Macqueen-Pope writes about the growth of the songwriting fraternity. Having listed the earlier writers he continues:
"All those belonged to the song-and-supper-room era; when Music Hall proper arose, a new school of writers and composers arose, with it.
Two of the earliest were Harry Sydney and Harry Clifton, both were very good indeed. Sydney was also a comic, his best songs were "In A Quiet Sort Of Way" and "A Rolling Stone Gathers No Moss."
He was a manager too, associated with the first Oxford Music Hall, Collins's and The Philharmonic. A popular singer, he toured the country, for in those distant days song writing was not enough, a man had to have other irons in the fire.
Sydney died in Holloway on June 16, 1870, at the age of fifty five, a victim of Bright's Disease."
"The Melodies Linger On" by Walter Macqueen-Pope