James Melvin (1823 - 1869), Founder of the Aberdeen Choral Society

Early life of James Melvin
James Melvin was born in 1823, the third child and first son of James and Sarah Melvin, in the St Nicholas ward of Aberdeen.  James senior was a Shore Porter, a member of a cooperative of workers who were responsible for transporting goods to and from Aberdeen Harbour, though he is thought  to have died before 1841.  In the Census of that year, Sarah and her children Margaret, Sarah and James were recorded as living in Shiprow, a very old and, then, important street which snaked upwards from the harbour to Castlegate in the heart of the oldest part of the city.  Margaret was recorded as a milliner, Sarah junior as a starchmaker and James, then 18 years old, as a foundry apprentice.  Mother Sarah was living by independent means, possibly an annuity derived from her husband’s membership of the Shore Porters’ Spociety, which also operated a superannuation scheme for its members and their widows.  The Melvins were thus a working family.  Like other working class Scots of the early 19^th century they were probably educated to a level of competence in reading and writing but would have had little opportunity to pursue advanced education or had access to cultural instruction in music or literature.

As a foundry apprentice, James Melvin would have learned the techniques associated with casting objects by pouring molten metal into moulds, typically made of a special kind sand and, after the metal had solidified and cooled, breaking away the material of the mould to free the cast object.  It is likely that James worked with iron as he was later referred to as an iron moulder.  We know very little about James’ early adult life but it does not seem to have been confined to Aberdeen.  In the Census of 1851 James was a visitor in the house of John Craig, a sealing wax manufacturer and commission agent living in the St Enoch parish of Glasgow.  It is unclear why James was visiting John Craig in Glasgow.

James Melvin marries Margaret Gray

In June, 1851, James married Margaret Gray, the 22 year old eldest daughter of Alexander Gray, the Aboyne village baker.  Margaret was born in 1829 in Aberdeen and was christened in Keith some 50 miles north west of the city.  She would soon be living in Aboyne since her father was established in his bakery business in that village from about 1830.  In the Census of 1841 the Gray household in Aboyne was a rather crowded one.  Alexander Gray and his wife Margaret, still only 30, had a family of 8 children, of whom the youngest was 10 months and the eldest was Margaret, still only about 12 years.  By the Census of 1851 the Grays had produced another 4 children.  Margaret was no longer living at home in Aboyne but was living with her brother Alexander, a blacksmith in the adjoining village of Birse, along with her young brother, 2 year old George.  Perhaps this was necessary to relieve pressure on limited space in the house in Aboyne?

James Melvin's musical talents

At the time of his marriage in 1851, James Melvin was 28 years of age and a journeyman iron moulder.  Family rumour recounts that James was also a self-taught musician who had the gift of perfect pitch.  How his musical talents came to be recognised and developed is not known but may well have been the result of church attendance and involvement in church music.  By 1853 he was living in Red Lion Court, Guestrow, opposite Marischal College and was in office as precentor in nearby St Paul Street United Presbyterian Church.  The precentor led the congregation in singing and in Presbyterian churches this was often accomplished using conducting techniques and was sometimes unaccompanied.

Foundation of the Aberdeen Choral Society
James’s love of music also found expression in his establishment of the Aberdeen Choral Society in 1853.  This musical society, amazingly, catered to working lads and lasses and James was also the Society’s first conductor. The fees of the Aberdeen Choral Society were low and the members sang part-songs, glees and the more capable individuals performed solos.  Their concerts were called “Open Rehearsals” and were held in the Mechanics’ Hall located in George Street, where the audience seemed to consist mainly of “friends and family”.  What the singers may have lacked in sophistication they made up for with hearty and tuneful music-making.  Two commentators of that time both remarked that, in spite of being self-taught, James Melvin was sound in musical theory but that his tastes were “unpretentious” and may have lacked “refinement”.  The following extracts from the Aberdeen Journal show that this child of the working classes was mostly received with approbation.  7^th July 1858. “The Aberdeen Choral Society gave, in the Mechanics’ Institution Hall, on Friday evening, a semi-public concert to their friends.  The programme was long and varied, and the singing, in the majority of pieces, drew forth hearty applause from an audience that filled the hall.  The choralists form a numerous body, conducted by Mr James Melvin…..”.  5^th October 1859.  “On Friday evening, the Aberdeen Choral Society gave another of their pleasing private concerts in the Mechanics’ Hall, under, as formerly, the competent leadership of Mr Melvin.  The programme contained an excellent selection of glees, madrigals, part-songs, and choruses, all of which were rendered by the choir, which numbers over 40 members, in a manner that won warm and ready applause.  Miss Wilson presided at the piano, giving ably (besides accompanying the choral pieces) a solo; and with her sister a duet.  The whole performance gave much delight to a large and most respectable audience.” 

Other musical societies sprang up in Aberdeen during the 1850s.  Aberdeen was a wealthy and intellectually prominent city, having two separate universities, King’s College and Marischal College, until their merger in 1860 and there was an enthusiasm for musical culture.  Towards the end of 1852 the Aberdeen Musical Association came into being.  Its original membership of about 20 gentlemen were mostly from professional callings and prominent in the city.  They could afford to appoint Mr Richard Latter, an Englishman living in Aberdeen, as their first conductor.  Latter was formally trained and later left Aberdeen to join the staff of the Guildhall School of Music in London.  The Aberdeen Choral Society and the Aberdeen Musical Association formed the extremes of a spread of about half a dozen musical societies which co-existed in the 1850s.

The revival of Psalmody and the initiation of the Aberdeen Music Hall project

Eighteen fifty four saw the start of a revival in psalmody, the singing of psalms as part of services of religious worship in Britain.  In that year the cross-denominational Aberdeen General Association for the Improvement of Psalmody was established.  Perhaps reflecting his involvement in this revival in psalmody, James Melvin now took on the title of Leader of Psalmody at St Paul’s Street UP Church.  The General Association created a choir of 160 voices drawn from different congregations and staged a number of public performances.  Fifty pounds from the proceeds of the third such event on 9^th April 1856, held in the East Church, were devoted to the establishment of a fund to pay for the construction of a large music hall in the Granite City, a facility which it then lacked.  The initiative caught the attention of a wealthy music supporter in the county who made a donation of £100 for the same purpose.  Late in 1856 a public meeting was held to further the aims of the music hall project and a committee was established for this purpose.  It was agreed that the music hall needed to have accommodation for about 2,500.  Two possible means of achieving this aim were proposed. The first was to construct an entirely new building, possibly on Union Street, in front of Union Row and the second was to adapt and extend the City’s Assembly Rooms.  This building was opened in 1822 and constructed to a design by the Aberdeen architect, Archibald Simpson.  The latter alternative was eventually pursued.  At the end of 1856 the General Psalmody Association proposed that its large choir be constituted into a permanent Choral Union for the city.

The British Association for the Advancement of Science plans to visit Aberdeen
There was a gradual progression towards the aim of building a music hall and by the end of 1857 a proposal was made at a public meeting, chaired by the Lord Provost, to establish a joint stock company with a capital of £5000, the anticipated cost of the new building and subscriptions for stock were solicited at the meeting.  The city grandees had also realised that there was another and quite pressing reason to build a venue for large meetings, in addition for the need for a concert hall.  The British Association for the Advancement of Science was due to meet in Aberdeen in 1859 under the presidency of Albert, the Prince Consort.  It would not do to have the BAAS programme, with its royal patron, spread around the city in cramped and inappropriate accommodation.  By early 1858 the sum of £4,358 had been raised and the Aberdeen Music Hall Company was established.  One of the subscribers (£10) was Professor James Clerk Maxwell of Marischal College, the subsequently famous physicist.  Sadly for Aberdeen, Clerk Maxwell was given the heave-ho in 1860 on the merger of Aberdeen’s two universities.  There was no room for two professors of Natural Philosophy in the new University of Aberdeen and Clerk Maxwell departed for King’s College, London.  Another subscriber was a “Mr JM” (£5).  Is it possible that this was James Melvin, modestly hiding his identity in august company?

In May 1858 the Aberdeen Music Hall Company announced that they had acquired the County Rooms, which would be available for let until the new Music Hall was completed.  The first meeting of the Aberdeen Choral Union was held on 10^th November 1858.  The minutes of that first meeting ran as follows.  “At Aberdeen, and within the Music Hall Buildings there, on Wednesday, the 10^th day of November, 1858, at a meeting held immediately after a conference of the conductors and secretaries of the various musical societies in Aberdeen with the Music Hall Company, at which a basis for the formation of a Choral Union in Aberdeen in connection with the Music Hall Company had been agreed on….”  James Melvin was one of the attendees and subsequently became a member of the committee of the Aberdeen Choral Union.  The directors of the Music Hall Company were instrumental in promoting the success of the Aberdeen Choral Union by offering generous terms.  The actual stated purpose of the Choral Union was the “study and practice of choral music with a special view to performances in the Music Hall”.  The Choral Union could use the Music Hall buildings for meetings and practice and the Aberdeen Music Hall Company would meet the costs (and appoint) a conductor and an organist.  Richard Latter (who had been with the Aberdeen Musical Association) and Mr RH Baker, another formally trained musician, were appointed as conductor and organist respectively.  Membership of the Aberdeen Choral Union was open to both men and women at the differential subscription of 2s 6d for men and 1s for the fairer sex.  In effect, the Aberdeen Music Hall Company was ensuring that it had a competent resident choir capable of performing sophisticated choral music.

The Music Hall, designed by James Matthew, was finally completed, including the installation of an organ from Willis of London at a cost of £1000, early in September 1859, just in time for Prince Albert to open it  formally in his role as President of the BAAS.  The Aberdeen Journal was moved to say the following week,   “The past week has been the most brilliant that Aberdeen ever witnessed.  The city has teemed with strangers of rank and eminence from all parts of the country….”  Thus did Aberdeen gain its Music Hall.  The revival in psalmody in 1854 promoted cooperation between the different congregations in the city to create a joint choir, which, by its size, focussed attention on the lack of a large concert venue.  In turn the Aberdeen General Association for the Improvement of Psalmody addressed this deficit by making the founding donation to a fund to build a music hall and by proposing the incorporation of their choir as a Choral Union for the city.  These actions caught the attention and enthusiasm of the public, resulting both in the building of the music hall and the creation of the Aberdeen Choral Union.  The extent of James Melvin’s involvement in these momentous events is not clear.  He was prominent in church music in the city and, as conductor of the Aberdeen Choral Society, he was a joint founder of the Aberdeen Choral Union and a member of its committee from 1864 to 1867 but his status as a working man without formal musical training, within a rigid social hierarchy, probably precluded him playing a leadership role.

The Aberdeen Choral Society continues 

The formation of the Aberdeen Choral Union in 1858 did not bring about the demise of the Aberdeen Choral Society, unlike some other musical societies in the city.  The Union’s  annual membership fee of 2s 6d for men (equivalent to about £12 in 2013 money) may well have acted as a deterrent to the young working class people of the Choral Society and they may also have been deterred by the different social strata to be found in the new choir.  The Choral Society continued as before and regularly attained a membership of 40 to 50.

James Melvin and the Temperance Movement

At that time the consumption of alcohol was rife in Aberdeen.  In 1837 it had a population of about 60,000 but had 870 public houses.  Excess alcohol consumption, especially by the working classes caused a great deal of social distress.  Interestingly, James Melvin was a member of the Temperance Society, which, among other events, held an annual soiree at Methlick.  At the soiree of mid-December 1859 “Mr James Melvin, of St Paul Street UP Church and friends ably conducted the music.  Presentations were made by the Society to Mr James Morrison, of Shakespeare’s Works and Jamieson’s Scottish Dictionary; and “My Schools and Schoolmasters”, and Walker’s English Dictionary, to Mr James Melvin, as a recognition of the valuable assistance rendered to the Society by those gentlemen.”  In December 1863 - “Mr James Melvin, and a select choir of admirable voices from the city, delighted the meeting with sweet music.  There was a large attendance, and the whole proceedings were instructive and entertaining.”  It appears that James may have carried over his temperance principles to events organised by the Aberdeen Choral Society, which each year held an annual assembly.  In March 1862 “The annual assembly of the Choral Society took place on Friday evening in Mr Alexander’s Dancing Academy, Diamond Street; and a very happy and pleasant meeting it was.  An excellent tea having been discussed, the members of the Society sang pleasantly a number of pieces, such as “We fly by night”, and Broomfield’s “The pretty little heart”, after which dancing began; and, with good heart and humour, continued, interspersed with songs by some of the ladies and others, and supplies of fruit, far into the morning.  The ladies were sprightly and nimble; and everybody seemed pleased.”

James Melvin's last concert

James Melvin’s last concert as conductor of the Aberdeen Choral Society took place in April 1869 and the report in the Aberdeen Journal was expansive and summed up the achievements of this remarkable man.  “This Society gave an open rehearsal for the entertainment of their friends, in the Mechanics’ Hall on Friday evening last.  The audience, which was highly respectable, quite filled the place, and listened with evident relish to the varied selection of pieces contained in the programme.  Miss Moir, a promising young soprano, and Mr Fleming, each sung a song, and performed the solos in the Macbeth music, which was altogether a very creditable performance.  The accompanyments were given by a small but efficient band led by Mr Shanks.  The remainder of the programme was made up of glees and part-songs, including “Hail, Sweet Spring” (Dalgleish); “Summer Time” (Mendelsohn); “The Land o’ the Leal”; “Maidens Fair of Padua’s City” (Gastoldi); The Chough and Crow” (Bishop); “Sweet and Low” (Barnby); “The Sailor’s Serenade” (Hatton); “The Dawn of Day” (Reay); and “Serene and Mild” (Webbe).  Without entering into a criticism of the rendering of the various pieces, we may state that, while the selections were very creditably performed for an amateur society.  The Choral Society is the oldest musical association existing in Aberdeen.  It started in 1853, when a number of similar societies came into existence.  They all did good service in their time to the cause of music, and we have no hesitation in saying that the kind of glees and madrigals practised were of a more sterling kind than those used by minor societies now.  The Glee and Madrigal Union, the Philharmonic Society, the Concordia, and others, had each a flourishing existence; and to them doubtless, the Choral Union owes not a little of its prestige, for it was chiefly on account of the absorption of these societies in the Union that they ceased to exist as separate associations.  Mr Melvin, who has been conductor of the Choral Society from the first, has done yeoman service in the cause of music, and the fact that he can still gather around him fifty choiristers, and give such an entertainment as that of Friday night, without any extraneous aid, shows that he still applies himself, with the old loving devotion, to the work of “filling the isle with sweet sounds.”  We hope to see the Choral Society in existence, and hear it, for many years to come, awaking the echoes of bygone years in the sweet strains of the old glees and madrigals.”

The death of James Melvin

After their marriage in June 1851, James and Margaret Melvin rapidly produced a young family.  Children Margaret (1852), Alexander Gray (1853), James (1856), John (1858), Ann (1861), Frederick (1863), Sarah Donald (1865) and Andrew Gray (1866) arrived in quick succession.  But in October 1869, with 46 year old James at the height of his achievements, tragedy overtook the family.  The Aberdeen Journal about this time reported regular outbreaks of infectious diseases which, in those pre- antibiotic days, all too often proved fatal.  In February of that year it recorded “diseases such as….typhus and typhoid are beginning to make their appearance” and in March “We are sorry to learn that many cases of fever of the typhoid kind have lately been reported in the town”.  It was also admitted that Aberdeen had poor sewage disposal and that this was causing disease.  On 10^th October 1869, James Melvin died of typhus of 11 days’ standing.  The person who registered James’ death was Frederick Melvin, Margaret’s brother, a baker in Aberdeen at the time, who was present when James died.  James’ wife Margaret was pregnant and gave birth to daughter Helen Mary the following year.  This must have been a very difficult time for Margaret, with nine children, aged 18 years down to the newly-born baby.  Both James’ parents were already dead and most of Margaret’s close relatives lived 40 miles away in Aboyne.  But the Grays were a strong and close family and help was soon organised.  At the time of the next Census in 1871, two of her children were living with Margaret’s parents in Aboyne.  Fifteen year old James was an apprentice baker and 8 year old Frederick was a scholar, presumably being educated at Aboyne Public School, where another of Margaret’s brothers, Andrew, was the headmaster.

Very soon after the announcement of the death of James Melvin the Aberdeen Choral Society organised a memorial concert, under the patronage of several local notables.  The clear proceeds were to be donated to his wife, Margaret and her young family.  It took place on 18^th November in the Aberdeen Music Hall, which was "crowded to the door" with many prominent local musicians and singers contributing their services free.  Ticket prices varied from 6d to 1s 6d (approximately £2 to £6 in 2013 money).  The Aberdeen Journal  contained an approving editorial, “The friends and acquaintances of the late Mr James Melvin will, we are sure read with pleasure the announcement in another column of a concert to be given on Thursday next, as an expression of respect to his memory, and a means of benefitting those who more immediately suffer through his death.  The spontaneous readiness with which the best local musical talent has been placed at the services of the Committee, augers well alike for a good entertainment and a numerous audience.”  In fact the concert realised a net profit of just over £75 (about £7,200 in 2013 money).

After the death of James Melvin the Aberdeen Choral Society continued under the baton, firstly of Mr James Wilson and subsequently Mr John Watson but it struggled to maintain the popularity it achieved under its founder.  There was a measure of revival under Mr John Murray in the late 1870s but the Society finally expired quietly in the mid-1880s.  The name was resurrected in 1946 and the Aberdeen Choral Society is today an integral part of the Aberdeen musical scene, but the Society is not a lineal descendant of James Melvin’s choir.

Obituary

James’ status in the musical fraternity of Aberdeen resulted in an obituary appearing on 13^th October 1869 in the local newspaper.  His passing would not even have attracted a mention had he been simply an iron moulder.  “The Late Mr James Melvin.  It may be that not a very large number of our readers were familiar with the name and doings of James Melvin, a townsman, who died of fever at his residence here on Monday afternoon.  Among his class, however, and particularly those of that class partial to music, he was well known, and by whomsoever known, esteemed and respected; for while in manner deceased was most gentle and kindly, he has for nearly a score of years been an earnest and successful worker in imparting a love of part singing to all who, in good spirit, sought his aid.  James Melvin was by trade an iron-moulder, and consequently, not much in the eye of the general public; but as precentor of St Paul’s Street UP Church, and, more specially, as conductor of the Aberdeen Choral Society, he has been recognised and valued by our promoters of Psalmody and Oratorio, as one of the most zealous and faithful labourers in the whole city.  His Choral Society, composed of working young men and women, is the oldest associated body of singers in Aberdeen, and undoubtedly has been the means  of doing an immensity of good service in making genuine part music popular amongst a class  that otherwise might not have enjoyed its refining influence.  So much and true duty fulfilled and fulfilling, may well awaken keen regret that the hand and voice of the labourer are still and silent; for surely there is not a little of the higher nobility of nature about men like James Melvin who, incessantly toiling for bread from early morning till nightfall, at hard wasting manual labour, yet find time to cultivate a fine science for their own delight and to imbue a large number of humble followers with a knowledge and love of its masterpieces.  By many the memory of James Melvin will be fondly cherished, and his services long remembered; while present sorrow for his comparatively early departure must be deepened by the circumstance that he leaves a widow and a numerous young family.” 

Although by the standards of today, this obituary may seem patronising and a bit snobbish, it would be a mistake to reach such a conclusion.  Taken in the social context of the 1860s, this is a fulsome and generous tribute to a man of modest origins who rose above his social and educational disadvantages and accomplished much.  James Melvin deserves to be remembered.

Don Fox

20141124

donaldpfox@gmail.com