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R. J. Buckley

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Robert Johnson Buckley
Born1847
Monaghan, Ireland
Died26 December 1938
Birmingham, England
Occupations
  • journalist
  • organist
  • music critic
  • author
Spouses
  • Mary Parke
  • Mary Rankin
  • Mary Wakelin
Children
  • Robert Parke Buckley
  • Margaret Buckley
  • Gertrude Buckley
  • Jessie Buckley
  • Harry Buckley
  • F. R. Buckley

Robert John Buckley (FRCO), was born 14 July 1847 at Monaghan, Ireland was an English music critic, composer and author.[1][2] He died 26 December 1938 at his home in Sandford road, Moseley.[1][2]

Buckley was married thrice and had seven children.[2] One of his children was film critic, writer, actor and BBC radio personality and Television presenter F. R. Buckley.[3]

St Mary's Church, Gun Quarter, Birmingham

Organist

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Though claiming to have never had a lesson, Buckley was a Fellow of the Royal College of Organists as well as a church organist at St John's Church, Harborne (1874)[4] and Smethwick in 1878. He was also organist at Holy Trinity, Bordesley and St Mary's Church, Whittall Street, Birmingham.

In 1887 he began writing for the Sunday Mercury, a series of short articles titled ‘’Pulpit and Pew’’ about popular contemporary preachers and it ran for 27 years.

Chess

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Buckley was the Librarian of the Birmingham Chess Club[5] and wrote a chess column for the Sheffield Weekly Independent from October 1891 through at least 1893.[6] and edited a column on chess in the Birmingham Weekly Mercury from 1889 to 1907

Music Critic

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Buckley was the music critic for the Birmingham Gazette from 1886 to 1926 when he retired. He had become known as "the doyen of music critics".[1]

Works

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  • 1904 "Sir Edward Elgar"[7]
  • "Ireland As It Is"[8]
  • 1902 "The Master Spy""[9]
  • 1912 "Granville Bantock: A Famous Musician at Home" The Pall Mall Magazine Vol. L July to September[10]
  • 1910 The Nation's Music Vol. 1 English.
  • 1910 The Nation's Music Vol. 2 Scotch.
  • 1910 The Nation's Music Vol. 3 Irish
  • 1910 The Nation's Music: Vol. 4 Welsh
  • 1910 The Nation's Music. Vol. 5 Sacred.

References

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  1. ^ a b c "Doyen of Music Critics". Birmingham Daily Gazette. Warwickshire, England. 27 December 1938. p. 4. Retrieved 26 November 2021.
  2. ^ a b c "Death of Birmingham Doyen of English Music Critics". Evening Despatch. 27 December 1938. p. 7. Retrieved 26 August 2022.Open access icon
  3. ^ "A Birmingham Man's Boyhood Memories". Sunday Mercury. 24 July 1938. p. 4. Retrieved 26 August 2022.}Open access icon
  4. ^ "Birmingham Daily Post 12 Jan 1874, page 5". The Birmingham Daily Post. Vol. XXI, no. 4, 835. 12 January 1874. p. 5. Retrieved 28 November 2021.
  5. ^ "Birmingham Chess Club". Birmingham Daily Post. Vol. XXXIX, no. 7, 807. 11 July 1883. p. 3. Retrieved 28 November 2021.
  6. ^ Gittins, Frederick Richard (1897). The Chess Bouquet. London W.C.: Feilden, McAllan & Co., LTD., Artistic and General Printers. p. 115. Retrieved 27 November 2021.
  7. ^ "News and Gossip About Authors". New York Times. Vol. LIV, no. 17, 388. 25 September 1905. p. 584. Retrieved 26 November 2021.
  8. ^ Buckley, Robert John (17 August 2009). "Ireland as It Is, and as It Would Be Under Home Rule". Retrieved 26 August 2022.
  9. ^ eds. (27 September 1902). "New Novels". The Athenaeum. No. 3909. Salisbury Square, London, E.C.: Ward, Lock & Co., Ltd. p. 408. {{cite news}}: |last1= has generic name (help)
  10. ^ Buckley, Robert J. (1912). Granville Bantock: A Famous Musician at Home. The Pall Mall MAgazine. p. 585. Retrieved 2 September 2022.
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