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Emma Mundella (1858-96)

Emma Mundella came from a liberally-minded family of textile workers in Nottingham (UK), and the Unitarian Church provided both her academic and her religious education. In 1876 she moved to London, supported financially through a scholarship from the Corporation of Nottingham, to be amongst the first cohort of The National Training School for Music (which later became the Royal College of Music). She received tuition from several grandees of the late 19th century including Sir Arthur Sullivan, Sir John Stainer and Frederick Bridge CVO, and she maintained friendships with them throughout her life, even commissioning them to compose new works for the 2nd edition of her most important oeuvre, the non-denominational Day School Hymn Book (published posthumously in 1896). For all but one year of her teaching career, Mundella worked at Wimbledon High School where she composed primarily, but not exclusively, for the benefit of the pupils and teachers. Her music was widely published by Novello and others. She remained unmarried and deeply committed to her work, even to the detriment of her own health.

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