Introduction and preface (2024)
Hilda Collens 1883-1956
This extended essay was originally written at the behest of the Ida Carroll Trust for publication in 2020 to coincide with the centenary of the founding of the Northern School of Music, Manchester. An edited version was printed in the learned journal “Manchester Sounds” in 2020 and in time for the day’s celebrations held at the Royal Northern College of Music, Manchester.
Reflecting at a distance of four years, quite a lot of what had been written about Hilda Collens in the years since her death, proved (by research) to be somewhat distorted, often leading to an inaccurate picture of the fastidious personality and singular determination of this pioneering educationalist. She was for the most part, almost completely self-effacing and this has been interpreted as her having been nervous, as well genteel to a fault. But the facts are plain and unequivocal. There is still much to learn about her, and in particular, about music education in the City of Manchester through those private teachers that then existed at the end of the 19th century and the first twenty years of the 20th century. The work of another pioneer, Albert Cross, who founded the Manchester School of Music, latterly in Albert Square, has been almost totally ignored and unresearched, yet his influence in the city was enormous and lasting.
The reasons for this are obvious, since most studies about music in Manchester and its environs in the 19th and early 20th centuries focus upon the work of orchestra of Sir Charles Halle and also the development of the Royal Manchester College of Music. While this is laudable, there is often a want of balance in that the musical life of the city of Manchester was rich, diverse, and plentiful, and far more than these two burgeoning institutions.
While some of the facts of Hilda Collens’ life in this essay are at considerable odds with reported and available printed versions, the differences are backed up by solid research, and from documents that are in the public domain. There is still much to do and the work continues. If you would like to get in touch, or you have something that you can add, or would like me to add, please write to voxturturis(at)gmail.com – (substitute the “@” symbol in the gmail address). Photographs of people, places, artefacts would be most welcome if you would be willing to share a picture or photographed document, and allow it to become part of this work. Thank you.
Hilda Collens – Early Life, Family and Influences
By Michael Baron
In writing about the Northern School of Music, the one person now least known and least documented, is Miss Collens. Anybody who knew her is now septuagenarian and probably older. Her contemporaries passed away many years ago and the archive that was left after her death is sadly deficient to say the least.
Since her death in 1956, some interesting observations have been made about Miss Collens and these mostly form our present view of her. But since the last book containing these was published, the internet has yielded many more details of Hilda Collens’ early life, including her education, and the lives of her siblings. This information, from disparate sources and which has taken several years to assemble, is vital to a proper understanding of who Hilda Collens was, who and what she found influential, what her aspirations were and the difficulties she faced, and more to the point, how she faced them. The results of her life’s work are still to be seen and heard.
Birth
Hilda Collens was born at 4 (Cheshire Court Directory for 1878 gives number 1), Prussia Terrace, Bowdon,
Cheshire on 24th September 1883. She was the last and seventh1 child of Henry John Collens (1845-1917).
Henry John Collens (1845-1917)
Henry John Collens was born at Compton Martin, Somerset and although he is reported in three sources2 to have been a banker, this is in fact not correct. He did not work for any bank and was a businessman always associated with the cloth trade. In the 1861 census, he is recorded as a draper’s assistant and in that for 1871 is recorded as a Travelling Draper. He might be thought of as typically Victorian and was certainly determined and ambitious. Nowadays, we might describe him as “driven”. Hilda Collens would inherit this trait.
H J Collens’ First Marriage
Henry John Collens was married twice. The first marriage – at Teignmouth, Devon on 23 December 1870 – was to Mary Hannah White (born Llanelli 1843). By the time of the 1871 census, Henry John Collens and his wife Mary Hannah, who had also worked in a shop, were living at 36, Chester Road, Stretford, then in Lancashire, where he had opened his own drapery business and a small workroom making clothing to order. There are two living-in servants, one described as “Draper’s Assistant” and the other described as “Dressmaker”. The first marriage produced two children – a girl (Mary Eliza) born in February 1872 and a boy (Henry John)3 born in August 1873. H J Collens’ first wife Mary Hannah died about two months after the birth of Henry John, in the October quarter of 1873.
H J Collens’ Second Marriage
In 1875, H J Collens married again, this time at Manchester Cathedral, to Ellen Blatchford (1843-1933) of
Plymouth, Devon. In the 1861 census, she is recorded as being a domestic servant, and in the 1871 census, is working in the drapery trade. At the time of the wedding, her address was 36, Market Place, Stretford, the same address as Henry John Collens. This implies that she lived above the shop, as was the custom at the time. Around 1879 or 1880, the family moved to Bowdon. The second marriage produced five children; Frederick, Arthur4, Winifred, Edith, Hilda.
The 1881 Census records H J Collens as a Commercial Traveller (Draper), born at Compton Martin,
Somerset(shire). Also in that census, the children of both marriages are shown as one family, the enumerator having assumed Ellen Collens to be their mother. (We have to assume that over the next few years, the Stretford business flourished and H J Collens expanded his contacts within the drapery and cloth trade).
Business Expansion and Removal to Wrexham
In 1887, Mr Collens bought out the entire stock and premises of the drapery business of T. O. Jones in
Wrexham, then in Denbighshire, North Wales. He disposed of the stock cheaply over the next two months and in April 1887, the following notice appeared in the Wrexham Advertiser: “H J Collens has completed the alterations to his premises at Wrexham. 10 Church Street is now a huge drapery emporium – Ladies, Misses, and Childrens Clothes, a Millinery Department, as well as all bedding and household drapery and underwear. Resident makers work there on their own account and bespoke work is undertaken. Spring and Summer Fashions, Drapery Sales, Welsh Flannels, Modistes employed”.
Mr Collens removed the entire family to Wrexham. Contemporary evidence from press reports and notices gives us occasional glimpses of H J Collens’ personality. Numerous advertisements in the Manchester, North Wales and Birmingham (where there was a sizeable emigre Welsh population) newspapers attest to his frequent need for seamstresses, dress and shirt makers, milliners and menders. The need for staff might well have been a case of expanding business.
However, a notice in the Wrexham paper reported5 Mr Collens to be a strong objector to shop assistants having “one half-day per week off”. The report further quotes Mr Collens’ saying that the matter “would probably fall through”. (This at a time when shop girls used to live on the premises, see above). Several further advertisements of the “Wanted – a Strong Boy to deliver goods” type suggest that these young men also might not have lasted very long.
All in all, this might be taken as an indication of a slightly less than sympathetic employer, perhaps somewhat in the wise of Mr Shalford in H. G. Wells’ bildungsroman “Kipps”. However, Mr Collens is also shown every month to be giving £2. 2s. (£2.10p or two guineas) per month to the local Wrexham Infirmary – a generous donation at that time, equivalent to £1014 per month in 2020.
Ellen Collens nee Blatchford (1843-1933)
Mrs Collens also enjoyed a share of the limelight and was seen in Wrexham at various Sales of Work and
providing by way of donation, “tables for society teas” including those for the Womens’ Union of the Church of England Temperance Society. One meeting was at the Parochial Schools where the Great and the Good of Wrexham and district met for a “Social Tea followed by Lectures and Conversazione”.
A more significant event was the “Wrexham National Schools Bazaar” whose committee members included “Mrs Collens, Chester Road”. The aim of this Bazaar was to clear the £1200 debt on the school, an enormous sum today, in the order of over £1 million.
At each of these events, Mr Collens was also reported to be in attendance on the day. From the remaining but scant news of their social calendar, it would seem fair to suggest that Mrs Collens was sociable and happy to be connected with entertaining, the arts and discussion. Mr Collens was likely to have been firm; strict with his children and likely hard work himself.
The 1891 Census shows the Collens family at Woodlands, 4 Chester Road, Gresford, near Wrexham. This large house still exists, diagonally opposite Gresford Methodist Church, although the sizeable garden has been reduced and the whole area (open countryside in 1891) is now quite populous with new housing developments.
Elsewhere in the 1891 census, the daughter from the first marriage, Mary Eliza6 , is an apprentice dressmaker and boarding in a house at Rhodes, near Middleton, Lancashire. It may have been that before this, she was working at Mr Collens’ shop in Wrexham.
Return to Bowdon and a new business
In February 1892, Mr Collens sold up his drapery business in Wrexham and returned to live on Stamford Road, Bowdon. From this date onwards, he carried on a business as a Manufacturers’ Agent, Collens & Co., from an office in 13 Booth Street (renamed Paton Street in 1909), off Piccadilly, Manchester (“Boy Wanted as Messenger”).
To School
Although we do not know which schools all of his children attended, there is plenty of evidence that all were educated to some extent and took piano lessons in Wrexham. In June 1892, Frederick and Edith Collens both passed the Incorporated Society of Musicians Examinations (Junior Division) in the Wrexham session. In October 1893, a large house called “Oak Villa” (19 Grosvenor Road, Wrexham) was to be let. Between then and December 1893, it was let to Miss Evans future Headmistress of Hilda Collens’ school, for her school, which opened in January 1894.
The advertisement for the new school reads as follows:
Wrexham Advertiser – Saturday 30 December 1893
OAK VILLA, GROSVENOR ROAD, WREXHAM.
Miss EVANS (undergraduate, London University),
WILL RECEIVE HER PUPILS NEXT TERM AT THE ABOVE ADDRESS.
LATIN and MATHEMATICS form part of the Ordinary School Course.
Next Term begins WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 17th (1894)
Edith and Hilda were enrolled at Oak Villa. It is assumed that Winifred remained at (a different) school; and that Frederick and Arthur were sent to work (Henry John had already gone), more than likely into a business with a Collens connection in Manchester.
The stability of the family was severely challenged in 1895 by an innocent enough afternoon’s sport which
ended in tragedy.
Frederick Charles Collens
In the 1881 census, Frederick (born 1876) is “at school” and is also shown thus in the 1891 census. However, in 1895 whilst skating on Rostherne Mere, Frederick careered out of control at high speed and fell into the brook. Here is a contemporary report:
Liverpool Mercury
Monday 18 February 1895
SKATING FATALITY IN CHESHIRE
“On Saturday evening, about six o’clock, while hundreds of persons were skating on Rostherne Mere, an
accident occurred which spread consternation and dismay. Two young gentlemen from Bowdon, brothers,
named Collens, were at the lower end of the mere when the elder of the two, Frederick Charles, aged 18, skated right into the brook, which at this point is about 20feet in depth. His brother, although going at a fair speed, was able to pull up, but made his way to the edge and was himself immersed. He was unable to get to his brother and was dragged out in a greatly exhausted condition. Meanwhile, every effort was made to bring the elder one to the surface, Mr. Thomas Clarke, confectioner, of Altrincham, diving several times, but without success. The body was not recovered until eleven o’clock yesterday morning. The deceased is a son of Mr H. C.(sic) Collens, of Bowdon, and for that gentleman and his family the greatest sympathy is expressed in the district”.
The funeral took place on 20th February 1895. Shortly after this, Mr Collens removed the family from Bowdon and they went to live at Lea Cottage (later Hazelwood), Broad Road, Sale. There is no doubt that Frederick’s death caused particularly great distress to all members of the family and particularly to Mr Collens. The event was also traumatic to Hilda Collens and was held to be the cause of a facial tic and a hesitation in speech – which may have been a stammer (statistically very unusual in women)7 – and which sometimes became evident during stressful situations.
Hilda Collens’ First Musical Success
On 27th July 1895, the Wrexham Advertiser reported on the Incorporated Society of Musicians examinations in Wrexham as follows: PIANOFORTE: Preliminary Grade – Pass: Hilda H. Collens. The school is “Oak Villa” and the piano teacher, Miss Harris.
Around September 1895, Charles Morton Bailey8, the organist and choirmaster of St Mark’s Church,
Wrexham, was appointed Music and Piano teacher to Oak Villa where both Hilda Collens and her sister Edith, became his pupils. At Christmas 1895, Edith passed the Intermediate Grade of the Incorporated Society of Musicians examinations, and Hilda passed the Elementary Grade. C. Morton Bailey (1867-1940) had been Assistant Organist at Ripon Cathedral, and was well qualified, with an external Mus. Bac. from Durham and was also a Fellow of the Royal College of Organists. Morton Bailey would go on to produce a definitive book of Scales and Arpeggios for use in conjunction with Trinity College Examinations.
From here on in, it is possible to trace the family only through the newspapers, all of which give us a
fascinating but mostly incomplete picture of the Collens children.
In 1896, Winifred was attending Wrexham Art School and was commended in March, for her “design to fill a circle”. In April, Winifred – again at the Art Club – “modelled a spray of ivy in clay” and this is awarded
“Good”. Winifred became a Governess and latterly a Lady’s Help.
In December 1896, Oak Villa was renamed “Roseneath” and the following notice appeared in the Wrexham Advertiser:
Wrexham Advertiser – Saturday 26 December 1896
ROSENEATH, WREXHAM
(LATE OAK VILLA, GROSVENOR ROAD)
HIGH-CLASS BOARDING SCHOOL FOR GIRLS
Principals: Miss EVANS and Miss JONES
Assisted by Miss EVELINE IREDALE B.A. (Lond.), FRAULEIN THUMM, and others
Music and Class-Singing. C. Morton-Bailey, Esq., Mus. Bac. F.R.C.O.
Drawing, Clay-Modelling, and Painting, W. FUGE, Esq.
Gymnasium, Mr RUSHTON
A Kindergarten is attached to the school, also a School Library.
Next TERM begins WEDNESDAY, January 20th, 1897
For Terms, &c., apply to OAK VILLA till December 25th; after that date to Roseneath
Thus Hilda Collens saw the school grow from an inauspicious start, to a stronger position within the
town and country.
The next notice – from a Shropshire Newspaper – recorded Hilda Collens (now aged 14+) gaining an earlier form of the School Certificate:
Wellington Journal – Saturday 27 August 1898
OXFORD LOCAL EXAMINATIONS.
DIVISION LISTS.
Pass List, containing the names of the junior candidates who satisfied the examiners:-First Division: H. H.
Collens (Roseneath School, Wrexham).
“A chield’s amang you takin notes, And, faith, he’ll prent it”. (Robert Burns, 1789)
Among the things we know about Hilda Collens as a schoolgirl (that she used to get up early every day to
practise the piano; that she was enthusiastic about all aspects of school life), the most significant is that Hilda Collens wanted to become a teacher. H J Collens is reported to have been unsupportive of this ambition.
During the 1890s, educational practice and teaching methodology were under scrutiny and undergoi
development (although not in every establishment). In addition, there were enlightened and qualified teachers in the privileged environments of some private schools and pupils were less likely to be underestimated. Achievement was important, and more particularly, measureable achievement was desirable. What makes the following notice even more significant is that not only does it subscribe to the above ideas, but that it also challenges stereotypes of the time. The reported event was an ISM meeting and Hilda Collens was present as a Certificate winner. The remarks must have made a strong impression on Hilda Collens, as she listened intently:
Wrexham Advertiser – Saturday 27 May 1899
INCORPORATED SOCIETY OF MUSICIANS.
CERTIFICATE-DAY AT WREXHAM
“…Mrs Griffith-Boscawen distributed the certificates to the pupils successful at the…examinations of the
Incorporated Society of Musicians. Mr Edward Chadfield, general secretary of the society, and Mr C. Morton Bailey, secretary of the North Wales Section, were present. The chairman (the Ven. Archdeacon Wynne Jones)…urged the students to cultivate the art of music, not because they had merely a taste for it, but because of its great merit…Mr Chadfield remarked that when he commenced teaching in 1851, if a young lady could play a set of quadrilles or waltzes, she was looked upon as an accomplished pianist. (Laughter.) Now music of a much higher character was appreciated. He spoke of the value of examinations upon the pupils, and pointed out the importance of those examinations being thorough, the examiners competent, and the examining body responsible and of a high character. These conditions were found in the examinations of the society.”
PIANOFORTE.
Advanced Grade, Pass – Hilda H. Collens, (three others)
School Certificate
A section of the School Certificate was awarded later in 1899:
Wrexham Advertiser – Sat 12th Aug 1899
Wrexham Schools of Science and Art
Mathematics, stage 1., second class, Hetty (Hilda) Collens
Wrexham Advertiser – Saturday 16 September 1899
ROSENEATH SCHOOL.-The following pupils of the school have passed the examination held by the Royal
Drawing Society of Great Britain and Ireland:-Division IV.-pass, H. H. Collens (four others)
Although Roseneath was not a large school, it earned an enviable reputation. Naturally there were much larger and stronger rivals, including the County Schools in Wrexham but Roseneath held its own. The speech given at the Distribution of Prizes in 1899 confirms the quality of education there and its growing stature. This too might well be something that Hilda Collens would recall during the running of her Music School.
Wrexham Advertiser – Saturday 9 December 1899
Roseneath School Prize Day –
“…Roseneath School for Girls has now been in existence…three years…at the annual prize distribution…His
Worship the Mayor presided over a very large attendance…of the parents and friends of the scholars at this flourishing school. Roseneath…has had a very progressive course. The house and grounds are exceptional. The number of scholars has increased…work has been most satisfactory. Besides general work, the Royal Drawing Society’s examination was most satisfactory. Nineteen pass certificates, and eleven honours were obtained. The school is a centre for the Oxford Local Examinations, and…last July, two seniors passed, one junior gained third class honours, and six passed. One candidate for Queen’s scholarship gained a first class. The time as a pupil spent at Oak Villa and then at Roseneath showed Hilda Collens how a school could be built up – and without fearing rival establishments. The Mayor…complimented the principals on their successful year. From the report…it was very evident that
excellent work had been done, especially when they considered…the County Schools had to be competed with. (Hear, hear.) He thought Wrexham could feel very proud of its schools…the elementary schools in Wrexham stood in the first rank…in Wales in efficiency, the same could be said of the private schools in the town (Cheers.)
Mr Osborne, before distributing the prizes, gave a very practical and instructive address, and confined his
remarks to parents, teachers and pupils…he said they (the parents) were quite as responsible for the education of their children as the teachers. Some parents considered the teacher a kind of carpenter, who, when told to make a certain article, did it without any further trouble…The teachers’ work could not be done in that way. It was impossible to overestimate the influence that the home had upon the education of the children. Parents should take an especial interest in the work of their children…in their play, and mark especially the development of character.
…Referring to the teachers, (he) said that the teacher must study the character of each individual child…(but) adherence to a rigid system (was not good). Take all that was good (from every system)…and leave that which was bad. There was nothing more cruel than an attempt to try and regulate in grooves the minds of young children. Let the teachers aim at something high and noble…He was afraid that a great many (teachers) looked upon education as a simple means to make money. They must aim at something higher than that. (Cheers.) Many parents were more careful in preparing for the future of their children than preparing children for the future. (Hear, hear.) He had seen parents struggle to get a noble position for their children, and when they have succeeded, the children had been mere wrecks. (Cheers.) The speaker concluded with some earnest advice to the pupils (not reported). Mr Osborne then distributed the prizes including:— Music, Senior— H. H. Collens.
Wrexham Advertiser – Saturday 30 December 1899
TRINITY COLLEGE, LONDON, WREXHAM CENTRE.-
Successful:-Senior Division – Honours – Hilda Hester Collens (Miss Cooke, A.R.C.M., Roseneath)
Meanwhile, H J Collens placed this notice in the Manchester press:
Manchester Courier and Lancashire General Advertiser
Saturday 17 February 1900 In Memoriam COLLENS, – In loving memory of Frederick Charles, the beloved son of Henry John and Ellen Collens, who was drowned whilst skating on Rostherne Mere, February 16th 18959.
Wrexham Advertiser – Saturday 2 June 1900
“…With regard to the two highest candidates, Miss Jessie Loxham, with 95 marks out of 100, and Miss Hilda H. Collens, with 80, both pupils of Roseneath School, the examiner had stated that he had never examined two more satisfactory candidates”. The following was the pass list, and all played the piano:- Senior Division: Jessie Loxham 95 (honours), Hilda Hester Collens 80 (honours.)
Final Examinations at School
Wrexham and Denbighshire Advertiser and Cheshire Shropshire and North Wales Register
15th December 1900
Roseneath Prizegiving Tuesday 11th December 1900
Music (Senior): H. Collens
Trinity College of Music, Senior Honours: H. H. Collens (The equivalent of today’s Grade VIII)
1901 Wales Census10
Roseneath School
Hilda H Collens Boarder S 17 Bowdon Cheshire English
Alexandra E Evans Head S 38 Principal of School, Suffolk Botesdale
Edith A Jones Boarder S 23 Principal of School, Lanc L’pool
Alice F Cooke Boarder S 24 Teacher of Music, Monmouth, Raglan
1901 Census
Henry John Collens Head 56 Agent for Cotton Waste own account
Ellen Collens 57
Arthur Edward Son S 23 Salesman at Manchester Warehouse Worker
Edith Maud Daughter S 20 Music Student
Lea Cottage Broad Road Sale
Frustratingly, it has proved impossible (to date) to discover where Edith Collens was studying Music. It could have been at the Royal Manchester College of Music, or perhaps Manchester University, or the Manchester School of Music in Mount Street, Manchester. Edith Collens gained the Professional Diploma of the Incorporated Society of Musicians and taught both at home and travelled locally.
From 1901 it is necessary to speculate about Hilda Collens, and there are several possibilities. The first
one concerns Roseneath School, which in 1900 put the following advertisement in (at least) the Wrexham
Advertiser:
Saturday 8 September 1900
ROSENEATH SCHOOL, WREXHAM –
VACANCIES for Students to train as Kindergarten teachers. Full preparation for the Elementary and Higher
Froebel examinations, including practice in class teaching in the above K.G., and also in the Wrexham Board Schools. Parents will find this a good opening for their daughters, as there is an increasing demand for trained K G. teachers. It is possible that Hilda Collens took a year’s training at Roseneath.
What prompts this speculation, is that there are several of the Froebel Principles that on reflection, appeared to be at the core of the Junior School of the Northern School of Music. It is worth speculating that the Froebel Gifts (Fröbelgaben) and their use, were known to Hilda Collens11 and that she translated their use into a music learning context, including the book which she wrote in conjunction with Stewart Macpherson12, in which she encourages the teacher to “give the book to the pupil too”. This may be an over-simplification but it could be at the core of Hilda Collens’ life’s work. The second speculation is that Hilda Collens may have applied to one of the music colleges, even to the Royal Manchester College of Music, and that the application may either have been successful and she did not take the place up, or that the application was unsuccessful. However it all panned out, there are three “wilderness” years where (to date) it has not yet been possible to find mention of Hilda Collens or her studies or her work. It may well prove at some later date, that it was at this period that Hilda Collens travelled to London for her lessons with Matthay.
In 1904, the following notice appeared in the Manchester press:
Manchester Courier and Lancashire General Advertiser – Friday 22 January 1904
“Miss Hilda Collens, pupil of Dr. Horton Allison13 of this city, has passed (in pianoforte playing, (including
the working of an examination paper in the theory of music, harmony, form, &c.), the Metropolitan
Examination, held this month in London, for the diploma of a Licentiate of the Royal Academy of Music
(L.R.A.M.). (Examination Christmas 1903)
Two advertisements also appear in the local papers as follow:
Northwich Guardian – Saturday 12 March 1904 and Saturday 23 July 1904
MISS EDITH M. COLLENS, Prof. Dip. I.S.M. (Pianoforte and Theory), prepares pupils for all examinations.-
Lea Cottage, Broad-road, Sale
Just over one year later, the following appears:
Manchester Courier and Lancashire General Advertiser, Saturday 22 April 1905:
Miss Hilda Collens, pupil of Dr. Horton Allison, F.R.A.M., of this city, has passed the examination just held at the Royal College of Music, in London, for the “Certificate of Proficiency,” bearing with it the title of
Associate of the Royal College of Music. Miss Hilda Collens was already a Licentiate (in Pianoforte-playing) of the Royal Academy of Music, for which Diploma she was also prepared by Dr. Horton Allison.
But less than a year later, a second sadness was to hit the Collens family in 1906:
Manchester Courier and Lancashire General Advertiser – Thursday 11 January 1906
COLLENS – Of double pneumonia, on Jan. 9th aged 24, at Lea Cottage, Broad-road, Sale, Edith Maud, dearly loved daughter of Henry John and Ellen Collens. Funeral service at St Paul’s, Sale, 11 55 a.m. this day (Thursday); burial at Bowdon Church, 12 noon.-Friends kindly accept this (the only) intimation.
There is a perfunctoriness about this announcement given the repeated In memoriam announcements that went on after the death of Frederick. (like Dickens’ “Dombey and Son”, the girls seem neither to matter nor count).
Miss E M Collens is mentioned as a teacher of successful candidates in the London College of Music
examinations that were held in the Central Hall, Oldham-street Manchester in December 1905. Appended to the report in The Manchester Courier of Tuesday 30 January 1906 is a list of 129 teachers (not exhaustive) who entered candidates for that particular run of examinations.
Undaunted, Hilda Collens continued her work. It is in 1906 that we see Hilda Collens’ first association with The Tobias Matthay School14, witness this announcement: Manchester Evening News – Monday 8 May 1906
THE TOBIAS MATTHAY PIANOFORTE SCHOOL.-MANCHESTER BRANCH
TOBIAS MATTHAY, Esq., F.R.A.M. (of London), will Lecture at the ONWARD HALL, DEANSGATE, on
SATURDAY, May 20, at 3 15p.m. Subject, “The Fundamentals of Touch and Technique in Pianoforte
Playing.” Chair will be taken by Dr. WALTER CARROLL (of Manchester). Tickets (2/6 each) from Hime &
Addison’s or from Miss Hilda H. Collens, L.R.A.M., A.R.C.M. (Manchester Representative of the Matthay
Piano School), Hazelwood, Sale15
H J Collens Business and Addresses
Notices are not available (to date) for 1907 and 1908, but the following appears in 1909 (first for Mr Collens):1909 Kelly’s Directory Collens –
Collens and Co, manufacturers and agents, 13, Booth st,, Piccadilly;
Henry John, manufacturers’ agent (Collens & Co), Hazelwood, Broad rd, Sale.
Hilda Collens is also working closer to home:
Northwich Guardian Saturday 13 November 1909
On Saturday 6 November 1909, the annual distribution of prizes associated with the County Girls’ High School, Sale, took place in the Brooklands Parish Room, Sale. Miss Burstall, head mistress of the Manchester Girls’ High School, handed the prizes to the recipients. Miss Collens presented the following for the Music Prizes: D. Lansdale and M. Burton. In addition, the following Music Certificates from the Associated Board were presented: L. Farrow, higher division; M. Wright, lower division; E. Latham and A. Birtles, elementary division; E. Gray, primary division. The head mistress Miss Wallis, reported that “the music of the school (was also) much improved. The informal recitals they had had at different times seemed to have had a good effect and there were some distinctly promising pupils in the school”.
The above notice suggests Miss Collens’ giving rather more than piano lessons at Sale Girls’ High School,
particularly as she is distributing Music Prizes in addition to Certificates from the Associated Board.
In 1910, a broader approach to music teaching by Hilda Collens is suggested by these advertisements
distributed in the west of the county:
Northwich Guardian; Winsford and Middlewich Guardian: Saturday 29 January 1910 – Saturday 26 March
1910:
MISS HILDA H. COLLENS, L.R.A.M., A.R.C.M, Pupil of the Tobias Matthay Piano School, PIANOFORTE,
HARMONY, &c, Visits Manchester, Bowdon and Heaton Moor. For all particulars apply Hazelwood, Broad-
road, Sale
Northwich Guardian: Friday 27 May 1910 – Friday 8 July 1910
MISS HILDA H. COLLENS, L.R.A.M., A.R.C.M, Pupil of the Tobias Matthay Piano School, PIANOFORTE,
HARMONY, &c, Visits Manchester, Bowdon and Heaton Moor. Class Singing Lessons on Saturday mornings for Girls between the ages of 7 and 17. For all particulars apply Hazelwood, Broad-road, Sale
Not until October 1910 has it been possible (to date) to find a reference to Percy Waller in Manchester. Here is a notice from the Bolton Evening News for Saturday 17 September 1910:
“We have received a syllabus of Dr Carroll’s Training Class for Music Teachers. Onward Hall, Manchester. The fourth session opens on October 13th. Among the names of those who will lecture are Mr. Francis Harford and Mr. H. H. Hulbert on singing, Mr. Max Mayer on pianoforte teaching, and Mr. Percy Waller on the teaching of the Tobias Matthay principles of technique”.
Work for Tobias Matthay
Manchester Courier and Lancashire General Advertiser – Tuesday 7 March 1911
Miss Hilda H. Collens L.R.A.M., A.R.C.M., of “Hazelwood”, Broad Road, Sale, has been appointed by Mr
Tobias Matthay, of London, “Preparer” at the Manchester Branch of the Tobias Matthay Pianoforte School.
In the 1911 Census, H J Collens describes himself as “Linen Dealer” and Hilda Collens as “Music Mistress” – possibly in reference to her work at Sale Girls’ High School and for her work for Tobias Matthay.
The Tobias Matthay Pianoforte School
The Tobias Matthay Pianoforte School was situated in Wigmore Street, London. Matthay himself taught there. Several outreach centres were opened in the regions of England16 where the “Chief Professors” of the Matthay School visited on a weekly or fortnightly basis and taught Matthay’s methods. The Matthay School also offered “Special Short Courses for Teachers During Term and Vacation Time”. Huddersfield College of Music in 1909 under Principal Dr. Arthur Eaglefield Hull was advertised as the Northern Centre of the Tobias Matthay School of Music. Apart from the Memorial Booklet for Hilda Collens, it has not proved possible (to date) to find evidence of the Tobias Matthay Pianoforte School in Manchester. Nor has it been possible to find evidence (apart from the lecture mentioned above) of Percy Waller’s17 time in Manchester. Assuming the booklet to be correct, Hilda Collens taught from 1914 (as Tobias Matthay’s representative) for around six years above Hime and Addison’s18 , Deansgate before formalising the arrangement into her own school19.
Death of H J Collens
Manchester Evening News – Thursday 7 June 1917
COLLENS.-On the 5th inst., at Hazelwood, Broad Road, Sale, HENRY JOHN, the much-loved husband of
Ellen COLLENS in his 73rd year. Service at St. Paul’s Church, Sale, to-morrow (Friday), 12 o’clock. Interred at Bowdon Church, one o’clock. Inquiries to Plant and Sons, Sale, Telephone 390.
Hilda Collens as Lecturer
1917 – Dr Carroll’s Lectures for Music Teachers at Onward Hall recommenced. Among the lecturers was Miss H H Collens on “Pianoforte Teaching”.
The Move to Start a Music School
Hilda Collens really expended all her energy and resources on her work as a musical educator. The move to found a school for “The Nine” came about after about twenty years of training, developing and honing her own teaching skills, teaching individuals and classes not only at home but also over a radial distance of some 15 miles based on Sale, travelling to lectures and seminars, writing papers and presenting them to teaching associations, corresponding with and meeting people of influence, undertaking tasks to maintain Tobias Matthay’s connection in Manchester. Insignificant as it might appear, teaching Sunday School children also gave Hilda Collens the skills to teach across the entire range of phases in education, a rare and unusual gift.
In Northern Accent (page 29), it is stated that Hilda Collens was not “armed…with a rich array of well-known patrons” and while this is broadly correct, she did make lasting friendships with influential people who shared her vision; Tobias Matthay (1858-1945); Walter Carroll (1869-1955); Stewart Macpherson (1869-1941); Ernest Read (1879-1965); Clifford Curzon (1907-1982). Other friends came from Collens family and business connections like the piano teacher Aspasia Miniati (LRAM Dec-Jan 1905)(1870-1956); and some from the piano teaching world, like Mildred Esplin (1884-1950) a private music teacher and the daughter of Richard Esplin, a wealthy Manchester furniture manufacturer and sister of Mabel Esplin (1874-1921), Stained Glass Artist and Suffragette.
Within three years of starting in Deansgate, Hilda Collens had only to look to her own students to perpetuate the dissemination of the successful teaching which she had inaugurated20. Far from being frail, or daunted, or nervous, Hilda Collens was astute, kind, decisive, driven, determined, energetic, a leader and a visionary educationalist. She absorbed all that was good and desirable about the effective teaching of music and had the skills, personal resources and enthusiasm to pass that to others. This she achieved by synthesising all the ideas gained from the most qualified musical education practitioners of the day, by placing the school in the centre of Manchester, by becoming the fulcrum of it and running it to her own extremely high standards, by annual curriculum development and revision of methodology through her personal study and own research. By discounting using her own name and using Matthay’s, she gave her school immediate validation and placed it beyond criticism. This proved an extremely well-calculated move but it was also an honest one. For Hilda Collens, the greater goal was always Music; Music properly taught, Music thoroughly learned.
The Nine
Kathleen R Bostock 29 December 1901 – 22 Oct 1967
Doris Euerby 4 Feb 1900 – 11 Feb 1983
Doris Kathleen Fox 15 Apr 1902 – 21 Jul 1984
Audrey Gomersall 18 Sept 1903 – 29 Mar 1984
Audrey Ifor-Davies 3 Jun 1904 – 20 Feb 1964
Margery Pilkington 7 Feb 1902 – 6 Jul 1979
Beatrice Rollins 21 Jun 1901 – 21 Jun 1967
Alice Thompson 2 Apr 1900 – 28 Jun 1984
Sylvia Vallance 8 Oct 1900 – 13 Mar 1992
The children of Henry John Collens (1845-1917) and Mary Hannah White (1843-1873) :
Mary Eliza Collens 1872-1940; (1881-at school) (1891-Seamstress), (1901-Domestic Servant), (1911-Visitor, Lady’s Companion) (1939-Lady’s Companion).
Henry John Collens 1873-1935; (1881-at school), (1891 et seq.-Merchant of Cotton Piece Goods), also the Sole Executor of his father’s will.
The children of Henry John Collens (1845-1917) and Ellen Blatchford (1843-1933) :
Frederick Charles Collens 1876-1895
Arthur Edward Collens 1878-1947; Warehouseman in Mantle Manufacturers
Winifred Ellen Collens 1880-1943; Governess; Lady’s Help; Unpaid Domestic Dutie
Edith Maud Collens 1881-1906; Music Student; Pianoforte Teacher
Hilda Hester Collens 1883-1956; Pianoforte and Music Teacher; Prinicpal of Music School (Private); Principal of The Northern School of Music. Visionary Music Educator.
Acknowledgements and thanks to the following:
John Turner – Chair, Ida Carroll Trust; Northern Accent – The Life Story of The Northern School of Music – John Robert-Blunn; Walter and His Daughters – Basil Howitt; The British Newspaper Archive; The Musical Times; Kelly’s Directories at the University of Leicester; http://www.ancestry.com; Hilda Collens Memorial Booklet 1956; The estate of Margaret Baron; The author is bound to acknowledge that the initial stimulus for this essay was prompted by his mother, a former full-time student of The Northern School of Music and student of Hilda Collens.
- H J Collens was married twice. ↩︎
- Mary Lockley wrote this in the eulogy for Hilda Collens in 1956, and it was repeated in “Northern Accent” by John Robert-Blunn, and “Walter and His Daughters” by Basil Howitt ↩︎
- Henry John Collens 1873-1935 married Ruth Thornley, and their daughter married Francis Curd who became a member of the council of The Northern School of Music, and who died as a result of injuries sustained in the 1948 Stockport railway disaster. Dr. Curd was the leader of the ICI team that discovered the anti-malarial drug Paludrine in 1945 ↩︎
- Frederick and Arthur were not twins as stated in “Northern Accent” by John Robert BlunnFrederick and Arthur were not twins as stated in “Northern Accent” by John Robert Blunn ↩︎
- H J Collens was elected Chairman of the Town Tradesmen of Wrexham. When they proposed the idea of an early closing on Friday afternoons, Mr Collens was not in sympathy with the motion and declined to allow it ↩︎
- 6 Mary Eliza Collens became a Visitor (at that time a branch of Nursing) and then a Lady’s Companion, she died in 1940 ↩︎
- 7 Stammering is a neurological condition; it is also hereditary and very rare in females. The statistics show that of all people who stammer, fewer than 1 in every 4 is female. A 1979 study (Silverman and Zimmer) showed that females who stammer evidenced significantly higher levels of self-esteem than males. It has been written that H J Collens raised objections to his daughter’s wishing to teach. I believe that the stammer to be the basis of this objection. H J Collens may well have placed the impression made by the
stammer higher than he placed Hilda Collens’ skills and knowledge. By doing this, he failed to validate his daughter’s wishes. This would have produced a strained relationship. The latest studies now show that a stammer is no impediment to achievement and that the only problems caused by a stammer are those felt by a listener, who must exercise total patience and not complete words or sentences for the stammerer. However, I believe that Mrs Collens did validate her daughter’s wishes, ambitions and work and we can read in two places that Mrs Collens would enjoy the informal musical evenings held in the family home at Broad Road, Sale. Hilda Collens – like all of us – needed that validation, and the inauspicious beginnings of the Manchester Branch of the Matthay School of Music in 1920 placed her in a peculiar situation, in that she was in effect one of the validators of the students but that the students’
validation of her was of equal if not greater importance. ↩︎ - 8 During 1890, the position of Organist and Choirmaster at St Mark’s church, Wrexham became vacant. St Mark’s was an enormous cruciform church (demolished in 1958-9) with an exceptionally high spire, situated to the west of the town centre. The method of selection was by competitive audition and the person tasked with this duty was Dr. J C Bridge, then organist of Chester Cathedral. There had been exactly one hundred applications. Bridge wasted no time and appointed the fourth candidate that he heard – Charles Morton Bailey. ↩︎
- These in memoriam notices for Frederick continued until Mr Collens’ own death in 1917, but there is none to be found for any other members of the family. ↩︎
- The Census shows only fifteen pupils (in total) from places other than England and Wales (Ireland, France, Spain, Channel Islands), who may have been waiting for connections home. The 1901 census was taken on 31st March, which was also Palm Sunday, therefore the school may have broken up for Easter. ↩︎
- Walter Carroll was also very interested in the application of Froebel’s principles in early music education ↩︎
- First Steps in Musicianship by Stewart Macpherson and Hilda Collens ↩︎
- Dr. Horton Allison (1846-1926) was an influential teacher in Manchester. He was a composer and pianist born in London and had been a first prizewinner at the Leipzig Conservatorium. He appears to have worked mostly from his home at 68 Nelson Street, coincidentally living there at the time that Walter Carroll was growing up there. In 1892, he was co-opted to the staff of the Manchester School of Music by Albert Cross. Albert Cross who had founded the Manchester School of Music in 1892, was entrepreneurial and combined his furniture and musical instrument businesses in Moss Side with his musical ambition, he himself having studied music at the Royal Academy in London and the Leipzig Conservatorium. He ran concerts (choral and orchestral) at the Manchester YMCA, and provided enterprising orchestra, operatic and choral programmes until the mid 1920s. The work of that
school remains undocumented. Hilda Collens might well also have attended the Manchester School of Music in Mount Street for these lessons. ↩︎ - This information above is at variance with the John Robert Blunn account of Hilda Collens’ early life which puts Hilda Collens’ first encounter with Tobias Matthay in 1909, three years later. ↩︎
- The advertisement appeared on 3 11 16 18 May 1906 ↩︎
- Branches at Bournemouth, Bristol, Croydon, Eastbourne, Huddersfield, Ipswich, Manchester and Reading ↩︎
- Percy Arthur Waller was born at Luton, Bedfordshire in 1883 and in 1907 he was appointed music master at Denstone College, Staffordshire. ↩︎
- Hime and Addison were Manchester pianoforte and harmonium makers and sellers, music sellers and ticket agents, variously from 1861 in St. Ann’s Square, later in 1910 in Victoria Street, then Deansgate and finally John Dalton Street. ↩︎
- In “Northern Accent”, it is stated that at the commencement of the 1914 war, Percy Waller (who it was suggested, was teaching as Tobias Matthay’s representative in Manchester) left and signed up immediately. This was not actually the case and he was not awarded the 1914 Star. Percy Waller is shown to be giving recitals in London at this time and also visiting other Matthay centres in the south of England. Research via Ancestry shows that he joined the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve and was on active service only in 1918. Whilst serving on “Cormorant” was made a temporary Lieutenant on June 21 1918. He was later awarded the British War Medal for service abroad. As a member of the RNVR, the British War Medal could be awarded alone, for example to members of the Royal Navy who were mobilised for 28 days but who did not proceed into a war zone. ↩︎
- Mr Collens’ Wrexham business model was also of significance to the early days of both the Manchester Branch of the Matthay School of Music from 1922 and the Northern School of Music from 1943. For in the same way that Mr Collens had provided a large premises and clientele for a workforce each working on their own account (self-employed), so the music school may have worked in the same way, at least until circumstances allowed for salaries and a staff pension scheme. The 1939 England and Wales register
records all the teachers at the Matthay School as being “Private Music Teacher”. ↩︎
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