Thomas Chapman from cabinet maker to Professor of Music?!

[mikebrunger]

I am researching my wife's family and have her 2nd Gt.Grand Uncle Thomas Chapman (1864-1944) working as a Joiner and Cabinet Maker in the village of Morley, Yorkshire in the 1881 census. Then in the 1891 census he is a Teacher of Music and later on he is a Professor of Music. My question is, is this normal and would there be any online records anywhere covering this?? I find it quite staggering he went from a manual job, rather like his father and male siblings who were Tailors and farmers, to an occupation working from home as a Music Teacher fulltime. In fact in the 1911 census his son Harold is also a Prof of Music and a violinist.

Any suggestions would be a great help. Thanks

[GrahamSimons]

From the few I've seen the 'professor' in the title doesn't mean university. My interpretation is 'teacher of music.'

[mckha489]

Best place to find info on “Professors of….” Is the newspapers.  They used to advertise for pupils.

This type of thing.  - although not your man, and rather early.

[mckha489]

More the era?

[mikebrunger]

Thank you all so far for your quick responses. Some good suggestions to follow up on.

[fiddlerslass]

I too have a family member who escaped from the drudgery of manual labour, this time in the coal mines, by persuing a career in music. William Thompson, son of a pit sinker turned violin maker,  went from a job as a Colliery Time keeper to beating time in the theatre orchestra, first at Bishop Auckland 1891 and then in Leeds 1901. I doubt he studied conducting or how to lead an orchestra in a conservatoire! There was a strong folk music  tradition amongst the miners, and the violin was a popular folk instrument.

I suspect quite a few people in the 19th century setting themselves up as music teachers or "professors " did not have any formal qualifications as such.

[tonepad]

In the advert found by mckha489, Mr T. Chapman has an F. C. V. qualification.
Was he a Fellow of the College of Violinists?
Correspondence courses were available from the Victoria College of Music and Drama.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victoria_College_of_Music_and_Drama


Tony

[mikebrunger]

More the era?

I'm trying to get to grips with the BNA. Can you share what you did to achieve this result please?

[mckha489]

I access it via FindMyPast.
I just put T. Chapman in the name search and lessons in the other keywords box
Selected for Yorkshire and for the quick demo I was giving you I chose 1900-1909.

But I would also try Thos. Chapman, and Thomas Chapman.
And of course once you have violin you can narrow it down a bit there too.

Then you have to think musicians usually gave concerts. So worth trying Chapman + concert
It’s just a matter of trying all the variants you can think of, remembering that the OCR is sometimes wacky.  I find the wording of one hit leads me to ideas for another search parameter.

That clip I gave you has the newspaper reference attached, so for your first try on the archive try searching in just that paper. That might help you get the hang of it.

I hope that all make sense.