Chronological list of English classical composers

This is a chronological list of classical music composers living or working in England or originating from there. Entries are alphabetical within each year.

Medieval
• Godric (c. 1065–1170)

• W. de Wycombe (fl. c. 1275–1279)

• John Hanboys (14th century); may be J. de Alto Bosco (fl. c. 1370)

• Johannes Alanus (14th century; died 1373?)

• Aleyn (fl. c. 1400)

• Byttering (fl. c. 1410–1420)

• Pycard (fl. c. 1410)

• Roy Henry (fl. c. 1410)

Renaissance
• Leonel Power (c. 1370/1385–1445)

• John Dunstaple (c. 1390–1453)

• John Hothby (c. 1410–1487)

• John Plummer (c. 1410 – c. 1483)

• Henry Abyngdon (c. 1418–1497)

• William Haute (c. 1430–1497)

• Robert Morton (c. 1430 – post-1479)

• Richard Hygons (c. 1435 – c. 1509)

• Walter Frye (fl. c. 1443 – c. 1474)

• Gilbert Banester (c. 1445–1487)

• Walter Lambe (c. 1450 – c. 1504)

• John Browne (b. c. 1453, fl. c. 1490)

• Robert Fayrfax (1464–1521)

• Richard Davy (c. 1465 – c. 1538)

• William Cornysh the younger (1468–1523)

• Robert Johnson (c. 1470 – post-1554)

• Thomas Ashewell (c. 1478 – post-1513)

• John Redford (c. 1486–1547)

• Nicholas Ludford (c. 1490–1557)

• Henry VIII (1491–1547)

• John Taverner (1495–1545)

• Christopher Tye (c. 1505 – c. 1572)

• Anthony de Countie (died 1579)

• Thomas Tallis (c. 1505–1585)

• John Merbecke (c. 1510 – c. 1585)

• John Sheppard (c. 1515–1559)

• Richard Farrant (c. 1525–1580)

• William Mundy (c. 1528 – pre-1591)

• Robert Parsons (c. 1535–1572)

• Robert White (c. 1538–1574)

• William Byrd (c. 1540–1623)

• Anthony Holborne (c. 1545–1602)

• Francis Cutting (c. 1550–1595/1596)

• John Mundy (c. 1555–1630)

• Thomas Morley (1557–1602)

• Peter Philips (c. 1560–1628)

• William Brade (1560–1630)

• John Bull (c. 1562–1628)

• John Dowland (1563–1626)

• Giles Farnaby (c. 1563–1640)

• William Leighton (c. 1565–1622)

• Thomas Campion (1567–1620)

• Philip Rosseter (1568–1623)

• Tobias Hume (c. 1569–1645)

• John Coprario (John Cooper; Giovanni Coperario) (1570–1626)

• John Farmer (c. 1570 – c. 1601)

• Thomas Lupo (1571–1627)

• Martin Peerson (1571/1573–1650)

• John Ward (1571–1638)

• Daniel Bacheler (1572–1618)

• Thomas Tomkins (1572–1656)

• Ellis Gibbons (1573–1603)

• John Wilbye (1574–1638)

• John Bennet (c. 1575 – post-1614)

• Thomas Cutting (late 16th c. lutenist to Arbella Stuart, Christian IV and Henry Frederick, Prince of Wales)

• Alfonso Ferrabosco the younger (c. 1575–1628)

• Thomas Weelkes (1576–1623)

• John Maynard (c. 1577 – c. 1633)

• Richard Dering (c. 1580–1630)

• Michael East (c. 1580–1648)

• Thomas Ford (c. 1580–1648)

• Orlando Gibbons (1583–1625)

• Robert Johnson (1583–1633)

• Thomas Robinson (c. 1588 – post-1609)

Baroque
• Nicholas Lanier (1588–1666)

• Richard Mico (1590–1661)

• John Jenkins (1592–1678)

• Henry Lawes (1595–1662)

• John Wilson (1595–1674)

• John Hilton (1599–1657)

• William Lawes (1602–1645)

• Christopher Simpson (c. 1602/1606–1669)

• William Child (1606–1697)

• Thomas Brewer (1611 – c. 1660)

• Henry Cooke (c. 1616–1672)

• Christopher Gibbons (1615–1676)

• Matthew Locke (c. 1621–1677)

• John Banister (c. 1624/1630–1679)

• Pelham Humphrey (1647–1674)

• Michael Wise (1647–1687)

• John Blow (1649–1708)

• William Turner (1651–1740)

• Henry Purcell (1659–1695)

• Daniel Purcell (1664–1717)

• Johann Christoph Pepusch (John Christopher, 1667–1742)

• John Eccles (1668–1735)

• Henry Eccles (1670–1742)

• Jeremiah Clarke (c. 1674–1707)

• John Weldon (1676–1736)

• William Croft (1678–1727)

• William Corbett (1680–1748)

• Abiell Whichello (1683–1747)

• George Frideric Handel (1685–1759)

• Thomas Roseingrave (1688–1766)

• William Babell (1689/1690–1723)

• Robert Woodcock (c. 1690–1728)

• Maurice Greene (1696–1755)

• Richard Jones (late 17th c. – 1744)

• Joseph Gibbs (1699–1788)

Classical era
• Thomas Chilcot (c. 1707–1766)

• Charles Avison (1709–1770)

• Thomas Arne (1710–1778)

• Thomas Gladwin (1710–1799)

• William Boyce (1711–1779)

• John Hebden (1712–1765)

• John Stanley (1712–1786)

• James Nares (1715–1783)

• John Garth (1721–1810)

• Charles Burney (1726–1814)

• Capel Bond (1730–1790)

• William Jackson (1730–1803)

• Thomas Sanders Dupuis (1733–1796)

• Thomas Linley the elder (1733–1795)

• Benjamin Cooke (1734–1793)

• John Bennett (c. 1735–1784)

• Philip Hayes (1738–1797)

• William Herschel (1738–1822)

• Michael Arne (1740/1741–1786)

• Samuel Arnold (1740–1802)

• Samuel Webbe (1740–1816)

• James Hook (1746–1827)

• William Shield (1748–1829)

• John Stafford Smith (1750–1836)

• John Marsh (1752–1828)

• Thomas Linley the younger (1756–1778)

• Stephen Storace (1762–1796)

• Matthew Camidge (1764–1844)

• John Addison (c. 1765–1844)

• Thomas Attwood (1765–1838)

• Samuel Wesley (1766–1837)

Romantic
• William Crotch (1775–1847)

• Thomas Adams (1785–1858)

• George Pinto (1785–1806)

• Sir Henry Bishop (1787–1856)

• Cipriani Potter (1792–1871)

• Robert Lucas de Pearsall (1795–1856)

• John Goss (1800–1880)

• John Lodge Ellerton (1801–1873)

• Elias Parish Alvars (1808–1849)

• Samuel Sebastian Wesley (1810–1876)

• George Alexander Macfarren (1813–1887)

• William Christian Sellé (1813–1898)

• Henry Smart (1813–1879)

• William Sterndale Bennett (1816–1875)

• Henry Charles Litolff (1818–1891)

• Edmund Chipp (1823–1886)

• Henry Hiles (1826–1904)

• John Baptiste Calkin (1827–1905)

• George Tolhurst (1827–1877)

• Francis Edward Bache (1833–1858)

• Ebenezer Prout (1835–1909)

• Joseph Barnby (1838–1896)

• Alice Mary Smith (1839–1884)

• Sydney Smith (1839–1889)

• John Stainer (1840–1901)

• Michael Maybrick (Stephen Adams) (1841–1913)

• Arthur Sullivan (1842–1900)

• Hubert Parry (1848–1918)

• Arthur Goring Thomas (1850–1892)

• Frederick Corder (1852–1932)

• Frederic Cowen (1852–1935)

• Bertram Luard-Selby (1853–1918)

• Maude Valérie White (French-born, 1855–1937)

• Frederic Cliffe (1857–1931)

• Rosalind Ellicott (1857–1924)

• Edward Elgar (1857–1934)

• Isidore de Lara (1858–1935)

• Ethel Smyth (1858–1944)

• John Henry Maunder (1858–1920)

• Basil Harwood (1859–1949)

Modern
• Frederick Delius (1862–1934)

• Edward German (1862–1936)

• Liza Lehmann (1862–1918)

• Arthur Somervell (1863–1937)

• Edwin Lemare (1866–1934)

• Granville Bantock (1868–1946)

• Haldane Stewart (1868–1942)

• Walford Davies (1869–1941)

• Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872–1958)

• Ethel Barns (1874–1948)

• Gustav Holst (1874–1934)

• Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (1875–1912)

• Donald Tovey (1875–1940)

• Havergal Brian (1876–1972)

• William Hurlstone (1876–1906)

• Thomas Dunhill (1877–1946)

• Henry Balfour Gardiner (1877–1950)

• Roger Quilter (1877–1953)

• Rutland Boughton (1878–1960)

• Adam Carse (1878–1958)

• Joseph Holbrooke (1878–1958)

• Theodore Holland (1878–1947)

• Frank Bridge (1879–1941)

• John Ireland (1879–1962)

• Cyril Scott (1879–1970)

• Edgar Bainton (1880–1956)

• John Foulds (1880–1939)

• Hubert Bath (1883–1945)

• Arnold Bax (1883–1953)

• George Dyson (1883–1964)

• William Henry Harris (1883–1973)

• Lord Berners (1883–1950)

• York Bowen (1884–1961)

• Tailor Svechenko (1884–1971)

• George Butterworth (1885–1916)

• Ernest Farrar (1885–1918)

• Rebecca Clarke (1886–1979)

• Eric Coates (1886–1957)

• Armstrong Gibbs (1889–1960)

• Ivor Gurney (1890–1937)

• Arthur Bliss (1891–1975)

• Herbert Howells (1892–1983)

• Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji (1892–1988)

• Eugene Goossens (1893–1962)

• Peter Warlock (1894–1930)

• Ernest John Moeran (1894–1950)

• Gordon Jacob (1895–1984)

• George Thalben-Ball (1896–1987)

• William Baines (1899–1922)

• Herbert Sumsion (1899–1995)

• Alan Bush (1900–1995)

• Gerald Finzi (1901–1956)

• Victor Hely-Hutchinson (1901–1947)

• Edmund Rubbra (1901–1986)

• William Walton (1902–1983)

• Lennox Berkeley (1903–1989)

• Leighton Lucas (1903–1982)

• Robin Milford (1903–1959)

• Thomas Pitfield (1903–1999)

• Percy Whitlock (1903–1946)

• Richard Addinsell (1904–1977)

• William Alwyn (1905–1985)

• Constant Lambert (1905–1951)

• Walter Leigh (1905–1942)

• Alan Rawsthorne (1905–1971)

• Michael Tippett (1905–1998)

• Arnold Cooke (1906–2005)

• Eric Fenby (1906–1997)

• Benjamin Frankel (1906–1973)

• Elisabeth Lutyens (1906–1983)

• Roy Douglas (1907–2015)

• Imogen Holst (1907–1984)

• Elizabeth Maconchy (1907–1994)

• Brian Easdale (1909–1995)

• Ronald Binge (1910–1979)

• Stanley Bate (1911–1959)

• Phyllis Tate (1911–1987)

• Percy M. Young (1912–2004)

• Benjamin Britten (1913–1976)

• George Lloyd (1913–1998)

• Harold Truscott (1914–1992)

• William Lloyd Webber (1914–1982)

• Humphrey Searle (1915–1982)

• Denis ApIvor (1916–2004)

• Bernard Stevens (1916–1983)

• Richard Arnell (1917–2009)

• John Gardner (1917–2011)

• Francis Jackson (1917—2022)

• John W. Duarte (1919–2004)

• Geoffrey Bush (1920–1998)

• Peter Racine Fricker (1920–1990)

• Malcolm Arnold (1921–2006)

• Ruth Gipps (1921–1999)

• Robert Simpson (1921–1997)

• Peter Wishart (1921–1984)

• Raffaello de Banfield (1922–2008)

• Doreen Carwithen (1922–2003)

• Arthur Butterworth (1923–2014)

• Madeleine Dring (1923–1977)

• Stephen Dodgson (1924–2013)

• Angela Morley (1924–2009)

• Buxton Orr (1924–1997)

• Ernest Tomlinson (1924–2015)

• Daphne Oram (1925–2003)

• Christopher Shaw (1925–1995)

• Arthur Wills (1926–2020)

• Wilfred Josephs (1927–1997)

• John Joubert (1927–2019)

• Graham Whettam (1927–2007)

• Geoffrey Winters (born 1928)

• Kenneth Leighton (1929–1988)

• Betty Roe (born 1930)

• Alexander Goehr (born 1932)

• George Newson (1932-2024)

• Justin Connolly (1933–2020)

• Harrison Birtwistle (1934–2022)

• Peter Maxwell Davies (1934–2016)

• Peter Dickinson (1934-2023)

• Anthony Gilbert (composer) (1934-2023)

• Nicholas Maw (1935–2009)

• Richard Rodney Bennett (1936–2012)

• Nigel Brooks (1936-2024)

• Cornelius Cardew (1936–1981)

• Patrick Gowers (1936–2014)

• Colin Mawby (1936–2019)

• Anthony Payne (1936–2021)

• John White (1936–2024)

• David Bedford (1937–2011)

• Gordon Crosse (1937–2021)

• Edwin Roxburgh (born 1937)

• Michael Parsons (born 1938)

• Christopher Steel (1938–1991)

• Andrew Carter (born 1939)

• Jonathan Harvey (1939–2012)

• John McCabe (1939–2015)

• Patric Standford (1939–2014)

• Geoffrey Burgon (1941–2010)

• Derek Bourgeois (1941–2017)

• Timothy Salter (born 1942)

• Gavin Bryars (born 1943)

• Edward Cowie (born 1943)

• Frank Denyer (born 1943)

• Brian Ferneyhough (born 1943)

• Robin Holloway (born 1943)

• Bill Hopkins (1943–1981)

• David Matthews (born 1943)

• Michael Nyman (born 1944)

• John Tavener (1944–2013)

Contemporary • John Rutter (born 1945)

• Michael Finnissy (born 1946)

• Colin Matthews (born 1946)

• Giles Swayne (born 1946)

• Paul Patterson (born 1947)

• Hugh Shrapnel (born 1947)

• Howard Skempton (born 1947)

• Michael Berkeley (born 1948)

• Diana Burrell (born 1948)

• Grayston Ives (born 1948)

• John Casken (born 1949)

• Sam Richards (born 1949)

• Dave Smith (born 1949)

• Philip Wilby (born 1949)

• Nicholas Sackman (born 1950)

• Ronald Corp (born 1951)

• Cecilia McDowall (born 1951)

• Judith Bingham (born 1952)

• Oliver Knussen (1952–2018)

• Dominic Muldowney (born 1952)

• Patrick Doyle (born 1953)

• Peter McGarr (born 1953)

• Robert Saxton (born 1953)

• Richard Blackford (born 1954)

• Benedict Mason (born 1954)

• Judith Weir (born 1954)

• John Woolrich (born 1954)

• Ian Venables (born 1955)

• Sally Beamish (born 1956)

• Philip Grange (born 1956)

• Steve Elcock (born 1957)

• Francis Pott (composer) (born 1957)

• Janet Wheeler (born 1957)

• Howard Goodall (born 1958)

• Lionel Sainsbury (born 1958)

• Patrick Hawes (born 1958)

• Simon Holt (born 1958)

• Errollyn Wallen (born 1958)

• Jonathan Dove (born 1959)

• Steve Martland (1959–2013)

• John Palmer (born 1959)

• Peter Seabourne (born 1960)

• George Benjamin (born 1960)

• Mark-Anthony Turnage (born 1960)

• Paul Carr(born 1961)

• David Sawer (born 1961)

• Jack Gibbons (born 1962)

• Philip Cashian (born 1963)

• Graham Fitkin (born 1963)

• Michael Zev Gordon (born 1963)

• John Pickard (born 1963)

• John Powell (born 1963)

• James Whitbourn (born 1963)

• Debbie Wiseman (born 1963)

• Ivan Moody (1964–2024)

• Matthew Taylor (born 1964)

• Julian Anderson (born 1967)

• Rebecca Saunders (born 1967)

• Joe Cutler (born 1968)

• Roxanna Panufnik (born 1968)

• James Francis Brown (born 1969)

• Patrick Nunn (born 1969)

• Jonathan Powell (born 1969)

• Thomas Adès (born 1971)

• Joby Talbot (born 1971)

• David Jennings (born 1972)

• Tansy Davies (born 1973)

• Andrew March (born 1973)

• Julian Cochran (born 1974)

• Sophie Viney (born 1974)

• Tim Benjamin (born 1975)

• Luke Bedford (born 1978)

• Charlotte Bray (born 1982)

• Sasha Siem (born 1984)

• Freya Waley-Cohen (born 1989)

• Lucy Armstrong (born 1991)

• Anna Appleby (born 1993)

• Grace Evangeline Mason (born 1994)