Talk:Lucy Anderson

Lucy and George
The preface to The English Life of Marie Aleksandrova Romanova contains these intriguing words:


 * Although Anton Rubinstein praised her pianism, even had the circumstances of her birth been different it is unlikely that she could have played Clara Wieck to a Robert Schumann; but she perhaps ought to have played Lucy Philpot to a George Frederick Anderson. Instead, she married Queen Victoria’s second son, Prince Alfred, himself a potential Anderson looking for his Lucy Philpot.

The book itself might elucidate this reference, but as it stands, it reads as if Lucy and George's relationship was well enough known for any casual reader to understand what these references were to, without any further explanation. But the fact remains that George Frederick Anderson, despite being a Master of the Queen's Music for over 20 years, remains virtually unknown, and Lucy is not much better known nowadays. He certainly wrote no music, and does not even appear in Grove. The suggestions that Lucy was "formidable" and "a manipulator of wide patronage" seems to suggest that she used her acquaintance with Queen Victoria to secure the post for her husband, when in the ordinary course of events it would have gone to someone who could at least write the required ceremonial pieces etc. This bears further investigation. -- JackofOz (talk) 05:58, 16 April 2009 (UTC)

Edited Lucy's Date of Birth
While searching for Lucy's relationship to James William Windsor (4 Feb 1776 - 28 Jan 1853), organist at St. Margaret's Chapel in Bath, which was mentioned in a book found through a Google search (see below), I discovered that her parents were John Philpot and Lucy Crouch, and I found her baptismal record at Walcot St. Swithin on February 18, 1795. This means that she can't have been born in December of 1797. In fact, it is impossible to extrapolate from the baptismal date to when she was born---some people baptised after two days, and others after three years. St. Swithin sometimes notes the date of birth at the end of the line, but in this case there was none. So the most that can be said is to give her baptismal date.

The book that I found through a Google search (The English Bach Awakening: Knowledge of J.S. Bach and his Music in England, edited by Michael Kassler) says that Windsor's extensive collection of musical scores, donated to the Royal College of Music by his eldest daughter Elizabeth Windsor after her death in 1890, contains a score bearing the inscription, "Given to J W Windsor | by his cousin Lucy Philpot | now Mrs Anderson." I was trying to find out how they were related. It may be that James Windsor was one of Lucy's first teachers. He was known for his skill as a piano forte player, and was noted as "Professor of Music" on the 1851 census of Bath. He often taught members of his own family. For example, he taught his niece through his wife's side. His wife, Alicia (Daniels) Windsor, born in Amsterdam, was a former opera diva who performed at theatres around London and Bath, including before the Prince of Wales.

Mrs rockefeller (talk) 07:04, 24 August 2021 (UTC)