Rosamond Harding's name is well known to anyone who has studied the history of the piano.

Her 1933 publication The Piano-forte: its history traced to the Great Exhibition, 1851 was so far ahead of any contemporary study that it remained the leader in the field for fifty years. But who was the author? No-one seemed to know anything about her, and no-one living seemed to have any recollection of meeting her, so Michael Cole set about some research. The information below is a basic summary; to read the full text consult the Galpin Society Journal, 2007.[link below]

Rosamond Harding

1898   Born at Doddington, near March, Cambridgeshire, the first child of Ambrose and Adela Harding.

1899   Rosamond is one year old when the family moves to Histon Manor, Cambridge.

Histon Manor, Rosamond's home 1899 - 1927

1906   Her only sibling, Thomas Harding born. He is handicapped, and is not considered for inheritance. Rosamond lives an isolated childhood.

1922   Previously educated by her father, with short spells in a number of private schools, she applies to Newnham College to read for a music degree.

Portrait photograph c.1920

1925   Undergraduate course not completed. (For reasons unknown she never sat final exams, so no degree was awarded).

1927   On the death of Rosamond's grandfather, Ambrose Harding inherits Madingley Hall, a mansion built c.1543, which becomes the family home.

1927   Though she has no first degree she begins research for PhD, funded by her father, tutored by Prof. Dent.

Madingley Hall, painstakingly restored by her grandfather Col. T. Walter Harding.

(former Lord Mayor of Leeds)

1931   Rosamond completes her thesis: 'The Pianoforte ― its history traced to the Great Industrial Exhibition, 1851' and is awarded PhD. 

1933   A trust fund set up by Ambrose Harding funds publication of her thesis (dropping some illustrations but otherwise with miniscule changes). It is printed and sold by Cambridge University Press.

            She also publishes a modern edition of Ludovico Giustini's Twelve Sonatas for Pianoforte of 1732.

1933   A concert at Newnham College features Giustini's sonatas and 18th century songs using a Longman & Broderip square piano.

1936   She qualifies for her pilot's licence logging 136 hours flying in light aircraft.

1937   Only 93 copies of The Pianoforte had been sold in four years, so she reduced the price from £2.10.0 to £1.10.0

1939   She is rejected (as were other well qualified female applicants) for war time service in the air.

1940   She volunteers for service as an Air Raid Warden in Cambridge.

1940   Publishes An Anatomy of Inspiration. By far her most successful book, its initial print run [1000] sells out within the year..

1942   Both her parents died this year. Last 4 copies of The Pianoforte sold @ 14 shillings each. [It is presumed that fewer than 220 copies were sold altogether.]

1945   Publishes her first poem in Poetry of Today. [read poem]

1948   Rosamond Harding continued at first to live at Madingley Hall, subject to her father's trustees. However, they opted to sell it to the university in 1948.

           Madingley Hall is now used for the Department of Continuing Education. Part of the land was used for the American Cemetery, prominently signposted in the area.  

1949   Rosamond rents Icomb Place, a very ancient house near Stow-on-the-Wold, where she kept her large collection of musical instruments.

  (Icomb Place, Photo: Michael Cole)

1954   Her lease ends so she leaves Icomb, and has to sell some instruments at Sotheby's, in December.

           These include a 1769 Zumpe & Buntebart square piano, a c.1700 Italian Harpsichord, and a very fine  bass viol by Henry Jaye.

1960   Second hand copies of The Pianoforte have become very scarce, yet interest in the subject is rising. She rejects various offers for reprinting, insisting that she will bring out a new, corrected edition herself.

1967   A fourth edition of Anatomy of Inspiration is published to more critical acclaim.

1973   Forty years after its original publication a pirate edition of The Pianoforte is published by Da Capo Press, New York.  Rosamond was not consulted, not paid., and not pleased. Though it was useless to protest, as American law offered no remedy, she places a notice in The TIMES to express her annoyance.

1978   Her long awaited second edition of The Pianoforte is at last published, but it turns out to be only a photo reprint with very minor changes. Many serious mistakes go unchanged. Nearing 80 years of age and out of touch with recent research, she was not equal to the task.

1982   Rosamond Harding dies at her home in Southwold, Suffolk. (It is now a holiday cottage, locate via search engines. Type: Jersey Lodge, Southwold

Madingley Church interior.

 Family monument fixed to the north wall  in Madingley Church.

1982 By her will the Victoria & Albert Museum was offered her residual instrument collection, but her offer was declined.

1989  Posthumous second reprint of the 'second edition' of Harding's The Pianoforte

For a full biographical account and assessment of her work see Galpin Society Journal 2007

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