Percy Whitlock was born in Chatham, Kent, and studied composition at the Royal College of Music with Stanford and Vaughan Williams, and organ with Henry Ley. He later worked as an organist in Kent and in Bournemouth, and composed much of his orchestral output for the Bournemouth Municipal Orchestra.
Whitlock's reputation was not only as an outstanding organist-composer, but also as a broadcaster for the BBC, teacher and journalist, writing for the Musical Times, The Organ, and Musical Opinion.
