(b Kidderminster, 7 May 1811; d London, 6 July 1890). English teacher and choir trainer. He was the son of a Congregationalist minister, and as a youth trained his father’s choir and taught in his day school at Stratford-upon-Avon before taking the BA at Oxford in 1840. In the same year he was ordained and made curate of St Michael’s, Lichfield, and priest-vicar in the cathedral. In 1842 he was appointed vice-principal and precentor of St Mark’s College, Chelsea, a new institution for training teachers in church schools, where he was to coach the students to sing daily choral services in the college chapel. At a time when Anglican choral services were hardly known outside the cathedrals, the aim was to equip newly appointed teachers to assist the clergy in the reform of parochial music. Helmore’s zeal soon made St Mark’s famous for its unique unaccompanied musical services. Psalms and responses were chanted by the entire student body led by a male choir of trebles, altos, tenors and basses which sang anthems and services mainly by 16th- and 17th-century composers. The remarkable success of his work at Chelsea led to Helmore’s appointment as Master of the Children of the Chapel Royal in 1846; but he continued to hold the post of precentor at St Mark’s College until 1877.
Helmore believed that plainsong was the ideal medium for congregational singing. During his early years at St Mark’s he thus pointed the English Psalter for use with the psalm tones, following the rules published in William Dyce’s Order of Daily Service (London, 1843). The result was the Psalter Noted (London, 1849) and the Manual of Plainsong (London, 1850). Helmore’s Hymnal Noted (London, 1851–4) likewise comprised a collection of plainsong melodies with translations of the original texts by J.M. Neale (with whom Helmore also produced two collections of carols).
His plainsong publications, together with his activities as a speaker, made Helmore the acknowledged authority on the subject in Anglican circles. His Primer of Plainsong (London, 1877) became the standard English text, and the phrase ‘to sing your Helmore’ was common during his lifetime. Later scholars, however, were to usurp that authority; Helmore’s lasting contribution is now seen to have been towards establishing a choral tradition in parish churches throughout the country. In that respect he was assisted by his youngest brother, Frederick Helmore (1820–1903), who spent his life as a travelling choirmaster, earning the title of the ‘Musical Missionary’ for his work in training surpliced choirs in many parts of England and Scotland. Earlier claims that Thomas Helmore composed the tune ‘Veni Emmanuel’ have now been disproved.
F. Helmore: Memoir of the Rev. T. Helmore (London, 1891)
F. Helmore: ‘Reminiscences of a Musical Missionary’, Organist and Choirmaster, vi (1898), 112, 120, 151–2, 172
B. Rainbow: ‘Thomas Helmore and the Anglican Plainsong Revival’, MT, c (1959), 548–9
B. Rainbow: ‘Thomas Helmore and the Revival of Carol Singing’, MT, c (1959), 683 only
B. Rainbow: ‘Thomas Helmore: the Mystery of “Veni Emmanuel”’, MT, c (1959), 621–2
B. Rainbow: The Choral Revival in the Anglican Church, 1839–1872 (London, 1970)
BERNARR RAINBOW