Charlotte Alington Barnard

Charlotte Alington Pye Barnard (23 December 1830 in Louth, Lincolnshire – 30 January 1869 in Dover) was an English poet and composer of ballads and hymns, who often wrote under the pseudonym Claribel. She wrote over 100 songs as well as two volumes of verse, and became the most commercially successful balled composer managed by her publishers Boosey's, with whom she established one of the first royalty arrangements. Life Charlotte Alington Pye was the daughter of Henry Alington Pye, a solicitor, and Charlotte Yerburgh. In 1854, she married Charles Cary Barnard. Though he was parson of St Olaves in Ruckland, Lincolnshire, the couple lived at The Firs in Westgate, Louth, Lincolnshire. After Charlotte's presentation at court in 1856, the couple moved to Pimlico. Among their neighbors was the conductor Michael Costa. In London she studied music with the pianist W.H. Holmes and the singer Charlotte Sainton-Dolby. On 8 July 1847, Charlotte laid the foundation stone of Louth railway station. During a visit back to Louth in 1862, Charlotte published a collection of poetry entitled Twenty Spring Songs, and sang some of her own compositions at a concert held to clear the debt on the new east window of St James' Church, Louth. A stained glass window in her memory now stands at the west end of the church. By 1864, she had moved to Kirmington rectory as her husband had been appointed Rector of Brocklesby with Kirmington.