Born: March 15, 1770, Leicester, England.
Died: November 16, 1853, Leicester, England.
Buried: Welford Road Cemetery, Leicester, England.
Pseudonym: W. G. Leicester.
Gardiner’s musical gift appeared early: At age six, he sang a solo at the wedding of his friend’s father. He later learned to play the piano and viola, and as a teenager wrote a march for troops returning from war in America.
As his musical tastes matured, he was an admirer of Beethoven and Haydn. He became a member of the Historical Institute in Paris in 1843.