Introduction

Biography

Arthur was the son of Hen­ry James Mann and Ann Cou­zens Ju­bey, and bro­ther of Ar­thur Hen­ry Mann.

F. A. Mann was the mu­sic­al di­rec­tor of the Child­ren’s Home at Vic­to­ria Park. He pos­sessed a fine con­cep­tion for mu­sic; he gave a read­ing and in­ter­pre­ta­tion to ev­ery­thing he touched, ev­en to a child­ren’s hymn. He com­posed but lit­tle; prob­ab­ly his re­serve in this re­spect was due to his high ideals and his re­ver­ence for the great mas­ters.

For nine­teen years F. A. Mann prac­ticed the mu­sic­al pro­fes­sion at Lowe­stoft. Here he was or­gan­ist suc­cess­ive­ly of the Par­ish Church of St. Mar­ga­ret, and of the church at Kirk­ley. His pow­er as a choir-train­er was soon dis­cov­ered by other church­es, in­clud­ing non­con­form­ists, and by the help of de­pu­ties he man­aged to train three or four choirs abreast.

For four­teen years he de­vot­ed him­self to train­ing the choir of child­ren be­long­ing to the Child­ren’s Home. Mr. Mann un­der­stood child­ren; his po­et­ic mu­sic­al in­stinct drew forth their pow­ers; he in­ter­est­ed them and they need­ed no spur.

The Mu­sic­al Her­ald, num­ber 662 (Lon­don: May 1, 1903), p. 137