Introduction

Biography

Samuel was the son of George Ag­new Reay, or­gan­ist of Hex­ham Ab­bey, and El­ea­nor Sprag­gon.

When the fa­mi­ly moved to Ry­ton on Tyne, Sam­uel be­came a cho­ris­ter at Dur­ham Ca­thed­ral. After leav­ing the choir, he took or­gan les­sons from Stimp­son of Birm­ing­ham.

He served as or­gan­ist at St. An­drew’s, Newc­as­tle (1845); St. Pe­ter’s, Ti­ver­ton, De­von (1847); St. John’s Par­ish Church, Hamp­stead (1854); St. Sav­iour’s, War­wick Road, Lon­don (1856); St. Ste­phen’s, Pad­ding­ton, Lon­don; Rad­ley Col­lege, Ab­ing­don (1859, suc­ceed­ing E. G. Monk); and Bu­ry, Lan­ca­shire (1861).

In 1864 he was ap­point­ed Song-school­mas­ter and or­gan­ist of the par­ish Church in Newa­rk, Not­ting­ham­shire, where he re­tired in 1901.

Reay is not­ed for hav­ing per­formed the first or­gan ar­range­ment of Men­dels­sohn’s Wed­ding March, which he ar­ranged while in Ti­ver­ton. While in New­ark, he con­duct­ed the New­ark Phil­har­mo­nic So­ci­ety.