Introduction

Biography

Wilfred was the son of Tho­mas San­der­son, a Wes­ley­an Me­tho­dist min­is­ter, and husband of Ma­ry Eli­za­beth Petch (mar­ried 1904).

He was edu­cat­ed at St. Dun­stan’s Col­lege, Catford, and the Ci­ty of Lon­don School. He stu­died or­gan un­der Fred­er­ick Bridge as pu­pil and lat­er as­sist­ant or­gan­ist at West­min­ster Ab­bey (1895–1904).

Sanderson was in the or­gan loft dur­ing Queen Vic­tor­ia’s fu­ner­al and me­mo­ri­al ser­vice in Feb­ru­ary 1901. He al­so sang tenor in the West­min­ster Ab­bey choir for the co­ro­na­tion of King Ed­ward VII and Queen Al­ex­an­dra in June 1902.

Sanderson earned a MB de­gree (Dun­elm). He was a Fel­low of the Roy­al Col­lege of Or­gan­ists, and Li­cen­ti­ate of the Roy­al Aca­de­my of Mu­sic.

His ear­ly or­gan­ist ap­point­ments were at:

• St. Ste­phen’s, Wal­tham­stow, UK (at age 17 in 1895)
• All Hal­lows’, South­wark (1897)
• St. James’, West Hamp­stead (1899–1904)

In 1904, he and Ma­ry moved to Don­cas­ter, where he was or­gan­ist of St. George’s Church un­til 1923.

He also con­duct­ed the Don­cas­ter Mu­sic­al So­ci­ety (1911–24) and the Don­cas­ter Ama­teur Op­er­a­tic So­ci­ety (1909–24).

During World War II, San­der­son served as a sen­ior clerk with the Min­is­try of Works. He moved his fa­mi­ly south to Egham, and af­ter the war moved to Nut­field in Sur­rey.

He was an ex­am­in­er for the Tri­ni­ty Col­lege of Mu­sic from 1924 un­til his death.