Dictionary of National Biography, 1912 supplement/Woodward, Herbert Hall
WOODWARD, HERBERT HALL (1847–1909), musical composer, born 13 Jan. 1847, near Liverpool, was fifth and youngest son of Robert Woodward (1801–1882), by his wife Mary, youngest daughter of William Hall, of Ryall's Court, Ripple, Worcestershire. The father, a Liverpool merchant, purchased, in 1852, the Arley Castle estate, near Bewdley. Both the father's and mother's families had been long settled in Worcestershire. Herbert, after being educated at Radley College, matriculated at Corpus Christi College, Oxford, in 1862. At Radley he chiefly studied music under Dr. E. G. Monk and at Oxford under Dr. Leighton Hayne, and graduated Mus.B. in 1866 and B.A. in 1867. He spent eighteen months at Cuddesdon Theological College, and, being ordained deacon in 1870 and priest in 1871 in the diocese of Oxford, became curate and precentor of Wantage. There he remained for eleven years, working as assistant priest under William John Butler [q. v. Suppl. I], afterwards Dean of Lincoln. In 1881 he was appointed a minor canon of Worcester Cathedral, and became precentor in 1890. Here he formed a successful preparatory boarding school for the choir boys, of which he was warden for twenty-eight years (1881–1909). His devotional character had a great influence on the services at the cathedral, where he raised the standard of worship to a high level. A bachelor, and possessed of private means, he was widely known for his generous philanthropy. He died in London, after an operation, on 25 May 1909. At Worcester he is commemorated by the ‘Woodward Memorial Wing’ of the choir school buildings. As a composer he is best known by his church music. His anthem ‘The Radiant Morn,’ written in 1881, is probably the most generally popular of its kind; and ‘The Souls of the Righteous,’ ‘Behold the days come,’ ‘Crossing the Bar,’ ‘Comes at times a Stillness as of Even,’ and the Communion Service in E flat are also familiar.
[Brit. Musical Biog.; Musical Times, Nov. 1905 (with portrait); Burke's Landed Gentry; Clergy List, 1909; private information.]