James Ord Hume

James Ord Hume

James Ord Hume (Edinburgh, September 14, 1864 - London, November 27, 1932) was a Scottish composer, conductor, musicologist and cornet player. He sometimes used the pseudonyms William German, Paul Haake or Lilian Raymond as well as publishing music in his own name.

By the age of sixteen, Ord Hume was a cornet player in the Band of the Royal Scots Grays in Dalkeith, remaining with this military band until 1890. He was very interested in developments in the wind music world. A letter written in 1895 to James Alexander Browne (1838-1914), the conductor of the Royal Horse Artillery Band from 1870 to 1878, showed that Ord Hume was conductor of the Band of the 3rd Durham Light Infantry in Sunderland at the time. Within the British army he rose to the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel.

In addition to his work as a composer of wind music, he was a professional brass band conductor and a major innovator in the brass band movement. As an adjudicator of competitions he made a big name for himself, both in Britain and beyond, including, for example, the Royal South Street Eisteddfod in Ballarat, Australia in 1902 and 1924. Ord Hume was a close friend of the composer Sir Arthur Sullivan and directed the orchestra in a concert to honour the composer in 1900 at the Crystal Palace, London.

As a composer he wrote around 200 works, ranging from many marches (of which BB & CF is the best known) to the Bohemian Suite.