Author: Hempel, Charles William
Biography:
HEMPEL, Charles William (1777-1855: ODNB)
Hempel was a musical prodigy trained by his uncle F. C. Kollmann, who was an organist and composer in London. He was born in Chelsea, London, on 28 Aug. 1777, the eldest child of Johanna (Ruel) and Carl Friedrich Hempel, pottery manufacturers. After attending a boarding-school in Surrey and spending a year (1793-4) on the Continent studying music, he returned to Chelsea and on 1 Feb. 1800 married Mary Ann Hornby at her parish church, St. Martin-in-the-Fields. They do not appear to have had children; she died in 1804 and was buried at St. Bride’s, Fleet St., on 25 Sept. Hempel had by that time found the secure position he wanted as organist and choir director at St. Mary’s Church in Truro, Cornwall. He also taught music and in the course of his career published music for the use of his congregation and others, as well as lessons for the pianoforte. His only verse publication appeared anonymously, with illustrations by Cruikshank. No copy of the first edition has been located; the fourth and final one is dated 1839. On 5 Mar. 1808 Hempel married as his second (not first, as in ODNB) wife Katharine Grace Williams, with whom he had at least six children, at Kenwyn, Cornwall. Their eldest son, Charles Frederick (1811-67), also became a professional musician and succeeded his father when he retired from St. Mary’s in 1844. The date of the death of Katharine Hamel has not been found but on 12 Jul. 1849 he married for a third time, by license, possibly in Exeter; his wife’s maiden name was Stocker. By the time of the 1851 Census, however, he was living as a widower and “retired professor of music” at 4 Wood St., Lambeth, London, with his daughter Louisa Ravenscroft, a singer, and an infant grandson. He died on 14 Mar. 1855: although ODNB claims that he died in the Lambeth workhouse and cites a death certificate, the Cornish Telegraph reported his death as having occurred “at the residence of his son, Walsingham Place, London.” (ODNB 19 Apr. 2022; findmypast.com 19 Apr. 2022; Cornish Telegraph 28 Mar. 1855) HJ