Sir George Thomas Smart (1776-1867) was the son of a London music seller and, as a choir-boy at the Chapel Royal, sang in the first Handel Commemoration Festival at Westminster Abbey in 1784. Proving an expert violinist, organist, teacher and conductor, he staged a series of concerts in Dublin in 1811 which were so admired that he was knighted by the Duke of Richmond in his capacity as Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. A founding member of the [Royal] Philharmonic Society in 1813, he conducted innumerable concerts and Lent oratorios in London (1813-25) as well as presiding at many provincial music festivals including the first such event in Norwich in 1824. Appointed joint organist at the Chapel Royal in 1822 and thereafter musical director at Covent Garden, he was made Composer to the Chapel Royal in 1838. In addition to conducting the music at the funeral of George IV, he fulfilled the same role at the coronations of both William IV in 1831 and Queen Victoria in 1838. Personally acquainted with Beethoven and a close friend of Weber, who died in Smart's London house, he wrote church music as well as some memorable glees and was one of the most prominent musical personalities of his day.