Horace Bate (1899-1995) studied organ with Charles Hylton Stewart at Rochester Cathedral, and then with Henry George Ley and Charles Herbert Kitson at the Royal College of Music in London. In 1921 he became organist of St Margaret's in Rochester, before becoming organist of St James in Muswell Hill (1923-1950), and was conductor of the Madrigal Society in Muswell Hill (1934-1995).