Frederick Septimus Kelly


Frederick Septimus Kelly was an Australian and British musician and composer and a rower who competed in the 1908 Summer Olympics. He was killed in action during the First World War.

Early life

Kelly, the fourth son and seventh child of Irish-born woolbroker Thomas Herbert Kelly and his native-born wife Mary Anne, née Dick, was born in 1881 at 47 Phillip Street, Sydney. He was educated at Sydney Grammar School, then went with his family to England, where he was educated at Eton College, where he stroked the school eight to victory in the Ladies' Challenge Plate at Henley Royal Regatta in 1899.
Kelly was awarded a Lewis Nettleship musical scholarship at Oxford in that year, and went up to Balliol College, Oxford, became president of the university musical club and a leading spirit at the Sunday evening concerts at Balliol. He was a protégé of Ernest Walker.

Rowing

Kelly took up sculling while at Oxford and won the Diamond Challenge Sculls at Henley in 1902, beating Raymond Etherington-Smith in the final.
He rowed in the four seat for Oxford against Cambridge in the 1903 Boat Race. Oxford lost the race by 6 lengths. Kelly went on to win the Diamond sculls at Henley again that summer, beating Julius Beresford in the final. He also won the Wingfield Sculls, the Amateur Championship of the Thames, beating the holder Arthur Cloutte. This was the only occasion on which he entered.
On leaving Oxford in 1903 he starting rowing at Leander Club and was in the Leander crews which won the Grand Challenge Cup at Henley in 1903, 1904 and 1905 and the Stewards' Challenge Cup in 1906. In 1905 he again won the Diamond sculls, beating Harry Blackstaffe. His time on this occasion 8 min. 10 sec. stood as a record for over 30 years.
Kelly's last appearance in a racing boat was in 1908, when he competed at the London Olympic Games. He was a member of the Leander crew in the eights, which won the gold medal for Great Britain rowing at the 1908 Summer Olympics.
Contemporary reports of Kelly's oarsmanship were glowing: 'his natural sense of poise and rhythm made his boat a live thing under him'; 'Many think the greatest amateur stylist of all time'.

Hands and arms

In 1907 Kelly became worried about problems with his hands and arms that were impeding his performance, especially as a musician. He also developed a facial tic. He sought hypnotherapeutic treatment for this condition from J. Milne Bramwell, the specialist medical hypnotist, in London. He attended Bramwell's rooms for treatment over an extended time.

Life after Oxford

After leaving Oxford with fourth-class honours in history, Kelly studied the piano under Iwan Knorr at the Hoch Conservatory in Frankfurt, and on his return to London acted as an adviser to the Classical Concert Society and used his influence in favour of the recognition of modern composers. In 1911 he visited Sydney and gave some concerts, and in 1912 took part in chamber music concerts in London. He performed with Pablo Casals, and he helped organise a concert in London by Maurice Ravel.
Following the outbreak of war in 1914, Kelly was commissioned into the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve for service with the Royal Naval Division with his friends—the poet Rupert Brooke, the critic and composer William Denis Browne, and others of what became known as the Latin Club.
Kelly was wounded twice at Gallipoli, where he was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross and reached the rank of lieutenant-commander. At Gallipoli he wrote his scores in his tent at base camp, including his tribute to Brooke, Elegy for String Orchestra: "In Memoriam Rupert Brooke", conceived in the wake of Brooke's death. Kelly was among the party who buried him on Skyros.
The following is a description of Kelly's close connection to Brooke, taken from
Race Against Time: the Diaries of F.S. Kelly:
Kelly survived the Gallipoli slaughter, only to die at Beaucourt-sur-l'Ancre, France, when rushing a German machine gun post in the last days of the Battle of the Somme in November 1916. He lies in Martinsart's British Cemetery not far from where he fell at the age of 35. Of the dozen composers killed at the Somme, Kelly is the only one to have a marked grave; as a mark of the respect they accorded him, his men had retrieved his body and carried it back through No Man's Land.

Posthumous renown

At the memorial concert held at the Wigmore Hall, London, on 2 May 1919, some of his piano compositions were played by Leonard Borwick, and some of his songs were sung by Muriel Foster; but his Elegy for String Orchestra, written at Gallipoli in memory of Rupert Brooke, a work of profound feeling, stood out from his other compositions, and made a deep impression. His papers are held in the National Library of Australia.
Kelly's "Serenade for Flute" with accompaniment of Harp, Horn, and String Orchestra, written in 1911, received its first recording 100 years after he composed it. It made a deep impression on the Canadian flautist Rebecca Hall, who recorded it for CD label Cameo Classics. José Garcia Gutierrez was the horn soloist, with the Malta Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by its Musical Director, Michael Laus. The CD also features orchestral compositions by Kelly's near contemporary British composers – Robin Milford, Walter Gaze Cooper, Josef Holbrooke, and Maurice Blower – and is available on line from www.cameo-classics.com
Unmarried, he had lived at his home Bisham Grange, near Marlow, Buckinghamshire, with his sister Mary. There is a memorial to him in the village of Bisham.
His elder brother, William Henry Kelly, was a politician who held the seat of Wentworth in the Australian House of Representatives from 1903 to 1919.

Compositions