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Westbourne history fans will doubtless think of the Rev Dr J.H. Mee as the lead author of the book “Bourne In The Past”.
A talented and meticulous scholar, he researched a wide variety of records in the British Museum Library, the Public Record Office and the archives of the estates of Stansted House and of the Dukes of Norfolk – and backed them up with the extensive knowledge he gained from the memories of the villagers. For more on the book, see our Publications page. However he was much more broadly talented than just that.
John Henry Mee (1853-1918) was the son of the Revd John Mee, rector of Westbourne, and was a gifted musician as well as an academic, holding posts at Merton and the Queens Colleges, Oxford and serving as Precentor at Chichester Cathedral (with responsibility for the music there). He published a number of compositions, some produced for performance at Westbourne church.
He divided his time between Oxford and his Westbourne home, The Chantry – and married the daughter of the owner of the patronage of Westbourne church. One short piece that he wrote in 1894 is entitled “The Westbourne Anthem”.
We reproduce the score below.
