The Borough of Richmond-upon-Thames has two local studies libraries, one in Twickenham (covering the areas of Twickenham and Hampton) and the other in Richmond (covering Richmond and Kew) and both are blessed with extremely helpful and knowledgeable staff. I made a visit to the Twickenham branch to see what records of Hampton Court Palace might be kept there, and was reasonably hopeful of finding something of interest - in the event I found perhaps half a dozen references to Sellé’s name, none of them illuminating. All I did manage to find out was that his younger brother Henry Sellé was for a time organist of St Ann’s Church on Kew Green and that Sellé’s only son Guarnerius was living at Southcote Cottage on the Richmond Road in 1886.

My visit to the Richmond branch, situated on the top floor of the old town hall, just over Richmond Bridge, was a rather different matter. When I outlined to the librarian the subject of my research I was somewhat surprised when she seemed to recognise the name Sellé and set off to see what she could find for me. She returned with a file full of photographs and newspaper cuttings and I realised I was in for a long afternoon, but guaranteed to be more successful than I could have hoped. Perhaps most useful was an obituary printed in the Richmond and Twickenham Times, which gave a very detailed account of Sellé’s life, but there were also many snippets of information concerning Sellé in various notebooks prepared by the founder of the Local Collection, a Mr Barkas, in the early years of the century, which paint a fascinating picture of Sellé and have greatly expanded what we know of him as a person.

The Richmond and Twickenham Times obituary concentrates on Sellé’s achievements, particularly the non-musical ones:

The deceased gentleman ever took an active part in local affairs, and in the Richmond Select Vestry was one of its most active members. It was in 1853, when he joined that body at the time the members were elected for life, a system he always objected to, and which he endeavoured to do away with because he thought that when men represented the people, the people should have an opportunity of electing them year by year. He was an ardent debater, and took an interest in his work. He was one of the original members of the Water Supply Committee, and he heartily co-operated with Messrs. Gascoyne, Sims and Carless, and those associated with those gentlemen, in establishing the local supply. He was also a member of the Sewerage and Works Committee, and, in fact, he was associated with every work the Vestry had a hand in up to 1890, when his membership ceased. When Richmond was granted its Charter of Incorporation, Dr Selle was a candidate at the first election for the West Ward, but was not successful. At this time age was beginning to tell on him, and since then he has not been heard of in local affairs except as an interested spectator.

In politics he was a Liberal of the old school, true to his colours, and he never shrank from expressing his opinions fearlessly. As a believer in Mr Gladstone, he had been heard to say that it was his wish to live as long as the great statesman, a wish that has been fulfilled. [Gladstone died on May 19th 1898, 6 months before Sellé.] He was one of the foremost in any contest, and for many years was an active member of the Richmond Liberal Association. When the club was formed, with its headquarters in Parkshot, he was frequently seen there when debates and discussions were on.

The doctor was also a good chess player, and was actively associated with the old local Chess Club, then a powerful society. At that time he met some of the prominent chess masters of the day, and was awarded a medal, which carries with it the Amateur Championship of England. He was also a keen angler, and was acquainted with some of the best fishing spots of the river.

The obituary ends by stating that “the funeral takes place at noon today [November 12th 1898] at the Richmond Cemetery.” Although this cemetery is now very overgrown, the Sellé family grave remains in good condition and what is of particular interest is that the headstone gives the precise dates not only of death but of birth as well. It reads as follows: 

Following on from the Richmond and Twickenham Times obituary is an article by a Mr Samuel Hosking, who clearly knew Sellé personally. He describes Sellé’s widow Selina as:

 ... one of the most accomplished and most charming of old ladies that one could meet with, clear-headed and bright-eyed, with the complexion of a woman of thirty. Crushing pecuniary losses, domestic disasters, and great physical suffering, have neither impaired her temper, her intellectual powers, nor her pious resignation to the will of Providence. Amidst all she remains a noble example of the cultured and dignified gentlewoman of the old school of virtuous womanhood.

‘Domestic disasters’ must surely refer to the deaths of 3 of her children, while ‘crushing pecuniary losses’ perhaps explain why the Sellés moved from Old palace Terrace on Richmond Green to a smaller house in Hermitage Road, Richmond in the 1890s.

Samuel Hosking includes in his article many important details of Sellé’s early years and of his musical career, which corroborate and expand what I had already discovered. He writes that:

Wilhelm Kristian Sellé, Doctor of Music, and Musician in ordinary to the Queen during the long period of forty years, was born in Suffolk in 1813, the son of John Kristian Sellé, who, while a bachelor, left Hanover with Viotti, the celebrated violinist, for the purpose of joining the private band of the Duke of Cumberland, who was then living at Kew, and was commencing to form a band of his own, consisting chiefly of Germans. Herr Sellé’s wife, the mother of Doctor Sellé, was a Miss Underwood, the handsome and estimable daughter of a Suffolk farmer, and while the Doctor was an infant, his father joined the Duke’s band, and settled at Kew, and there he lived with his family until his death at the age of 87.

Hosking is rather fanciful in adopting the German form of these names. There is no record whatsoever  of Sellé as Wilhelm or Kristian, and records refer to his father simply as Christian Sellé, with no mention of John. Hosking does, however, shed light on the background to Sellé’s birth at Benhall, Suffolk, and another trip to the Suffolk Record Office revealed that his mother Elizabeth Underwood (who married Christian Sellé at St George’s Hanover Square, London in 1810) had, indeed, been baptised at Benhall on January 7th 1785, the daughter of William Underwood and his wife Catherine (formerly Dowsing), who had married at Benhall in 1781. Elizabeth’s two brothers, William (baptised 1782), who married Elizabeth Blomfield in 1811, and Joseph (baptised 1787), Sellé’s two maternal uncles, both died in 1869 and were buried at Benhall. Mrs Elizabeth Sellé’s mother, Catherine Underwood (Sellé’s grandmother), died at Benhall in 1814 at the age of 51 and was buried there on April 6th that year. It was, thus, possibly to be with her mother during the her final illness that Elizabeth Sellé came home from London to Benhall with her German husband, and gave birth to their first child there in July 1813. Hosking describes Sellé’s father Christian as:

 ... earnest, energetic and conscientious in his profession, and did moderately well, but was not gifted with genius, nor could he ever master the difficulties of the English tongue.

The Anglo-German Family History Society have been very helpful in providing me with details of a reference to Christian Sellé from their indexes, relating to an admission book to the Royal Hospital, Chelsea, held at the Public Records Office (which ties in with the occupation of ‘Chelsea Pensioner’ given on  the 1851 census), which runs as follows:

About [Dr] Sellé’s musical training, Hosking, in the Richmond and Twickenham Times, writes the following, all of which was hitherto unknown:

 At a very early age, Dr Sellé received the rudiments of music from his father. Subsequently he was placed under a highly talented man of the name of Platt, who, with Viotti, was a leading instrumentalist in the Duke’s band. When about 15 he was placed under Cipriani Potter [(1792-1871)], at that time the Principal of the Royal Academy [a post he held from 1832 to 1859], to study the Pianoforte. Whilst under instruction he made sufficient by teaching the Violin to be able to pay his master’s fee - fifteen shillings per lesson - out of his own pocket. So rapid was his progress that in a short time he was engaged to assist the Principal in instructing his own pupils. After about two years at the Academy, he found himself fully occupied as a teacher on his own account, and continued an uninterrupted career of instruction over a space of nearly 70 years.

Hosking goes on:

Half a century ago, Dr Sellé received the degree of Doctor of Music from the Archbishop of Canterbury through Dr Corfe of Christchurch, Oxford [An almost exact contemporary of Sellé, Charles William Corfe (1814-1882), held the post of organist at Christchurch from 1856, the year before Sellé’s Lambeth doctorate was conferred, until 1863]. His first most important appointment was that of organist to her Majesty at Hampton Court Palace, and he held this post until his retirement on a pension, after 46 years’ service. His first royal pupil was the late King of Hanover [formerly Prince George of Cumberland - see last year’s article], for whom he wrote a composition, and with whom he was an intimate guest for several weeks at a time. His next royal appointment was that of master to the Princess Mary of Cambridge, later Duchess of Teck [and the mother of the future Queen Mary], and he was selected to play at Kew Church on the occasion of Her Royal Highness’s marriage [which event Queen Victoria and her son the future King Edward VII both attended. The Royal Archives at Windsor Castle have sent me details of a cutting from an unidentified newspaper cutting that states: “Mr Sellé, the organist, Dr Sellé, the Princess’s former tutor, and the choir all occupied the organ loft during the ceremony”]. He also taught other members of the Royal family, including His Royal Highness the Duke of Cambridge [presumably Princess Mary Adelaide’s elder brother, later Commander-in-Chief of the British Army, rather than her father, who died in 1850], besides a large number of pupils from among the aristocracy and other ranks of society. Until his recent retirement from public life through his failing sight and the feebleness of age, there were but few contemporaries of note in the literary and artistic world with whom he was not more or less well acquainted. Consequently, his store of anecdotes was inexhaustible, and this, with a powerful and ready memory, made him a delightful raconteur [much the same could be applied just as aptly to his later successor at Hampton Court Prof. Gordon Reynolds!].

“Recollections of Dr. Selle”, published the following week, contains more details of his career:

It is interesting to know that the public are indirectly indebted to Dr Selle for the right they at present enjoy of free access to the Great Hall at Hampton Court. At the time of the Crimean War, when the doctor was organist at the Palace, he arranged a concert in aid of the Crimean Relief Fund; and as it was to be a big affair, was at a loss to find a suitable place in which to hold it. At length he thought of the Great Hall, which was then used as a store for general lumber. It was cleared of rubbish, the concert was duly held, and after a few weeks the hall was opened to the public.

In 1863 we find Dr Selle publishing articles, entitled, “Hints to Musical Students who are desirous of appreciating high art,” which are full of indications of the doctor’s knowledge of his subject, and the thorough enthusiasm with which he approached it.

Richmond Local Collection also has a copy of An Essay on Music, by Dr Sellé, a philosophical work, debating the nature of the sublime, the beautiful and the ornamental in Music. We do not know exactly when it was written or when it appeared in print (published by Hiscoke and Son of Hill Street, Richmond), but from the preface we can date it to around 1880. The preface, which gives interesting some background to Sellé’s career, reads as follows:

The subject of the following little essay has been ever with me during my study off Music over sixty years. I offer it to my readers with the hope that it may profit, as well as interest.

Twenty years ago, or more, an agitation, in which I took a prominent and public part, was started for the lowering of the musical pitch. A strong controversy arose, as it met with much opposition. Meetings were held at several places, especially under the Chairmanship of Sir George Macfarren, supported by Jenny Lind, Albani, Sims Reeves, myself, and a host of others. The Society of Arts engaged a scientific Professor to ascertain the musical pitch of all countries and report thereon, with a view to establish a universal one. From his report they decided that the existing pitch ought to be lowered, not only that uniformity might be obtained, but, also, with the higher object of preserving the voices of singers, as well as the original pitch of the Cremona violins. Fortunately this design has been carried out to a very large extent, and,. no doubt, will universally prevail. It is now approved by the majority of musicians in Germany, Belgium, and France. In the last country every musical instrument must have a uniform pitch, and any other than the one adopted is prohibited by law. The Philharmonic Society also supports it, as well as Her Majesty the Queen.

Prior to the agitation mentioned, three different pitches were in use in this country, and are still more or less employed. The confusion and inconvenience arising were insufferable, and entailed great loss upon the instrument makers themselves. But with a wider diffusion of the accurate principles of Music, as laid down by Sir William Jones and Dr. Crotch, from whom I have freely quoted, music must assume its proper position in the ranks of Scientific Art.

Until recently the only musical work of Sellé’s I had come across was Hellas, a lyrical drama by P.B.Shelley, the choruses set to music by W.C.Sellé’, dating from 1886, a vocal score of which is kept in the British Library. Richmond Local Collection also has a printed vocal score of Hellas as well as an autograph orchestral score of the overture. I had assumed that Sellé must have written other works and I was delighted to find in the music catalogue of Cambridge University Library a considerable collection of Sellé’s scores. Among them are many works for solo piano:

Classical Movements from the Instrumental Works of the Great Masters selected and arranged for the pianoforte by W.C.Sellé: The Austrian Hymn from Haydn’s Quartet op.77; Menuetto from Mozart’s Sinfonie in D op7
published 1853 by D’Almaine & Co. of 20 Soho Square

La Grazia, andantino, dedicated to The Lady Caroline Charteris
First Fantasia on Airs from Verdi’s opera Il Trovatore, dedicated ‘to my friend Albert Varley, Esq.’
both published 1855 by A.W.Hammond of 9 New Bond St

The Silvery Shower, morceau brillant
superscribed with the poem “Come gentle Spring! Ethereal mildness!” and dedicated to Miss Lawrence of Ealing Park
The Golden Shower or The Symphony of Spring
based on Thomson’s poem The Golden Showers and dedicated by permission to Her Grace The Duchess of Northumberland
both published 1857 by Jewell & Letchford (also pianoforte manufacturers) of 17 Soho Square

Mazurka Brillante, ‘composé et dediée à Mad.lle Giradot’
published 1858 by D’Almaine & Co.

Beethoven’s Scherzo from Symphony in A (a transcription)
Titania, morceau de salon/morceau elegant, dedicated à Miss Chillingworth of Radnor House, Twickenham
both published by A.W.Hammond of 214 Regent Street/45 King Street (late Jullien & Co.). No date given.

The Favorite Gallopade with Variations, ‘respectfully dedicated to Mrs Henry White (of Kew)
published by E.W.White, Music Seller, of 123 London Road, Southwark. No date given

Nellie, Gavotte in E
published by J.B.Cramer & Co. of 201 Regent Street. No date given.

Other piano pieces by Sellé mentioned in publication lists at the back of the volumes containing the above works, but of which no scores have yet been found, include Second Fantasia on Airs from Verdi’s opera Il Trovatore, Cujus Animam, Di Provenza il mar from Verdi’s La Traviata, and Robert le diable. Cambridge University Library also has scores of several vocal works by Sellé:

The Blind Girl and the Rose, a song, the words written by J.H.Jewell (perhaps of Jewell & Latchford?)
published 1853 by D’Almaine

Be merciful unto me, O Lord, an anthem for 2 trebles and bass, dedicated to ‘The Rev.d William Percival Bailey, Chaplain to Her Majesty at Hampton Court Palace, and Fellow of Clare Hall, Cambridge’
published 1855 by Jewell & Latchford

If Music be the Food of Love, a canzonet to a text by Shakespeare
published 1863 by Charles Jeffreys of 21 Soho Square

Almost all these pieces were published in the mid-1850s, during Sellé’s years as organist of the Chapel Royal and around the time he was awarded his Lambeth doctorate. All the original piano compositions appear to be salon pieces, light and attractive in style, while his love of the great masters of the first Viennese School is obvious from the subjects he chose for piano transcriptions. One wonders whether his anthem was ever performed at Hampton Court.

In 1886 Hellas was performed at the St James Hall by the Shelley Society. St James’s Hall in Piccadilly was established in the 1880 as London’s premier concert hall and the likes of Dvorak, Grieg, Liszt, Sullivan and Tchaikovsky all performed there before it was demolished in 1905. The performance of Sellé’s work was reviewed in The Athenæum on November 20th, but it was not received favourably - indeed, it was slated:

We referred last week to the activity of the Shelley Society and to the liberality of the executive to its members in the matter of publications. No body scarcely a twelve-month old could have exhibited greater zeal or enthusiasm, and it was hoped that the performance of ‘Hellas’ in St. James’s Hall on Tuesday evening would prove a worthy crown to the year’s work. The main difficulty, of course, consisted in the necessity for providing a musical setting of the choruses which form so large a portion of the work. The task is one from which a  Beethoven or a Wagner might have shrunk, or at least approached with hesitation. But in the absence of composers of the highest order of genius it was open to the committee to invite the co-operation of one of those earnest spirits who have done so much of late years to raise the art of music in this country. Instead of this they thought it safe to accept the offer of Dr. W.C.Selle, a composer who certainly was not known by any previous achievements. The decision was rash, but it might have been justified by results. In the announcement concerning the performance it is stated that “the committee have had the opportunity of hearing Dr. W.C.Selle’s setting of the choruses, &c., and they cordially echo the opinion of a responsible musical authority that it is a very interesting work of high merit.” Happily for himself, the name of the “responsible musical authority” is not given; but the marvel remains that at the present day so little of musical culture should exist in a literary society that a vandalism unprecedented in its way should be perpetrated in its name. To say that Dr. Selle’s music is unworthy to be associated with Shelley is only partially to state the case; it would deserve condemnation if applied with the doggerel verse of a writer of words for ballads or Christy Minstrel airs. Dr. Selle may possess some knowledge of the grammar of his art but his score consists of the feeblest platitudes and most atrocious anachronisms that we have ever seen in print. Put forward by an academy student it would inevitably result in his relegation to an elementary class. Add to this that the parts appear to be swarming with errors, and that the conductor, band and chorus were constantly at sixes and sevens, and we shall have said enough to indicate the extremely painful nature of Tuesday’s experience. We need not dwell further upon a discreditable episode in the history of the Shelley Society.

It is only fair to point out that The Athenæum’s critics were often very harsh and that many far better-known musicians than Sellé had either works or performances (or both) rubbished.

Whatever his shortcomings as a composer, it was indisputable Sellé lived and breathed music. Samuel Hosking concludes his article by writing:

Music was his passion, the violin his life-study, and Beethoven, his “dear master” [his teacher Cipriani Potter actually met Beethoven, and gave the English premieres of several of the piano concertos]. Nevertheless, he was a many-sided man, an ardent politician, a local administrator, a composer, lecturer, and author, and a most genial gossip. Above all, he had the honesty of his opinions, and dared avow them, whether orthodox or otherwise, and these were informed by a rare intelligence and wide reading. He was a Liberal before Liberalism was fashionable, and remained to the day of his death a sincere and rational worshipper of freedom in its most liberal interpretation. To the last he preserved his love of activity, his cheerfulness and serenity of disposition, and afforded the philosophic example of an old man, neither weary of life nor afraid of death. His four score years and six were manfully and usefully spent. [All the sources are wrong about Sellé’s age: his gravestone clearly reveals that he was 85 and not 86 when he died].

The Richmond and Twickenham Times gives in the obituary a vivid and detailed account of the events preceding Sellé’s death:

The sad event occurred on Tuesday morning in the saloon bar of the Greyhound Hotel [one of Richmond’s leading hostelries, established in 1685 as a posting inn in the middle of George Street, just west of Church Court; the fine porch of the door at the end of the long central entrance passageway still exists, but the building is now all shops and offices.], and its suddenness, although it is not to be wondered at seeing that the aged Doctor had reached the ripe old age of 86, created a painful sensation in the town and among his host of friends. The deceased gentleman had been to Strawberry Hill in the morning to see someone about his violin, and on returning to Richmond went into the Greyhound Hotel. He was then apparently in his usual spirits. The Doctor ordered some ginger brandy but before he could be served he sat down and suddenly expired. At the time there were two strangers in the bar, and medical aid was at once procured, and Dr. Boulter arrived only to find that the old gentleman had passed away. The police then arrived on the scene, and the body was conveyed to the mortuary to await the inquest. Dr Boulter, however, who had attended the Doctor of late, was able to give a certificate, which the Coroner accepted, and therefore a public inquiry was not needed.

A further article in the Richmond and Twickenham Times published the same day as the obituary describes his death slightly differently:

The painfully sudden death of Dr Selle is an event which has influenced many this week, for there were few in Richmond who did not know the old man who, in years gone by, did an immense amount of work for the good of the town. Fifteen or twenty years ago he was one of the most active of our public men, and no movement for the welfare of Richmond seemed complete until he was associated with it. He was a musician to the backbone, revelling in his art, and ever ready to use it at the call of charity. His affection for his old “Strad.” was almost touching. He had it with him on the fatal Tuesday morning, having been over by train to Strawberry Hill to have it re-strung by a man in whom he had great confidence. It was while on his way home from Richmond station, leaning on the arm of an acquaintance, that he complained of feeling unwell. The two went into the Greyhound for the purpose of obtaining a restorative, but before it could be supplied, the doctor sank and died.

The Barkas Notebooks greatly add to our picture of Sellé, with some additional facts as well as stories and anecdotes that give us a vivid account of his character. One entry refers to Henry Sellé as the organist of St Ann’s Church on Kew Green from 1845 to 1884; ‘Notes on Kew and Kew Gardens’ mentions that Sellé himself was at one time organist there and instigated a subscription fund to pay for a row of pedal pipes to be added the organ, the instrument originally commissioned by George III and subsequently presented to the church by George IV. It is, therefore, possible that Sellé was organist at St Ann’s until his appointment at Hampton Court, at which point his brother Henry took over as organist at Kew.

It seems safe to say that Sellé was an eccentric. The Richmond & Twickenham Times comments that:

Dr Selle was, perhaps, one of the best-known of our older residents. He was, indeed, one of our Richmond characters; he was associated with the place. Ever active, even in his old age, he was frequently to be seen about the streets dressed as was his wont in a familiar “sombrero” hat which was characteristic of himself. For some years past increasing infirmities had told upon him, and latterly he had become very feeble, while his partial blindness made it difficult for him to get about.

He can be seen in his sombrero both in the photograph owned by the Chapel and in a caricature in the Barkas collection, which presumably came originally from another unnamed newspaper. It shows Sellé smoking his long clay pipe, which can also be seen in the photograph worn on a cord round his neck rather as one might an antique pocket watch! That the caricature is titled simply “MUS. DOC.” (a well-known local figure) shows that he would have been known to probably every resident of Richmond.

One particularly colourful entry in Barkas notebook quotes the following article from an unnamed local newspaper:

An interesting reminiscence of musical life in Richmond has come to hand this week in the shape of a photograph souvenir from Mr A.Cooper of Kew. It is entitled "Musical Sketches no.1" and the subject is "The Arab to his Steed". The whole is described as the "Organic Remains of the Richmond Musical Society." The picture - faked, I believe - represents two gentlemen in fancy costume - one as the Arab and the other as his Steed. The Arab was played by Dr Keeny, whose costume reminds me as little of an arab as anything I have ever seen. The Steed is more successful, for Dr Selle, who impersonated the animal, has got himself up with hoofs, ears and a wonderful tail. He is playing the flute, by the way, and any of my readers who were in Richmond in 1863 may call both the gentlemen to mind. I must find out more about that Richmond Musical Society.

Perhaps the most delicious story of all, however, is to be found in an article printed in the Thames Valley Times on Wednesday September 4th 1895, entitled ‘A Chat about Old Richmond’.  It begins : 

Everyone is well acquainted with Richmond and its surroundings, but I doubt whether any of the people who know Richmond are aware that there are at least two inhabitants still living who remember Richmond as it was 70 years ago. I do not refer to the veteran Dr Sellé as one, but to two ladies resident on the Hill, who - if we are to judge by looks - are to exceed the average three-score years and ten by a very long way. 

The article takes the form of an interview with the old ladies and concludes: 

“I have heard it stated that Dr. Selle remembers seeing kangaroos on the Green”, to which the matter-of-fact reply is simply, “we remember something of animals upon the Green, but we could not positively say whether they were kangaroos or not.”