Susan Spain-Dunk
1880 - 1962
Susan Spain-Dunk (22 February 1880 Folkestone, England – 1 January 1962 London) was an English composer, conductor and violinist/violist.
Susan was the third of four children (Ethel K Dunk b. 1876; John De Lanoy Dunk b. 1878; Susan Spain Dunk b. 1880; William Major b. 1882). Their father was a house builder. Her second name, Spain, was added as the Dunk family were related to the Spain family. She studied violin and composition at The Royal Academy of Music, London with Stewart Macpherson and Richard Walthew and later taught composition and harmony there. For a time she played the viola in a private quartet of Walter Cobbett. She also played (violin or viola) in the Winifred Small Quartet and Cobbett made suggestions for "Anthology" programmes for the quartet. She conducted some of her own works at The British Women's Symphony Orchestra, at The London Promenade Concerts (1924-1927) and also at Bournemouth, Eastbourne and Torquay.
In 1908 she married Henry Gibson. He was a minor composer, violinist, organist and pianist. The marriage lasted about sixteen years and she had one son, The Reverend Alan Henry Gibson, and two grandchildren. In the mid-1930s she was living at 17, Elm Park Mansions in Chelsea. She died on 1 January 1962 aged 81.
Biography taken from Wikipedia.
