Ayrton, Dr. EDMUND, was born in 1734, at Ripon in Yorkshire, of which borough his father was an active and upright magistrate, whose three immediate ancestors held, successively, the consolidated livings of Nidd and Stainley, within the liberty of that town.
He was intended for the church, and received his education at the free grammar school of his native place; where, during five years, he was a contemporary of Beilby Porteus, afterwards Bishop of London. But his father, finding it prudent to indulge his son's natural inclination for the study of music, placed him under the instruction of Dr. Nares, then organist of the cathedral at York, with whom he commenced an acquaintance, which ripened into a friendship that death alone terminated. At an early age he was elected organist, auditor, and rector chart of the collegiate church of Southwell, in Nottinghamshire, where he resided some years, and married a lady of good family, by whom he had fifteen children. He quitted that place in 1764, upon being appointed gentleman of the chapel royal; shortly after which, he was installed a vicar choral of St. Paul's Cathedral, and subsequently became one of the lay clerks of Westminster Abbey. In 1780, he was promoted, by Bishop Lowth, to the office of master of the children of his majesty's chapels, upon the resignation of his valuable friend Dr. Nares. In 1784, the University of Cambridge conferred on him the degree of doctor in music ; and, some time after, he was admitted ad eundem in the university of Oxford. His exercise was a grand anthem for a full orchestra, which merited and gained so much praise, that it was ordered to be performed, with a complete band, in St. Paul's Cathedral, on the 29th of July, 1784, being the day of the general thanksgiving for the peace. This work was afterwards published in score. In the same year he was chosen one of the assistant directors of the far-famed commemoration of Handel, in Westminster Abbey ; which situation he filled at all the succeeding performances in that venerable building, till they were discontinued at the troublesome era of the French revolution. In 1805, he relinquished the mastership of the children of the royal chapel, having been allowed for many previous years to execute the duties of all his other appointments by deputy. He died in 1808, and his remains were deposited in the cloisters of Westminster Abbey, near those of his wife and several of his children, whom he survived.
Dr. Ayrton was an excellent musician, of which his compositions for the church bear indubitable evidence. The performance of these has been confined chiefly to the royal chapel ; but the publication of them, which has long been expected, would usefully augment the musical re-sources of our various choirs, and add no small lustre to the name of their author.
AYTON, FANNY. An English soprano of eminence, educated in Italy. She could utter more than twenty syllables in a second of time, with a neatness and precision not easily surpassed. Her first appearance in England was in 1828, as Ninetta, in "La Gazza Ladra," and an engagement of considerable extent was offered her, had she consented to Italianize her name to Atonini.