Dictionary of National Biography, 1912 supplement/Steggall, Charles
STEGGALL, CHARLES (1826–1905), organist and composer, son of Robert William Steggall, was born in London on 3 June 1826. He was educated at the Royal Academy of Music, principally under Sir William Sterndale Bennett. In 1848, while still a student, he was appointed organist of Christ Chapel, Maida Vale, and in 1849 was consulted by Bennett as to the inauguration of the Bach Society, of which he was honorary secretary till its dissolution in 1870. He was appointed a professor of the organ at the Royal Academy of Music in 1851; and next year graduated Mus.Bac. and Mus.Doc. at Cambridge. In 1855 he was chosen the first organist of Christ Church, Lancaster Gate, being at the same time organist of Clapham grammar school, and in 1864 he became organist of Lincoln's Inn Chapel, where he remained till his death, though for the later years his son, William Reginald Steggall, usually discharged the duties. Between 1850 and 1870 he frequently lectured on musical subjects in London and the provinces. He was one of the founders of the Royal College of Organists in 1864, gave the inaugural lecture, and, with John Hullah and Edward John Hopkins, conducted the first examination in July 1866. In 1884 he joined the board of directors of the Royal Academy of Music; and when Principal Macfarren died, in 1887, he took his place until the election of a successor. He resigned his professorship at the Academy in 1903, after fifty-two years' service. He died in London on 7 June 1905. As a composer he is best known by his church music—hymn tunes, anthems, services, carols, chants, organ compositions and arrangements. He wrote an 'Instruction Book for the Organ' (1875) edited 'Church Psalmody' (1848) and six motets of Bach, and succeeded Dr. W. H. Monk as musical editor of 'Hymns Ancient and Modern' (1889).
[Musical Times, July 1905; Musical Herald, July 1905, with portrait; Grove's Dictionary of Music personal knowledge.]