Henry Hargrave was an influential musical figure in the second half of the 18” century. There is little biographical information readily available but it would appear that he lived for some time in Nottingham and that he had contacts further north. Evidence for this comes from a letter discovered tucked into a volume of madrigals (published between 1740 and 1745) in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge. In it, Charles Avison of Newcastle (1709- 1770), himself a composer, records his approval of some madrigals which Mr Hargrave was making known in England.