T.M.Lawrence (1909 – 1984) was a parish priest who wrote songs, madrigals, motets, a Latin Mass, a concert Opera and a number of instrumental works including a clarinet Sonata and a Suite for solo cello. In later life he won a number of awards & commissions including First Prize at the London Madrigal Society (1965), First and Third Prizes in the Light Music Society’s annual song competition Composición Musical, Columbia (1981).

He studied with Douglas Fox, the well-known English organist and pupil of C.V.Stanford and Hubert Parry, who tragically lost his right arm during the first World War. In his setting of “The World’s Desire” with words by G.K.Chesterton, each verse has a different harmonisation with a colourful ‘fughetta’ to finish.