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Rowland, Alexander Campbell (1826-96)
Alexander Campbell Rowland was one of the foremost influences in the musical life of mid/late nineteenth-century Southampton. He left London for Southampton in May 1854 on account of his delicate health. He acquired the musical practice of Philip Klitz, who had died four months earlier, and followed Klitz as music master at Southampton College and Boarding School. He also took private pupils, giving lessons on the pianoforte, violin, violoncello, cornet and concertina as well as in singing and harmony. He was appointed conductor of the Southampton Choral Harmonic Society in October 1856 and oversaw its transition to the Southampton Sacred Harmonic Society in November 1859. He founded the Southampton Musical Society, with a 100-strong band and chorus, in November 1863 and was a joint founder of the Southampton Philharmonic Society in 1874.He was in his own right a concert performer on the cello, and often accompanied his daughter Jemima who, following her marriage to William Henry Futcher, took the stage name ‘Madame Futcher’. An enthusiastic musical impresario, Rowland organized concerts at all the major Southampton venues.

Rowland, Alexander Campbell (1848 - )
Alexander Campbell Rowland, eldest son of the above, was born on 11 October 1848 and baptized at St James’s Church, Clerkenwell. He followed his father’s interest in music, both father and son being described in The Southampton directory for 1869 (complied in 1868) as professors of music. To avoid confusion, the father was known as Alexander Rowland whilst the son called himself Campbell Rowland. In July 1869 Campbell opened a music saloon in Fitzroy House, Bellevue, for the sale of pianofortes, harmoniums, etc as well as “all the newest music of the day at half price”. The entire stock of music and instruments were selected by his father (Hampshire Independent, 3 July 1869). He was also a piano tuner, music teacher and organist and choirmaster of St Saviour’s Church, Bitterne and, after September 1876, of St James’s Church (Docks), Southampton. As his father, Campbell Rowland was a concert performer on the cello, the two frequently performing duets together. The 1871 census finds him on a professional visit to Plymouth, where he is described as a pianoforte tuner. Campbell later emigrated to Natal. He married Lucie Emma Adcock on 24 November 1885 at St Saviour’s Cathedral in Pietermaritzburg, where he was organist and choirmaster (Times of Natal, 25 November 1885). He was also music instructor at Maritzburg College (Old Collegians in the twentieth century included the Hampshire and England cricketer Kevin Pietersen).

Further reading:

Biographical sketch of Alexander Campbell Rowland (1826-96) in appendix 1 of ‘Bedford Mews and Southampton Riding School: a mid-nineteenth century equestrian enclave in Carlton Place’, by Richard Preston (Southampton Occasional Papers no. 2)

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