Edward Willis Fletcher was born October 5, 1842 in Bryanston Square, Westminster, London, England a son of Robert (1817 - 1912) and Rachel (1815 - ) Fletcher. ¹ By 1861 he had established himself at the age of nineteen as an artificial florist. On September 29 of that year he married Harriett Emma Handley (1837-1902) a daughter of soldier, William Handley.² Harriet and her sister, Selina, had both worked as artificial florists as children. During the next ten years he built his business in Finsbury, Islington to employ "4 boys, 1 man and 6 females." At the same time the couple's family grew to include four children: Amy, Edward Robert, Ivy, and Mildred.³

Nothing is known of his musical training or his interest in the horn, however in 1868 at the age of twenty-six he began compiling the manuscript of horn excerpts from symphonies, oratorios shown here. ⁴ In it he records that he played a "Sextette of Haydn's for Winds"  in F. for two clarinets, two bassoons and two horns in December, 1873.  The soiree took place at  Dr. Stone's house in Dean's Yard, Westminster. The other players listed by Mr. Fletcher were Lazarus, Beddome, Hutchins, Dr Stone, and Mr. Hanart [sic, Hanhart]. ⁵

His son, Edward Robert Fletcher, became an accomplished horn player, organist, and professor of music (see below).

Edward Willis Fletcher died May 9, 1880, at the age of thirty-eight. He had been a patient at the Middlesex Lunatic Asylum, Banstead, Surrey, perhaps a victim of the chemistry used in the manufacture of artificial flowers (e.g. compounds of arsenic, mercury, lead, and chromium). His widow, Harriet, continued the business for many years thereafter. She died at Highbury, Middlesex on January 16, 1902.

In addition to the horn, Mr.. Fletcher had an interest in music for the voice. In August 1861 (a month before his marriage to Harriett Handley) he published lyrics for a song, "His Eyes" in The Musical World (see right). This song attracted the attention of one reader, who requested his address. Subsequently, Mr. Fletcher offered to send it to either of two publishers. An anthem, "Rejoice in the Lord" was published by The London Music Publishers (bottom right). In 1870 Mr. Fletcher's comment to the Sunday Times regarding the use of secular tunes in sacred music caught the eye of an editor of Notes and Queries:

HYMN TUNES. A correspondent of the Sunday Times, May, 1870, referring to the dispute about performing secular music in the parks on Sundays, states that many hymns presently in use were sung to tunes composed for secular melodies, and gives as one instance the famous Advent hymn beginning "Lo! he comes with clouds descending." "This," the writer says "was composed as a hornpipe for a Miss Catline, who danced in a pantomime called Harlequin Tom Thumb, and played at Covent Garden (long before it was the E. I. O. many years ago.) To be told this would shock the nerves of many a steady-going churchman while he listens to the beautiful hymn as it rolls forth from the organ in slow common time." This curious piece of information is signed E. Willis Fletcher, Islington, April 28, 1870.

By "Miss Catline" probably Miss Catley was meant. There is no notice of any pantomime called Tom Thumb mentioned in the Biographic; and although Miss Catley was a charming singer, and was celebrated for her appearance in Dr. Arne's delightful opera of Comus, I was certainly surprised by finding her brought forward as a dancer. Is there any truth at all in this curious statement? J- N

Other Writings

In 1860, at the age of seventeen, Mr. Fletcher was keenly interested in the theater and its history. As a charter subscriber to The Players, a weekly journal dedicated to the theater arts, he submitted a brief article entitled "The Licensing of Plays" which was published in the "Notes, Anecdotes, &c." column on February 13, 1860. According to Mr. Fletcher, the Licensing Act of 1736 was "exceedingly unjust" and would not have been passed except for self-serving efforts of the prime minister himself. 

The following month The Players published his short story "A Morning Rehearsal." In the story the unnamed protagonist, narrating in first person, meets by chance his friend, Mr. Roscius Scrawl, who invites him to a morning rehearsal of his new play, Crossboned Cavern or the Pirate of the Rolling Wave at the Royal Bomberdash Theatre.

Two weeks later, apparently satisfied with his writing skills, The Players published the first of eleven chapters of his novelette "The Fortunes and Misfortunes Before and Behind the Curtain or Buzzen Fitz-Buzzen" (see above right). In this story two gentlemen, one younger (Mr. Charles Buzzen) the other substantially older (Mr. Joshua Merry) are clerks in a law firm and have in common an affinity for the theater. Taking lunch alone at a local restaurant one day, Buzzen overhears three other young gentlemen "of a very showy and attractive appearance" discussing a disastrous performance of Macbeth by one of their other friends, that one of them had witnessed the night before. Buzzen joins in the conversation, and afterwards confides to Mr. Merry that he has aspirations to the stage himself, hoping someday to play Othello. Mr. Merry says he knows the men at lunch and can make some connections for him. They agree to meet later that evening, however Mr. Merry is delayed due, as he explains later, to encounters with his landlady and his washer woman who are among his several creditors. They proceed to the "Merry Wives of Windsor", a bar in Covent Garden frequented by amateur actors. In the Club Room Mr. Buzzen is introduced to the '"Thespian Trumps'", an amateur thespian society where he recognizes two of the men he had met at lunch. He is elected as a member to the Society by unanimous vote and then to his delight is offered a double role in the following week's performance of Beauty of the Village. Out of gratitude for his assistance he loans Mr. Merry some money to pay his debts and hopes someday to introduce him to his wealthy maiden aunt. For some time Mr. Buzzen has been enamored of Miss Letitia Primrose, age 18, and he now becomes nervous about his first appearance on the stage, especially since it will require him to kiss the lovely maid, "Becky", in front of Letty and her mother who are expected to be present in the audience. He explains to her that the kiss is required in the script, but she strictly forbids it. She finally consents "after a time and much persuasion, coupled with a promise of a new pair of mauve or magenta colour gloves."⁷

On May 5, 1860 Mr. Fletcher submitted a humorous anecdote called "Laconic Epistles" (above), which, however, was shown by another reader two weeks later to be impossible due the fact that the two parties depicted could never have met.  

In the intervening week Mr. Fletcher submitted another humorous story ( right).

Edward Robert Fletcher, son of Edward Willis and Harriett Fletcher, was born June 15, 1868 in Pimlico. He became an accomplished organist, conductor, and horn player.  In 1900 he was admitted to the Royal Society of Musicians of Great Britain. He described his occupation as "music master in genteral." He was an organist for five years at  "Spa Fields", Islington, and also taught piano. For three years he performed as second horn at the St. James' Theatre. and also played in the Sunday League Orchestra and on the Harrison concert tour. In 1926 he was listed as "E.W. Fletcher" (his father's initials) in the "French Horn" section of the Musicians Union (London Branch) membership book, residing at 49 Rosebank Avenue, Harrow. In addition he served as conductor of the Opera Company on tour. As a concert organizer he became good friends with ballerina Anna Pavlova and her musical director, Theodore Stier. He also contracted the orchestra for the 1924 Italian Ballet at Covent Garden.

On July 10, 1902 Mr. Fletcher married Johanna Wilhelmine Helene Dorothea Heitmann (ca. 1880 - 1960), daughter of Johann Nicolaus Heitmann (deceased), a timber merchant in Germany. Together they had two sons, Edward Burbage Fletcher, (ca. 1903 - 2002) and Ronald T. R. Fletcher (1921 - 2001). During World War I he enlisted in the British Army. 

Edward Robert Fletcher died December 18, 1942.⁸