Edward German - Life and Career

Life and Career

German was born German Edward Jones in Whitchurch, Shropshire, England, the second of five children. He was the older of two sons of John David Jones, a liquor merchant, brewer, church organist and lay preacher at the local Congregational Chapel, and Elizabeth (Betsy) Cox (d. 1901), a teacher of Bible classes for young women. His first name was an anglicized form of the Welsh name "Garmon." His parents called him Jim. He began to study piano and organ with his father at the age of five. At the age of six, he formed a boys' concert band to perform locally, teaching himself the violin, composition, and music arrangement in the process. He later sang alto in the church choir and participated in family entertainments above his uncle's grocery shop, often playing piano duets and performing comic sketches with his elder sister Ruth, who died when he was 15. He also wrote comic poems. His younger sisters were Mabel and Rachel.

In his mid-teens, German's parents attempted to apprentice him to a shipbuilding firm, as they believed their son had an aptitude for engineering. His studies at a boarding-school in Chester had been delayed by a serious illness, however, and so he was turned away for being too old to begin an apprenticeship. In his teens he formed a second band, a quintette, including himself on the violin, his sister on the pianoforte or the bass and three friends of the family, for which German prepared the orchestrations. He also led the town orchestra, did some amateur acting and sang comic songs in local village halls.