Eric Gritton was born in 1889. At the age of 7 he began his choristership at King’s College, Cambridge where he remained for the rest of his schooldays. After these powerfully formative years under the musical leadership of Dr A. H. ‘Daddy’ Mann, Eric went straight from King’s to the Royal College of Music on an organ scholarship in 1905 where he studied organ with Sir Walter Parratt and composition with C.V. Stanford. He won many prizes including the Sullivan Prize for Composition (1908) and Organ Extemporising Prize (1909). Not yet twenty years old, he gained his ARCO and FRCO. Alongside John Ireland, Eric won the Cobbett Prize, coveted by composers and was awarded the Mendelssohn Scholarship entitling him to further his studies abroad. When war broke out in 1914, Eric was called up and joined the 3rd Battalion of the London Rifle Brigade where, in addition to his military duties, he was appointed the Battalion’s principal pianist, composer and accompanist producing three very successful Revues.