Roy Galbraith Henderson CBE (4 July 1899 – 16 March 2000) was a leading English baritone in the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s. He later became a teacher of singing, his most notable student being Kathleen Ferrier. 　　Henderson began study at the Royal Academy of Music in 1920, on the advice of the bass Robert Radford. He studied hard under Thomas Meux (singing) and John Blackwood McEwen (composition). He sang in Messiah once, in 1923, and vowed never to do so again. He made his first broadcast for the BBC (the first of very many) in 1924. In 1925, while he was still studying, he had the wonderful opportunity to sing in Delius's A Mass of Life at the Queen's Hall for the Royal Philharmonic Society, and was able to prepare the work and sing it from memory with the greatest success, within three weeks. The performance, on 2 April, was with Miriam Licette, Astra Desmond and Walter Widdop, conducted by Paul von Klenau. He was awarded the Worshipful Company of Musicians' medal as most distinguished student of the year, and so his name as a professional singer was immediately made. He was married in 1926. 　　He then began to obtain many engagements both in opera and in oratorio. He had seasons at Covent Garden, including Wagner roles, in 1928 and 1929. In 1929 at the Delius Festival under Sir Thomas Beecham, Henderson distinguished himself and was acclaimed by Delius as the unequalled interpreter of Zarathustra in A Mass of Life.[4][5] His performances of Delius's Sea Drift (a part created by Frederic Austin) were also considered masterly. Beecham had recorded this work with the baritone Dennis Noble in 1928, but this was not issued owing to unsatisfactory acoustics. In 1929 the Decca record company was established by (Sir) Edward Lewis, and in May 1929 Henderson was recruited to record the work as one of Decca's first issues.[6] There is also a recording of Songs of Sunset from the 1934 Leeds Festival under Beecham.