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Born 1726 in Shrewsbury; educated at Chester free school; studied music under his half-brother, James Burney, 1742-1744, and the composer, Thomas Arne in London, 1744-1748; contributed music to The Masque of Alfred by James Thomson, 1745; published six sonatas for two violins and a bass, 1747; patronised by the MP and diplomat, Fulke Greville after meeting in 1747; appointed organist of St Dionis Backchurch, 1749; elected member of the Royal Society of Musicians, 1749; provided the music to Robin Hood by Moses Mendes, Drury Lane, 1750 and the pantomime of Queen Mab, 1750; following a serious illness took the post of organist at Lyme Regis, 1751-1760; returned to London, 1760; taught music and adapted Jean Rousseau's opera Le Devin de Village, produced as The Cunning Man, Drury Lane, 1766; took the degree of Mus. Doc., Oxford, 1769; also interested in astronomy, publishing An essay towards a history of the principal comets (London, 1769); toured France, Switzerland and Italy in 1770, and Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany in 1772 in order to research A General History of Music, 4 vols (London, 1776-1789); elected a fellow of the Royal Society, 1773; began to collect material for his 'Memoirs' (unpublished, but partly incorporated by his daughter in his biography, published 1832), 1782-[1814]; appointed organist at Chelsea Hospital, 1783; member of the Literary Club, 1784; contributed criticisms to the Monthly Review, [1789]-1793; wrote Memoirs of the Life and Writings of Abate Metastasio, 3 vols (G G and J Robinson, London, 1796); collected material for a 'Dictionary of Music' (uncompleted), 1797-1802; wrote musical biographies for Rees' Encyclopaedia, 1801-[1807]; died 1814 in Chelsea.