Horace Weston

Horace Weston (c. 1825 – May 22, 1890) was an American musician, regarded as one of the finest banjo players of all time.

Biography A free-born African American, he was born in Derby, Connecticut, though there is uncertainty over his year of birth. Contemporary obituaries gave his age as 65 and year of birth as 1825, As a child, he moved to Waterbury. His father was a musician, and a music and dancing teacher.

Horace left home as a child, learned several musical instruments when young, including accordion, violin, and guitar, and worked as a dance teacher. He traveled in New York state, and after breaking his guitar began learning the banjo. After a while he began playing banjo in the streets of Hartford, Connecticut. In 1861, he tried but failed to join the United States Army, as no black volunteers were accepted at the time, but joined the U.S. Navy in Boston. He entertained fellow crew members with his banjo playing, before joining the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Regiment.

From 1876, he was under contract to producers Henry C. Jarrett and Henry Palmer. He played on the boat Plymouth Rock, and then in the company's production of Uncle Tom's Cabin, which they presented in Europe in 1878. Weston became highly successful in London. He met the Prince of Wales after one performance, and was then invited to perform for Queen Victoria. Though reports at the time claimed that Weston was illiterate and had ignored the written invitation, not knowing its significance, Weston himself later said that, when the letter was retrieved, he saw that the date of the audience had not yet passed and that "we succeeded in patching up the matter". He became associated with the S. S. Stewart banjo making firm, who built instruments to his design. He composed several pieces of banjo music, including "Horace Weston's Home Sweet Home," "Horace Weston's New Schottische," "Horace Weston's Old-Time Jig," and "Weston's Great Minor Jig." At the time of his death, he was considered "perhaps the greatest banjoist the world has ever heard."

In later years he was increasingly affected by rheumatism and then by dropsy, which led to his death at his home in Bleecker Street, New York, in 1890. He was buried at Evergreens Cemetery.