Dame Ruth Railton (14 December 1915 – 23 February 2001) was a British

music director A music director, musical director or director of music is a person responsible for the musical aspects of a performance, production, or organization. This would include the artistic director and usually chief conductor of an orchestra or concert ...

and

conductor Conductor or conduction may refer to: Biology and medicine * Bone conduction, the conduction of sound to the inner ear * Conduction aphasia, a language disorder Mathematics * Conductor (ring theory) * Conductor of an abelian variety * Cond ...

. After St. Mary's School, Wantage, and the Royal Academy of Music, she became director of music or choral work for several schools including St. Catherine’s, Bramley. She founded the

National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain The National Youth Orchestra (NYO), formerly the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain, is the national youth orchestra of the United Kingdom, consisting of 164 members of ages 13 to 19 years. Auditions take place in the autumn each year at va ...

in 1948. She was an adjudicator of the Federation of Music Festivals from 1946-74. She was created a

Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

in 1966. She was one of four daughters and one son, David, born to the Rev David Railton, the son of George Scott Railton, who was second in command of

William William is a masculine given name of Germanic languages, Germanic origin. It became popular in England after the Norman Conquest, Norman conquest in 1066,All Things William"Meaning & Origin of the Name"/ref> and remained so throughout the Middle ...

and

Catherine Booth Catherine Booth (''née'' Mumford, 17 January 1829 – 4 October 1890) was co-founder of The Salvation Army, along with her husband William Booth. Because of her influence in the formation of The Salvation Army she was known as the 'Moth ...

Salvation Army The Salvation Army (TSA) is a Protestantism, Protestant Christian church and an international charitable organisation headquartered in London, England. It is aligned with the Wesleyan-Holiness movement. The organisation reports a worldwide m ...

. In 1962, she married

Cecil Harmsworth King Cecil Harmsworth King (20 February 1901 – 17 April 1987) was Chairman of Daily Mirror Newspapers, Sunday Pictorial Newspapers, and the International Publishing Corporation (1963–1968), and a director at the Bank of England (1965–1968). B ...

; he died in 1987 at their home in Dublin, where they had relocated. After his death, she became patron of the Cecil King Award for the Young Manager of the Year, promoted jointly by the Irish Management Institute, the Institute of Management in Northern Ireland and ''

The Irish Times ''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It was launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is Ireland's leading n ...

''.Obituary: Dame Ruth Railton
''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' (1 March 2001); accessed 13 April 2016.Obituary
telegraph.co.uk; accessed 13 April 2016.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Railton, Ruth 1915 births 2001 deaths Dames Commander of the Order of the British Empire Conductors (music) awarded knighthoods Place of birth missing Alumni of the Royal Academy of Music People educated at St Mary's School, Wantage People educated at Heathfield School, Ascot 20th-century British conductors (music)