English lutenist and composer. Details of his life are unknown until Anne Batchelor, a teacher from Leeds, decided to research her family history (Haynes, 1991; Batchelor, 1988). She discovered that he was born the son of a farmer in Aston Clinton, Buckinghamshire, apprenticed to a lutenist at the age of seven, and entered the service of the Walsingham family and later royal service as Groom of the Privy Chamber at the court of Queen Anne. Batchelor’s compositions date from 1588, and the style of some of his lute solos suggests that he was still composing in the last years of his life. More than 50 of his lute solos have survived in manuscript form. Some of his pieces require considerable technical skill, and he was one of the first lutenists to incorporate melodic passages in the lower registers of the instrument. His best-known composition is probably his version of Monsieur’s Almain. [from Eric Crouch]