Watkin Williams-Wynn, he set on foot the Handel Commemoration, which took place in Westminster Abbey in May and June 1784. At these performances he held the post of conductor. In 1785 the king appointed him a commissioner of the customs, and about the same time his name appears as vice-president of Westminster Hospital. He subsequently invested all his own and his wife's fortune in the unfortunate project of the Albion Mills, and when these were burnt in 1791, he was nearly ruined. The vexation and trouble resulting from this mischance brought on (says Burney) a complaint in his chest which finally proved fatal. In 1793 he resigned the conductorship of the Ancient Concerts, and on 8 June 1799 he died. A portrait of Joah Bates and his wife, by F. Coates, R.A., is in the possession of H. Littleton, Esq. References 1740s births 1799 deaths 18th-century English musicians People from Halifax, West Yorkshire People educated at Eton College Alumni of King's College, Cambridge Fellows of King's College, Cambridge