Samuel Wesley (24 February 1766 – 11 October 1837) was an English organist and composer in the late Georgian period. Wesley was a contemporary of Mozart (1756–1791) and was called by some "the English Mozart". Personal life Born in Bristol, he was the son of noted Methodist and hymnodist Charles Wesley, the grandson of Samuel Wesley (a poet of the late Stuart period) and the nephew of John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist Church. His early musical education mostly took place in the family home in Bristol, where Sarah Wesley, his mother, sang and played the harpsichord. Hymn tunes and the works of Handel were the family's favourite pieces. Samuel also had lessons from David Williams, the organist of All Saints' Church, Bristol. In 1771 his father acquired a second house, in Chesterfield Street, Marylebone, London. Samuel left Bristol for the house in London by 1778. Samuel informed his mother of his philosophical conviction that his marriage had been constituted by sexual intercourse, precluding any civil or religious ceremony, but after a scandalous delay he married Charlotte Louise Martin in 1793, and they had three children. This marriage broke up with Charlotte's discovery of Samuel's affair with the teenaged domestic servant Sarah Suter. Samuel and Sarah never married but had four children together, among them Samuel Sebastian Wesley (1810–1876) who was a cathedral organist and notable composer. In 1784, Wesley privately converted to Roman Catholicism, to the dismay of his uncle John Wesley. His hymnodist father expressed his opinion in the following words: To celebrate his conversion, Samuel composed an elaborate Mass, the Missa de Spiritu Sancto, dedicating it to Pope Pius VI. According to his obituary, he may subsequently have denied any conversion. In 1788 Wesley was initiated into Freemasonry in the Lodge of Antiquity, London. The Duke of Sussex appointed him Grand Organist of the Premier Grand Lodge of England in 1812, and he continued in office through the process of Masonic unification in 1813, serving as the first Grand Organist of the United Grand Lodge of England. He served as Grand Organist for five years, standing down in 1818. Wesley died in 1837 aged 71, and was buried in St Marylebone Parish Church, London. Career Samuel showed his musical talent early in life. As a boy, he was recognised as a child prodigy by the British musical establishment, along with his elder brother, Charles. He quickly