Though George Grove (1820-1900) was never a professional musician, his is one of the most familiar names in music: as founder of the great Dictionary of Music and Musicians that bears his name and first director of the Royal College of Music. This book surveys his varied activities as engineer, biblical scholar, administrator, educationalist and writer on music, and assesses the qualities that led him to play a major role in the cultural life of London in the period 1850-1900.