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Ernest Hall
English businessman, pianist and composer Ernest Hall was born in Bolton, Lancashire on 19 March 1930. He studied at the Royal Manchester College of Music.
As a businessman he made large sums of money in the textile business and by selling property.
He led a consortium which, in 1983, bought Dean Clough Mills, a disused carpet mill complex in Halifax, and converted it into an arts, business, design and education centre.
As a composer, he wrote two piano sonatas. He recorded the complete piano works of Bartók, Chopin and Busoni, while in his sixties and seventies, claiming that 'age is no barrier to achievement'.
He sat on various committees, including the National Arts Council, and was chair of Northern Ballet and Yorkshire Arts.
Ernest Hall died on 3 August 2024, aged ninety-four.