Harold Fraser-Simson was an English composer of light music. Born in London, he was educated at Charterhouse School, Dulwich College, and King’s College London. He initially worked in a shipping-related business before turning to music as a full-time career in his early forties. His early composition work included songs and stage music, but his major breakthrough came with the operetta The Maid of the Mountains (1917), which premiered at Daly’s Theatre in London. Fraser-Simson later became especially known for his musical settings of A. A. Milne’s verse, including songs based on When We Were Very Young and Winnie-the-Pooh, as well as the cycle The Hums of Pooh, drawn from Milne’s Pooh stories. He also composed music for Toad of Toad Hall (1929), based on Kenneth Grahame’s The Wind in the Willows. Fraser-Simson died on January 19, 1944 in Scotland.
