His father was a musician in the Hanoverian guard, which William joined at the age of 14. Wilhelm Herschel was born in Hanover, Germany; he was one of the ten children. Also four of his brothers died at a really young age. In 1755 Wilhelm Herschel was sent to England. He learned English really fast, and then soon after he changed his name to Frederick William Herschel. He became a very good musician teacher, he played the following instruments the violin the oboe and then he played the organ.
In Yorkshire he made a small military band. He composed a lot of musical works, also he made 24 symphonies and a lot of solo plays, and also he made some church music. But we forget a lot of his music works today. After leading orchestras in Newcastle, he became an organist at the Paris Church of St John the Baptist, Halifax, West Yorkshire., he also became the organist of Octagon Chapel, Bath, also in the same town he became a Director of Public Concerts. The job at Darlington gave him a lot of time for the next two years he traveled a lot, mainly on a horse, giving lessons and organizing musicals.
But he was not happy. As he wrote to Jacob, 'I am almost tired of having no home or place to be fixed in... I do not know what will become of me at the last...' Some years later a Doctor Miller, organist at Don Caster, is reported to have claimed that he found William and invited him to come and live with him but, like William told his son John, this was not true. In the spring of 1762 William was made the Director of Public Concerts at Leeds, staying there for four happy years and living with a Mr. and Mrs. Bulman, they remained good and faithful friends for many years. After staying for a short time with Dr and Mrs. De Chair, to whom he owed his new position, William found a places to stay in Bath but, as the number of his people increased, he soon found out that he would need to rent a house in Beaufort Square.
Caroline was his sister, and she came to England and lived with him there in New King Street. Alexander finally staying in one place permanently and Caroline were brought to Williams’s house when she was allowed to join his brothers in 1772. Also, in the following year, was where William's interest in astronomy really took off. During the summer of 1774 the Including William and his families moved again, to a house on the Side of Bath, described as 'situated near Walcott Turnpike'. The house had sheds and stables, to be turned into workshops, and a field for observing, but was really far from the concert halls so, after three years, they found themselves back in New King Street. The Bulmans had left them, in 1775, to return to Leeds.
The new house, Number 19 New King Street, had a garden, with a southern aspect, and it is a mystery why, two years later in 1779 they moved again to the upper part of the town, this time to Number 5 Rivers Street. His brothers Dietrich Alexander and Jacob who lived 1734-1792 also became musicians of The Chapel in the town called Bath. In 1788 Herschel married Mary Pitt, a wealthy woman, and he had his only son with her. William and his wife Mary had only one child, they named him John, and he was born at the Observatory House on March 7, 1792. In 1816, William became a Knight of the Royal Guelph Order by the Prince Regent, and he got there his prefix Sir. On August 25, 1822, 6 years after he became a Knight, Herschel died at the Observatory House, Slough, and he was buried at a close St Laurence’s Church, Upton.
