John Stafford Smith

Ironically, the man who wrote the music to the United States' national anthem was an Englishman. John Stafford Smith (1750-1836) was a well-regarded composer and member of a drinking club known as the Anacreontic Society, whose membership included Dr. Samuel Johnson, James Boswell, and Sir Joshua Reynolds. He was tasked with writing the club’s official song “To Anacreon in Heaven.” Later, when Francis Scott Key witnessed the bombing of Ft. McHenry, he wrote his famous words to the music. In his circle, Smith was also known as a musicologist who was among the first collectors of Johann Sebastian Bach’s scores.