ABSTRACT
Humphrey Withy, Henry Moule and John Toy were all, at various times, near neighbours to the Tomkins family in College Green. Other friends, such as the Childes of Poole Court lived further afield and among these were the composer Nicholas Carlton, dedicatee of Tomkins's madrigal Phyllis, yet see him dying, whose home was at Beoley in the north of the county. Tomkins was fortunate in his friends and in his happy marriage. Both must have been strained by the nature of his dual responsibilities to both Worcester and London. After his appointment as an organist of the Chapel Royal in 1621 it is probable that he would have been required to spend an even greater proportion of his time at court than in former years. On 27 March, William Laud, by then the bishop of St David's, was preaching the mid-Lent Sunday afternoon sermon to a large gathering of courtiers in the Chapel Royal at Whitehall.
