Ida Carroll OBE

Name: Ida Carroll OBE (1905 – 1995)

Role: Principal of the Northern School of Music; Dean of Management, Royal Northern College of Music

About: Ida Carroll played a key part in the founding of the RNCM, serving as Principal of the Northern School of Music (one of our founding institutions) between 1958 and 1972. The daughter of City of Manchester Schools Music Inspector for Schools, Lecturer in Music Education at the RMCM, and composer Walter Carroll, Ida dedicated her life and career to music education in Manchester. In 1973, following the formation of the RNCM, she joined staff as our first Dean of Management, a role she held until her retirement three years later.

Did you know? After retiring, Carroll dedicated herself to lecturing throughout Britain on her father’s music. She herself played the double bass (her own affectionately called Ebenezer) and wrote several works for the instrument which have become part of the standard repertoire. The story of the Carroll family was the subject of Basil Howitt’s entertaining book Walter and his Daughters (Forsyth).