This is a chronological list of classical music composers living or working in England or originating from there. Entries are alphabetical within each year.

Medieval

• Godric (c. 1065–1170) • W. de Wycombe (fl. c. 1275–1279) • John Hanboys (14th century); may be J. de Alto Bosco (fl. c. 1370) • Johannes Alanus (14th century; died 1373?) • Aleyn (fl. c. 1400) • Byttering (fl. c. 1410–1420) • Pycard (fl. c. 1410) • Roy Henry (fl. c. 1410)

Renaissance

• Leonel Power (c. 1370/1385–1445) • John Dunstaple (c. 1390–1453) • John Hothby (c. 1410–1487) • John Plummer (c. 1410 – c. 1483) • Henry Abyngdon (c. 1418–1497) • William Haute (c. 1430–1497) • Robert Morton (c. 1430 – post-1479) • Richard Hygons (c. 1435 – c. 1509) • Walter Frye (fl. c. 1443 – c. 1474) • Gilbert Banester (c. 1445–1487) • Walter Lambe (c. 1450 – c. 1504) • John Browne (b. c. 1453, fl. c. 1490) • Robert Fayrfax (1464–1521) • Richard Davy (c. 1465 – c. 1538) • William Cornysh the younger (1468–1523) • Robert Johnson (c. 1470 – post-1554) • Thomas Ashewell (c. 1478 – post-1513) • John Redford (c. 1486–1547) • Nicholas Ludford (c. 1490–1557) • Henry VIII (1491–1547) • John Taverner (1495–1545) • Christopher Tye (c. 1505 – c. 1572) • Anthony de Countie (died 1579) • Thomas Tallis (c. 1505–1585) • John Merbecke (c. 1510 – c. 1585) • John Sheppard (c. 1515–1559) • Richard Farrant (c. 1525–1580) • William Mundy (c. 1528 – pre-1591) • Robert Parsons (c. 1535–1572) • Robert White (c. 1538–1574) • William Byrd (c. 1540–1623) • Anthony Holborne (c. 1545–1602) • Francis Cutting (c. 1550–1595/1596) • John Mundy (c. 1555–1630) • Thomas Morley (1557–1602) • Peter Philips (c. 1560–1628) • William Brade (1560–1630) • John Bull (c. 1562–1628) • John Dowland (1563–1626) • Giles Farnaby (c. 1563–1640) • William Leighton (c. 1565–1622) • Thomas Campion (1567–1620) • Philip Rosseter (1568–1623) • Tobias Hume (c. 1569–1645) • John Coprario (John Cooper; Giovanni Coperario) (1570–1626) • John Farmer (c. 1570 – c. 1601) • Thomas Lupo (1571–1627) • Martin Peerson (1571/1573–1650) • John Ward (1571–1638) • Daniel Bacheler (1572–1618) • Thomas Tomkins (1572–1656) • Ellis Gibbons (1573–1603) • John Wilbye (1574–1638) • John Bennet (c. 1575 – post-1614) • Thomas Cutting (late 16th c. lutenist to Arbella Stuart, Christian IV and Henry Frederick, Prince of Wales) • Alfonso Ferrabosco the younger (c. 1575–1628) • Thomas Weelkes (1576–1623) • John Maynard (c. 1577 – c. 1633) • Richard Dering (c. 1580–1630) • Michael East (c. 1580–1648) • Thomas Ford (c. 1580–1648) • Orlando Gibbons (1583–1625) • Robert Johnson (1583–1633) • Thomas Robinson (c. 1588 – post-1609)

Baroque

• Nicholas Lanier (1588–1666) • Richard Mico (1590–1661) • John Jenkins (1592–1678) • Henry Lawes (1595–1662) • John Wilson (1595–1674) • John Hilton (1599–1657) • William Lawes (1602–1645) • Christopher Simpson (c. 1602/1606–1669) • William Child (1606–1697) • Thomas Brewer (1611 – c. 1660) • Henry Cooke (c. 1616–1672) • Christopher Gibbons (1615–1676) • Matthew Locke (c. 1621–1677) • John Banister (c. 1624/1630–1679) • Pelham Humphrey (1647–1674) • Michael Wise (1647–1687) • John Blow (1649–1708) • William Turner (1651–1740) • Henry Purcell (1659–1695) • Daniel Purcell (1664–1717) • Johann Christoph Pepusch (John Christopher, 1667–1742) • John Eccles (1668–1735) • Henry Eccles (1670–1742) • Jeremiah Clarke (c. 1674–1707) • John Weldon (1676–1736) • William Croft (1678–1727) • William Corbett (1680–1748) • Abiell Whichello (1683–1747) • George Frideric Handel (1685–1759) • Thomas Roseingrave (1688–1766) • William Babell (1689/1690–1723) • Robert Woodcock (c. 1690–1728) • Maurice Greene (1696–1755) • Richard Jones (late 17th c. – 1744) • Joseph Gibbs (1699–1788)

Classical era

• Thomas Chilcot (c. 1707–1766) • Charles Avison (1709–1770) • Thomas Arne (1710–1778) • Thomas Gladwin (1710–1799) • William Boyce (1711–1779) • John Hebden (1712–1765) • John Stanley (1712–1786) • James Nares (1715–1783) • John Garth (1721–1810) • Charles Burney (1726–1814) • Capel Bond (1730–1790) • William Jackson (1730–1803) • Thomas Sanders Dupuis (1733–1796) • Thomas Linley the elder (1733–1795) • Benjamin Cooke (1734–1793) • John Bennett (c. 1735–1784) • Philip Hayes (1738–1797) • William Herschel (1738–1822) • Michael Arne (1740/1741–1786) • Samuel Arnold (1740–1802) • Samuel Webbe (1740–1816) • James Hook (1746–1827) • William Shield (1748–1829) • John Stafford Smith (1750–1836) • John Marsh (1752–1828) • Thomas Linley the younger (1756–1778) • Stephen Storace (1762–1796) • Matthew Camidge (1764–1844) • John Addison (c. 1765–1844) • Thomas Attwood (1765–1838) • Samuel Wesley (1766–1837)

Romantic

• William Crotch (1775–1847) • Thomas Adams (1785–1858) • George Pinto (1785–1806) • Sir Henry Bishop (1787–1856) • Cipriani Potter (1792–1871) • Robert Lucas de Pearsall (1795–1856) • John Goss (1800–1880) • John Lodge Ellerton (1801–1873) • Elias Parish Alvars (1808–1849) • Samuel Sebastian Wesley (1810–1876) • George Alexander Macfarren (1813–1887) • William Christian Sellé (1813–1898) • Henry Smart (1813–1879) • William Sterndale Bennett (1816–1875) • Henry Charles Litolff (1818–1891) • Edmund Chipp (1823–1886) • Henry Hiles (1826–1904) • John Baptiste Calkin (1827–1905) • George Tolhurst (1827–1877) • Francis Edward Bache (1833–1858) • Ebenezer Prout (1835–1909) • Joseph Barnby (1838–1896) • Alice Mary Smith (1839–1884) • Sydney Smith (1839–1889) • John Stainer (1840–1901) • Michael Maybrick (Stephen Adams) (1841–1913) • Arthur Sullivan (1842–1900) • Hubert Parry (1848–1918) • Arthur Goring Thomas (1850–1892) • Frederick Corder (1852–1932) • Frederic Cowen (1852–1935) • Bertram Luard-Selby (1853–1918) • Maude Valérie White (French-born, 1855–1937) • Frederic Cliffe (1857–1931) • Rosalind Ellicott (1857–1924) • Edward Elgar (1857–1934) • Isidore de Lara (1858–1935) • Ethel Smyth (1858–1944) • John Henry Maunder (1858–1920) • Basil Harwood (1859–1949)

Modern

• Frederick Delius (1862–1934) • Edward German (1862–1936) • Liza Lehmann (1862–1918) • Arthur Somervell (1863–1937) • Edwin Lemare (1866–1934) • Granville Bantock (1868–1946) • Haldane Stewart (1868–1942) • Walford Davies (1869–1941) • Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872–1958) • Ethel Barns (1874–1948) • Gustav Holst (1874–1934) • Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (1875–1912) • Donald Tovey (1875–1940) • Havergal Brian (1876–1972) • William Hurlstone (1876–1906) • Thomas Dunhill (1877–1946) • Henry Balfour Gardiner (1877–1950) • Roger Quilter (1877–1953) • Rutland Boughton (1878–1960) • Adam Carse (1878–1958) • Joseph Holbrooke (1878–1958) • Theodore Holland (1878–1947) • Frank Bridge (1879–1941) • John Ireland (1879–1962) • Cyril Scott (1879–1970) • Edgar Bainton (1880–1956) • John Foulds (1880–1939) • Hubert Bath (1883–1945) • Arnold Bax (1883–1953) • George Dyson (1883–1964) • William Henry Harris (1883–1973) • Lord Berners (1883–1950) • York Bowen (1884–1961) • George Butterworth (1885–1916) • Ernest Farrar (1885–1918) • Rebecca Clarke (1886–1979) • Eric Coates (1886–1957) • Armstrong Gibbs (1889–1960) • Ivor Gurney (1890–1937) • Arthur Bliss (1891–1975) • Herbert Howells (1892–1983) • Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji (1892–1988) • Eugene Goossens (1893–1962) • Peter Warlock (1894–1930) • Ernest John Moeran (1894–1950) • Gordon Jacob (1895–1984) • George Thalben-Ball (1896–1987) • William Baines (1899–1922) • Herbert Sumsion (1899–1995) • Alan Bush (1900–1995) • Gerald Finzi (1901–1956) • Victor Hely-Hutchinson (1901–1947) • Edmund Rubbra (1901–1986) • William Walton (1902–1983) • Lennox Berkeley (1903–1989) • Leighton Lucas (1903–1982) • Robin Milford (1903–1959) • Thomas Pitfield (1903–1999) • Percy Whitlock (1903–1946) • Richard Addinsell (1904–1977) • William Alwyn (1905–1985) • Constant Lambert (1905–1951) • Walter Leigh (1905–1942) • Alan Rawsthorne (1905–1971) • Michael Tippett (1905–1998) • Arnold Cooke (1906–2005) • Eric Fenby (1906–1997) • Benjamin Frankel (1906–1973) • Elisabeth Lutyens (1906–1983) • Roy Douglas (1907–2015) • Imogen Holst (1907–1984) • Elizabeth Maconchy (1907–1994) • Brian Easdale (1909–1995) • Ronald Binge (1910–1979) • Stanley Bate (1911–1959) • Phyllis Tate (1911–1987) • Percy M. Young (1912–2004) • Benjamin Britten (1913–1976) • George Lloyd (1913–1998) • Harold Truscott (1914–1992) • William Lloyd Webber (1914–1982) • Humphrey Searle (1915–1982) • Denis ApIvor (1916–2004) • Bernard Stevens (1916–1983) • Richard Arnell (1917–2009) • John Gardner (1917–2011) • Francis Jackson (1917—2022) • John W. Duarte (1919–2004) • Geoffrey Bush (1920–1998) • Peter Racine Fricker (1920–1990) • Malcolm Arnold (1921–2006) • Ruth Gipps (1921–1999) • Robert Simpson (1921–1997) • Peter Wishart (1921–1984) • Raffaello de Banfield (1922–2008) • Doreen Carwithen (1922–2003) • Arthur Butterworth (1923–2014) • Madeleine Dring (1923–1977) • Stephen Dodgson (1924–2013) • Angela Morley (1924–2009) • Buxton Orr (1924–1997) • Ernest Tomlinson (1924–2015) • Daphne Oram (1925–2003) • Christopher Shaw (1925–1995) • Arthur Wills (1926–2020) • Wilfred Josephs (1927–1997) • John Joubert (1927–2019) • Graham Whettam (1927–2007) • Geoffrey Winters (born 1928) • Kenneth Leighton (1929–1988) • Betty Roe (born 1930) • Alexander Goehr (1932–2024) • George Newson (1932-2024) • Justin Connolly (1933–2020) • Harrison Birtwistle (1934–2022) • Peter Maxwell Davies (1934–2016) • Peter Dickinson (1934-2023) • Anthony Gilbert (composer) (1934-2023) • Nicholas Maw (1935–2009) • Richard Rodney Bennett (1936–2012) • Nigel Brooks (1936-2024) • Cornelius Cardew (1936–1981) • Patrick Gowers (1936–2014) • Colin Mawby (1936–2019) • Anthony Payne (1936–2021) • John White (1936–2024) • David Bedford (1937–2011) • Gordon Crosse (1937–2021) • Edwin Roxburgh (born 1937) • Michael Parsons (born 1938) • Christopher Steel (1938–1991) • Andrew Carter (born 1939) • Jonathan Harvey (1939–2012) • John McCabe (1939–2015) • Patric Standford (1939–2014) • Geoffrey Burgon (1941–2010) • Derek Bourgeois (1941–2017) • Timothy Salter (born 1942) • Gavin Bryars (born 1943) • Edward Cowie (born 1943) • Frank Denyer (born 1943) • Brian Ferneyhough (born 1943) • Robin Holloway (born 1943) • Bill Hopkins (1943–1981) • David Matthews (born 1943) • Michael Nyman (born 1944) • John Tavener (1944–2013) Contemporary • John Rutter (born 1945) • Michael Finnissy (born 1946) • Colin Matthews (born 1946) • Giles Swayne (born 1946) • Paul Patterson (born 1947) • Hugh Shrapnel (born 1947) • Howard Skempton (born 1947) • Michael Berkeley (born 1948) • Diana Burrell (born 1948) • Grayston Ives (born 1948) • John Casken (born 1949) • Sam Richards (born 1949) • Dave Smith (born 1949) • Philip Wilby (born 1949) • Nicholas Sackman (born 1950) • Ronald Corp (born 1951) • Cecilia McDowall (born 1951) • Judith Bingham (born 1952) • Oliver Knussen (1952–2018) • Dominic Muldowney (born 1952) • Patrick Doyle (born 1953) • Peter McGarr (born 1953) • Robert Saxton (born 1953) • Richard Blackford (born 1954) • Benedict Mason (born 1954) • Judith Weir (born 1954) • John Woolrich (born 1954) • Ian Venables (born 1955) • Sally Beamish (born 1956) • Philip Grange (born 1956) • Steve Elcock (born 1957) • Francis Pott (composer) (born 1957) • Janet Wheeler (born 1957) • Howard Goodall (born 1958) • Lionel Sainsbury (born 1958) • Patrick Hawes (born 1958) • Simon Holt (born 1958) • Errollyn Wallen (born 1958) • Jonathan Dove (born 1959) • Steve Martland (1959–2013) • John Palmer (born 1959) • Peter Seabourne (born 1960) • George Benjamin (born 1960) • Mark-Anthony Turnage (born 1960) • Paul Carr(born 1961) • David Sawer (born 1961) • Jack Gibbons (born 1962) • Philip Cashian (born 1963) • Graham Fitkin (born 1963) • Michael Zev Gordon (born 1963) • John Pickard (born 1963) • John Powell (born 1963) • James Whitbourn (born 1963) • Debbie Wiseman (born 1963) • Ivan Moody (1964–2024) • Matthew Taylor (born 1964) • Julian Anderson (born 1967) • Rebecca Saunders (born 1967) • Joe Cutler (born 1968) • Roxanna Panufnik (born 1968) • James Francis Brown (born 1969) • Patrick Nunn (born 1969) • Jonathan Powell (born 1969) • Thomas Adès (born 1971) • Joby Talbot (born 1971) • David Jennings (born 1972) • Tansy Davies (born 1973) • Andrew March (born 1973) • Julian Cochran (born 1974) • Sophie Viney (born 1974) • Tim Benjamin (born 1975) • Luke Bedford (born 1978) • Charlotte Bray (born 1982) • Sasha Siem (born 1984) • Freya Waley-Cohen (born 1989) • Lucy Armstrong (born 1991) • Anna Appleby (born 1993) • Grace Evangeline Mason (born 1994)