I recently needed some information on Sir Arthur Somervell (1863-1937),
not, I assume, a name known to many of us and his music even less so;
certainly I've never encountered any.  Presumably he became Sir Arthur as
a result of his standing as a composer.  His abridged work list in Grove
sounds interesting.  I quickly did a mental check of some well-known C19
and C20 English composers and found Sirs Edward, William, Arthur, Malcolm
and so on.  There were others who missed out, for whatever reason - perhaps
such people as Alwyn and Rawsthorne, to pick a couple of names at random,
were thought less worthy.  But surely Vaughan Williams and Holst would be
on most people's list of great British composers, but neither got to be
knighted.  I imagine VW would not have been keen to keep saying, "It's
pronounced RAFE!", but I remain intrigued.  Is there a story here?

Richard Pennycuick
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