Frederic Clay was an English composer, born in Paris on August 3, 1838. He was the son of James Clay, an English politician and member of Parliament.
Clay received private music lessons at home in London, then studied piano and violin. He later studied composition in Paris with Bernard Molique and in Leipzig with Moritz Hauptmann. He worked as a civil servant at the Treasury while composing music. Apart from songs, hymns, instrumental pieces, and two cantatas, nearly all his compositions were written for the stage.
In 1859 and 1860, two short works of his were performed at a private London theatre. He went on to write operas and operettas including Court and Cottage (1862), Constance (1865), Ages Ago (1869), The Gentleman in Black (1870), Happy Arcadia (1872), The Black Crook (1872), Babil and Bijou (1872), Cattarina (1874), Princess Toto and Don Quichote (1875), and The Merry Duchess and The Golden Ring (1883). He also wrote music for several dramas and the cantatas The Knights of the Cross and Lalla Rookh.
A close friend of Arthur Sullivan, Clay wrote four comic operas with William Schwenck Gilbert. A stroke in December 1883 left him paralyzed and ended his active composing career. He died on November 24, 1889, aged 51, after being found drowned in his bath at his sisters’ home. He was buried at Brompton Cemetery in London.