John Shaw was born on New Year’s Day 1927, the youngest of four children. In his early teens, he was evacuated from a threatened area of Sheffield to Woodhouse Eaves, Leicestershire. He joined the Royal Engineers (British Forces Post Office section), serving in India and Singapore. On his return from National Service, he married Stella Frost in 1953, and settled in Grenoside, Sheffield.

He worked for the Sheffield Telegraph and other local offices before training as a music teacher, being awarded a Certificate in Education with a Distinction in Music from the University of Sheffield’s Institute of Education in 1964. John Shaw then taught in a number of Sheffield comprehensive schools.

With a lifelong interest in music, John Shaw played the piano and violin, and sang with the Firshill Singers, the Bach Society, the Sheffield Oratorio and the Grenoside Male Voice Choir, and was organist and choirmaster at Christ Church Wadsley Bridge and St. Mark’s Church Grenoside.

Many of his compositions are dedicated to and inspired by family and friends and the events in their lives, and most have only been performed within close family and social settings. There are private recordings of some of the string quartets he composed which are kept by his family.

As well as music, John Shaw was a keen and prolific artist, but never sought to sell any of his paintings. Throughout his career, he supported many international charities, including a local charity for sensory impaired children.

John Shaw died in 2008.