An ongoing chronology – corrections and additions very welcome. See here for biographical details of composers.

(additional dates after individual entries denote first performance when known, or time period when composed)

1900
Granville Bantock: Christus: A Festival Symphony in Five Parts (subset of 1901 ten part version)
Gustav Holst: Symphony in F “Cotswold”, op 8
Cyril Scott: Symphony No 1

1901
Algenon Ashton: Symphony No 3 in A minor
Granville Bantock: Christus: A Festival Symphony in Ten Parts (subset of 1901 ten part version)
Michele Esposito: Symphony on Irish Airs “Sinfonia Irlandese”
Henry Balfour Gardiner: Symphony No 1
Richard Harvey Lohr: Symphony No 1 in D minor

1902
Algenon Ashton: Symphony No 4 in B flat major
York Bowen: Symphony No 1 in G major op 4
Richard Harvey Lohr: Symphony No 1 in D minor (fp Bournemouth, 22/12/02)
Edith Swepstone: Symphony in G minor

1903
Edgar Bainton: Symphony in Bb, op 5, “A Phantasy of Life and Progress” – 1903 (Bournemouth, Oct 1903) (MS missing, prog, note description)
Thomas Arthur Burton: Symphony No . 2 in E minor
Percy Godfrey: Symphony in G minor
Arthur Hinton: Symphony No 2
George W L Marshall-Hall: Symphony in Eb major “An Elizabethan Comedy”
Oliviera Prescott: Symphony No 2 in D minor (score lost)
Cyril Scott: Symphony No 2 in A minor (25 Aug, 1903, Henry Wood) (later converted into the Three Symphonic Dances, 1907)

1904
Rutland Boughton: Symphony No 1 “Oliver Cromwell”
Adam Carse: Symphony No 1 in C minor
Hamilton Harty: Irish Symphony (14 Oct, 1905, Henry Wood) – revised 1915/1924

1905
York Bowen: Symphonic Fantasia a tone poem in F major op 16
Thomas Arthur Burton: Symphony No 3 “Variations”
Harry Assur Keyser: Symphony No 2 in B minor
Richard Harvey Lohr: Symphony No 2 in A
Charles Villiers Stanford: Symphony No 6 in E-flat major, op 94 “In Memorium G F Watts”

1906
Henry Walford Davies: Sacred symphony, “Lift up your Hearts,” for baritone, chorus and orchestra op 20 (fp Hereford, 1906)
Joseph Holbrooke: Homage to Poe (A Dramatic Choral Symphony in Eb) (1904-6)
Percy Pitt: Symphony No 1 in G minor (Birmingham Festival)
William Henry Speer: Symphony in E flat

1907
Edgar Bainton: Symphony No 1 “Before Sunrise” 1907 (Carnegie British Music Award, 1917, first performance Newcastle, 1921) (soprano, chorus and orchestra)
Arnold Bax: Symphony in F minor, op 8 (realised and orch. Martin Yates, 2013, recorded Dutton/Epoch)
Adam Carse: Symphony No 2 in G minor
Joseph Holbrooke: Apollo and the Seaman (An Illuminated Symphony), op 51
Percy Sherwood: Symphony No 3 in Eb major (1905-7)

1908
W H Bell: Symphony (listed in Who’s Who in Music (1913), unnumbered)
Havergal Brian: A Fantastic Symphony
Robert Ernest Bryson: Symphony No 1 in D major
Edward Elgar: Symphony No 1 – 1907-8?
Henry Balfour Gardiner: Symphony No 2 in D major (27 Aug 1908, Henry Wood)
Richard Harvey Lohr: Symphony No 3 in E minor “Life, Death and Resurrection”

1909
York Bowen: Symphony No 2 in E minor op 31 – (New SO/Landon Ronald, Queen’s Hall, 1.2.1912)
Henry Holloway: Symphony No 1 in E minor (Bournemouth, March 1911)
Haydn Wood Symphony in D minor (score lost)

1910
George Dyson: Choral Symphony for solo, chorus and orchestra (fp Durham University 13 March 2014)
Harry Assur Keyser: Symphony No 1 in B flat
Richard Harvey Lohr: Symphony No 4 in D minor
Vaughan Williams: A Sea Symphony

1911
Thomas Arthur Burton: Symphony No 4
Henry Walford Davies: Symphony No 2 in G major
Edward Elgar: Symphony No 2
Henry Holloway: Symphony No 2 in D minor
John Blackwood McEwan: Symphony in C# minor “Solway” (fp 1922)
Montague Phillips: Symphony in C minor, op 15 (1908-11, rev 1924-5, score reconstructed, fp 26/5/2017, Dorchester Abbey, BBC Concert Orchestra)
Charles Villiers Stanford: Symphony No 7 in D minor, op 124

1912
Marian Arkwright: Japanese Symphony (before 1912)
Granville Bantock: Atalanta in Calydon (choral symphony, unaccompanied chorus)
Frank Merrick: Symphony in D minor
Hubert Parry: Symphony No 5 in B minor “Symphonic Fantasia”
Arthur Somervell: Symphony in D minor (“Thalassa”)
Vaughan Williams: A London Symphony – 1913 – revised 1915, 1920, 1934 (March 27 1914, Geoffrey Toye)

1913
D F Tovey: Symphony in D, op 32
Frederic Austin: Symphony in E major
Frank Tapp: Symphony No 1 in E “The Tempest” (score lost?)

1914
Granville Bantock: Vanity of Vanities (choral Symphony, unaccompanied chorus)
Bernard Van Dieren: Symphony No 1, op 6 “Chinese” (for five solo voices, chorus and orchestra).
Harold Darke: Symphony “Switzerland”, op 12 (1910-14) (full score at RCM Library)

1915
Granville Bantock: Hebridean Symphony (No 1)

1916
Thomas Dunhill: Symphony in A minor, op 48 (1914-16, recorded, Dutton)

1917
William Baines: Symphony in C minor, op 10: (Grassington Festival, June 1991)

1918
William Henry Bell: Symphony No 2 in A minor

1919
William Henry Bell: Symphony No 3 in F major

1920
Alexander Brent-Smith: Symphony in A minor “The South Downs’ (fp, Brighton, 1921, cond. Dan Godfrey)

1921
Vaughan Williams: Symphony No 3 “Pastoral” (Jan 26 1922, Queen’s Hall, Boult)

1922
Hubert Bath: “Freedom” (Brass Band Symphony No 1)
Arnold Bax: Symphony No 1 in E-flat major
Arthur Bliss: A Colour Symphony – 1921-2 (rev. 1932) (Three Choirs Festival, 1922)
Eugene Goossens: Sinfonietta, op 34
Charles O’Brien: Symphony in F minor, op 23 (fp Glasgow, 1929, recorded, Toccata)
Kaikhosru Sorabji: Symphony No 1 for piano, organ, chorus and large orchestra (1921–1922)

1923
Margaret Sutherland: Symphony No 1 in five movements
Ralph Walter Wood: Symphony No 1 in G minor, op 22 (fp 1927?)

1924
Ina Boyle: Symphony No. 1 “In Glencree”
Gaze Cooper: Symphony No 1, op 21 “Byron”
Edric Cundell: Symphony in C minor, op 24
Gustav Holst: First Choral Symphony, op 41

1925
Joseph Holbrooke: Symphony No 3 “Ships”

1926
Arnold Bax: Symphony No 2 – (1924-6) (fp 13 Dec 1929)
Percy Fletcher: An Epic Symphony for Brass Band

1927
William Henry Bell: Symphony No 4 in A minor “South African”
Rutland Boughton: Symphony No 2 “Deirdre, a Celtic Symphony”
Havergal Brian: Symphony No 1 “Gothic” – 1919-27 (1961, Bryan Fairfax)
Adam Carse: Symphony No 3 in F
Henry Walford Davies: A Children’s Symphony, for small orchestra, Op 53
Hans Gal: Symphony No 1 in D major
Victory Hely-Hutchinson: Carol Symphony
Robin Milford: Symphony (now known as No 1) (fp
William Walton: Sinfonia Concertante for orchestra with piano obbligato (Jan 5, 1928)
Stanley Wilson: A Skye Symphony

1928
Granville Bantock: Pagan Symphony (No 2) (1927-8)
Robert Ernest Bryson Symphony No 2
Godfrey Sampson: Symphony in D major (Proms premiere)

1929
Albert Coates: Lancelot Symphony
Gordon Jacob: Symphony No 1 – 1928-29
Arnold Bax: Symphony No 3 – 1929 (14 March, 1930, Henry Wood)
Joseph Holbrooke: Symphony No 4
R O Morris: Sinfonia in C major

1930
Ina Boyle: Symphony No. 2 “The Dream of the Rood”
Norman Demuth: Symphony No 1 in D minor (fp 29 October, Bournemouth)
Charles Hoby: Symphony
Ethel SmythThe Prison, “Symphony for Soprano and Bass-Baritone soli, Chorus and Orchestra”

1931
Arnold Bax: Symphony No 4
Havergal Brian: Symphony No 2 in E minor – 1930-31
Arthur Bliss: Symphony for chorus and orchestra “Morning Heroes”
Christian Darnton: Symphony No 1 (1929-31)
Norman Demuth: Symphony No 2 in A major
Kaikhosru Sorabji: Symphony No 2 (piano part only – intended for piano, large orchestra, organ, a final chorus, and six solo voices) (1930–31)

1932
Arnold Bax: Symphony No 5 in E-flat major
William Henry Bell: Symphony No 5 in F minor
Havergal Brian: Symphony No 3 in C# minor for two pianos and large orchestra – 1931-2
Norman Demuth: Symphony No 3 A Mystical Symphony (unfinished, with baritone and chorus)
Norman Demuth Symphony No 4
Cecil Armstrong Gibbs: Symphony No 1 in E major – 1931-2 (October 1932, Adrian Boult) (recorded Dutton)
George Lloyd: Symphony No 1 in A minor (in one movement) (fp Bournemouth 29 Nov 1933)
Cyril Rootham: Symphony No 1 (1938)
Guy Warrack: Symphony in C minor “The Edinburgh”

1933
Havergal Brian: Symphony No 4 in C major for soprano, two choruses and very large orchestra – 1932-33
Eric Chisholm: Symphony for Small Orchestra
Gaze Cooper: Symphony No 3, op 39, “Symphony of Life” (circa 1933)
Richard Hall Symphony Op 34 (larghetto, revised as Nightfall, 1934)
George Lloyd: Symphony No 2 in E (fp Eastbourne March 1934)
George Lloyd: Symphony No 3 in F (fp BBC SO/Lloyd, London 29 Nov 1935)
Robin Milford: Symphony, op 34 (now known as No 2)
R O Morris: Symphony in D major (fp 1 January 1934, Queens Hall, cond. Adrian Boult)
Michael Tippett Symphony in Bb (revised 1938, revived 2018)

1934
Stanley Bate: Symphony No 1 in Eb – circa 1934 (RCM, 1936) (disowned, destroyed?)
Benjamin Britten: Simple Symphony for Strings, op 4 – 1934 (from themes written 1923-5 – check!)
Norman Demuth Symphony No 5
Gustav Holst: Scherzo (from unfinished Symphony)
Vaughan Williams: Symphony No 4 in F minor (10 April 1935)

1935
Arnold Bax: Symphony No 6 (fp Nov 21, RPO)
Anthony Burgess: Symphony No 1 (lost, except for piano score)
Roger Sacheverell Coke: Symphony No 1 (fp Bournemouth)
John Foulds: Pasquinades Symphoniques
John Greenwood: Symphonic Movement (fp Jan 24 1938, cond. Constant Lambert)
Ethel SmythSymphony: The Women (re-constructed and recorded by Gerald McMuffin and the Frimley Players)
William Walton: Symphony No 1 – 1934 (first three movements, first perf Dec 3, 1934), 1935 (last), (first complete perf Nov 6, 1935, Harty)

1936
Rudolf Dolmetsch: Symphony No 1 in D minor, op 1
Rudolf Dolmetsch: Symphony No 2 in B flat
Percy Whitlock: Symphony in G Minor for Organ and Orchestra
Healey Willan: Symphony No 1

1937
Rutland Boughton: Symphony No 3 in B minor
Havergal Brian: Symphony No 5 “Wine of Summer” for baritone and orchestra – (1969)
Adam Carse: Symphony in D “Miniature”
George Dyson: Symphony in G
Christopher Edmunds: Symphony No 1 (for strings)
E J Moeran: Symphony in G minor (1934-37)
Edmund Rubbra: Symphony No 1, op 44 (1935-37)
Edmund Rubbra: Symphony No 2, op 45 (fp Cheltenham Festival, 1946) (revised 1950)

1938
Richard Arnell: Sinfonia (aka “Symphony No 0”)
Eric Chisholm: Symphony No 1 in C minor
Cecil Armstrong Gibbs: Symphony No 2 “Odysseus” (choral, 1937-8) (recorded Dutton)
Roger Sacheverell Coke: Symphony No 2 (1936-8)
Karl Rankl: Symphony No 1
Alan Rawsthorne: Symphonic Studies
Cyril Rootham: Symphony No 2 (1939, Maida Vale) (orch. Patrick Hadley)
Harold Truscott: Grasmere Symphony (lost)

1939
Granville Bantock: Symphony No 3 “The Cyprian Goddess” (1938-9)
Stanley Bate: Symphony No 2, op 20 – 1937-9 (withdrawn? unperformed?)
Arnold Bax: Symphony No 7 in A-flat major (fp Carnegie Hall, NYPO, 10 June 1939, cond. Boult)
Maurice Blower: Symphony in C
Erik Chisholm: Symphony No 2 “Ossian”
Andrzej Panufnik: Symphony No 1 (lost 1944, reconstructed 1945 but then withdrawn and destroyed)
Edmund Rubbra: Symphony No 3, op 49 (1938-9) (fp 15 Dec 1940, Halle, Sargent)
Cyril Scott: Symphony No 3 “The Muses”

1940
Edgar Bainton: Symphony No 2 in D minor – 1939-1940 (Sydney, 1941)
Granville Bantock: Celtic Symphony (No 4) for strings and six harps (completed in Fiji)
Stanley Bate: Symphony No 3, op 29 (Cheltenham, 14 July 1954)
Lennox Berkeley: Symphony No 1, op 16 (Proms, 1943) (Lyrita Recording)
Benjamin Britten: Sinfonia da Requiem (March 1941, N Y Phil, John Barbirolli)
Alan Bush: Symphony No 1 in C, op 21 – 1939-40 (Proms, July 1942)
Hubert Clifford: Symphony (fp 26 January 1945, BBC)
Anthony Collins: Symphony for Strings (No 1)
Christian Darnton: Symphony No 2 (“Anagram”) (1939-40) (survives in three incomplete forms)
Christopher Edmunds: Symphony No 2 in D (Birmingham, December 1949)
Gaze Cooper: Symphony No 5 A symphony of destiny opus 43
Eugene Goossens: Symphony No 1, op 58 – 1938-40
John Greenwood: Symphony No 1 (in two movements, first movement may be identical with 1935 Symphonic Movement)
Richard Hall Symphony in B minor op 101 (sketches only)

1941
Frank Bridge: Allegro moderato for string orchestra (from unfinished Symphony, fp 1979 Aldeburgh Festival)
Adam Carse: Symphony No 4 in C
Christopher Edmunds: Symphony No 3 (?) – unperformed
Robert Farnon: Symphony No 1 in Db Major (prem: Toronto Symphony Orch)
Roberto Gerhard: Symphony ‘Homage a Pedrell’
Andrzej Panufnik: Symphony No 2 (original second symphony, lost 1944)
Karl Rankl: Symphony No 2
Healey Willan: Symphony No 2 in C minor

1942
York Bowen: Symphonic Suite
Robert Farnon: Symphony No 2 in Bb Major (“Ottawa”)
Edmund Rubbra: Symphony No 4, op 53 (1940-42) (fp Proms, 14 Aug 1942, Rubbra)
Stanley Wilson: Symphony No 2 in E minor

1943
Richard Arnell: Symphony No 2 – 1942-3 (1988, Edward Downes, BBC PO) (Dutton)
Richard Arnell: Symphony No 1
Rudolf Dolmetsch: Two Movements of a Symphony (completion of Borodin’s 3rd Symphony?)
Hans Gal: Symphony No 2 in F major (1942-43)
Gordon Jacob: Symphony for String Orchestra (fp 9 Dec 1944, Wigmore Hall, cond. Jacob)
Montague Phillips: Sinfonietta in C minor, Op 70
Stanley Wilson: Symphony “1942”
Grace Williams: Symphony No 1
Vaughan Williams: Symphony No 5 in D major – 1938-43 (June 1943, Albert Hall, VW)

1944
Ronald Center: Symphony No 1 (??? – copy, Scottish Music Centre)
Christian Darnton: Symphony No 3 in D
Cecil Armstrong Gibbs: Symphony No 3 “Westmorland” (recorded Dutton)
Eugene Goossens: Symphony No 2, op 62 -1942-44 (1946)
Gordon Jacob: Symphony No 2 in C Major – 1943-45 (May 1946)
E J Moeran: Sinfonietta
David Moule-Evans: Symphony in G
Karl Rankl: Symphony No 3 – 1943-44
William Wordsworth: Symphony No 1 in F minor, op 23

1945
Richard Arnell: Symphony No 3, op 40 -1944-5 (Cheltenham Festival, 1953) (Dutton)
Arthur Benjamin: Symphony No 1 1944-5 (Cheltenham Festival, 1948) (Lyrita)
Brian Boydell: Symphony for Strings, op 26 (rev. 1946)
Adam Carse: (1878-1958): Symphony No 5 in Eb
Cedric Thorpe Davie: Symphony in C major
Ruth Gipps: Symphony No 1 in F minor, op 22 (March 1945)
Ian Gourlay: Symphony
Daniel Jones: Symphony No 1
Bernard Stevens: Symphony No 1 op 7 “Symphony of Liberation”
Michael Tippett: Symphony No 1 – 1944-5
William Walton: Sinfonia Concertante (Cheltenham Festival, 1945)
Egon Wellesz: Symphony No 1, op 62

1946
Malcolm Arnold: Symphony for Strings, op 13
Anthony Collins: Symphony for Strings (No 2) (fp, Cheltenham, 1950?)
Mary Dickenson-Auner: Symphony No 1, op 16 “Irish” (four more still to find??)
Ruth Gipps: Symphony No 2, op 30 (3 October 1946, Birmingham) one movement
George Lloyd: Symphony No 4 (1945-6) (fp Cheltenham Festival, 13 July 1981, Philharmonia/Downes)

1947
Arnold Cooke: Symphony No 1 – 1945-7 (Lyrita recording)
Stewart Hylton Edwards: Symphony No 1 (fp Cape Town 1953, first UK performance 1986)
Peter Racine Fricker: Symphonietta for Orchestra
John Gardner: Symphony No 1 in D minor, op 12 (1946-7)
John Greenwood: Symphony No 2
Victor Hely-Hutchinson: Symphony for small orchestra (Proms, 1947)
Ian Whyte: Symphony No 1 (fp Cheltenham Festival)
Vaughan Williams: Symphony No 6 in E minor -1944-47 (21 April 1948)
John Veale: Symphony No 1 (1944-7) (fp Cheltenham Music Festival, 1955, Barbirolli)

1948
Richard Arnell: Symphony No 4, op 52 (Dutton recording, 2008)
Havergal Brian: Symphony No 6 “Sinfonia tragica”
Havergal Brian: Symphony No 7 in C major
Gaze Cooper: Symphony No 4 “The West Wind” (circa 1949) (fp Albert Hall, Nottingham, 19 September 1951).
George Lloyd: Symphony No 5 (fp BBC broadcast 6 July 1979, Philharmonia/Downes)
Andrzej Panufnik: Sinfonia Rustica (fp Krakow Phil. Panufnik, 1949), rev. 1955
Edmund Rubbra: Symphony No 5 in B-flat, op 63 (1947-8) (fp 26 Jan 1949, BBC SO, Boult)
Egon Wellesz: Symphony No 2, op 65
William Wordsworth: Symphony No 2 in D, op 34 – 1947-48 (Edinburgh, 1950)

1949
William Alwyn: Symphony No 1 (1948-9) (fp Cheltenham Festival, 1950)
Malcolm Arnold: Symphony No 1, op 22 (Cheltenham Festival, 1951) (three movements)
Havergal Brian: Symphony No 8 in B flat minor (1954, London PO, Boult)
Benjamin Britten: Spring Symphony, op 44 for soprano, chorus and orchestra – (Holland, July 9, 1949)
Alan Bush: Symphony No 2, op 33 “Nottingham”
Norman Demuth Symphony No 6
Peter Racine Fricker: Symphony No 1 (Cheltenham Festival, 1950)
David Gow: Symphony No 1, op 16
Iain Hamilton: Symphony No 1 “Cyrano de Bergarac” – 1949 (December 1952)
James Hutton: Symphony No 2
Kenneth Leighton: Symphony for Strings, op 3 (1948-0) fp cond. Gerald Finzi 10 Dec 1949)
Douglas Lilburn: Symphony No 1

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