Thomas William Dobson Glossop was a noted local pianist and musician who also became a partner in the Sheffield architectural firm Whitaker, Glossop and Greaves. Thomas Dobson Glossop (as he was usually referred to in local newspaper reports and concert programmes) was born in Sheffield in 1912, the only son of Mr and Mrs Thomas Albert Glossop of 3 Glover Road, Totley Rise, Sheffield. Thomas Albert Glossop was partner in the cutlery manufacturing firm Thomas Glossop and Sons of Norfolk Market Hall, Sheffield. He took over the firm jointly with his brother Mr 'Billy' Walton Glossop following the retirement of their father Thomas Glossop senior (1853 - 1940) of Pattysbrooke, Brinkburn Vale Road, Totley, who founded the firm.

A former pupil of the well-known Sheffield pianoforte tutor Miss Lily Foxon, Thomas Dobson Glossop became a piano tutor himself and in 1936 initiated a pioneering scheme of evening class piano tuition for steelworkers and other industrial workers in Sheffield. The lessons, which took place at the Newhall Evening Institute, involved his pupils learning to play on 'soundless keyboards', comprising sheets of cardboard on which piano keys were drawn in black and white, thereby enabling Glossop to tutor a large group of pupils at once.

Glossop was an accompanist to the Owler Lane Evening School Operatic Society and the Newhall Institute Male Voice Choir. He also became pianist for the Sheffield Singers' Operatic Society where he met his future wife, Miss Constance Bingham (born 1915), who was the principal soprano singer for the society.

Glossop and Miss Bingham married on 18th August 1938 at Sheffield Cathedral. Constance Bingham was the only daughter of Mr and Mrs Albert Bingham of Etruria House, 91 Crookes Road, Sheffield. Outside of her operatic activities, Constance Bingham was a visiting music mistress at Ambleside School, Ranmoor. The newly-wed couple spent their honeymoon at the Musicians' Holiday School, arranged by the Training School for Music Teachers, on a musical instruction course. After her marriage to Glossop, Constance Bingham continued to perform under her maiden name.

In 1939, Glossop was awarded the gold medal for a Teachers' Diploma by the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, London. During the Second World War, Glossop served as a Gunner for the Royal Artillery (3rd Surrey Regiment). Whilst in the army, he set up a choir for his artillery regiment which performed in various regimental and wartime charitable concerts under the name the 'Flash-Bang Male Voice Choir'. His wife Constance also performed as a soprano guest star at several of these wartime concerts.

Upon returning from the forces, Glossop became a partner in the architectural firm Whitaker, Glossop and Greaves of Bank Street, Sheffield, which was founded by the Sheffield architect and surveyor (and noted ornithologist), Arthur Whitaker.

For some 20 years, Constance Bingham served as conductor of the Greystones Evening School Women's Choir, for which Thomas Dobson Glossop also performed as pianist.

Thomas Dobson Glossop is understood to have died in Lincolnshire in September 1974.

Original at Sheffield City Archives: X929/4a