Jacob Herschel, father of William, the astronomer, was an eminent musician; nor was he less remarkable for the good qualities of his heart and of his mind.  His very limited means did not enable him to bestow a complete education on his family, consisting of six boys and four girls.  But at least, by his care, his ten children all became excellent musicians.  The eldest, Jacob, even acquired a rare degree of ability, which procured for him the appointment of Master of the Band in a Hanoverian regiment, which he accompanied to England.  The third son, William, remained under his father’s roof.  Without neglecting the fine arts, he took lessons in the French language, and devoted himself to the study of metaphysics, for which he retained a taste to his latest day.

In 1759, William Herschel, then about twenty-one years old, went over to England, not with his father, as has been erroneously published, but with his brother Jacob, whose connections in that country seemed likely to favour the young man’s opening prospects in life.  Still, neither London nor the country towns afforded him any resource in the beginning, and the first two or three years after his expatriation were marked by some cruel privations, which, however, were nobly endured.  A fortunate chance finally raised the poor Hanoverian to a better position; Lord Durham engaged him as Master of the Band in an English regiment which was quartered on the borders of Scotland.  From this moment the musician Herschel acquired a reputation that spread gradually, and in the year 1765 he was appointed organist at Halifax (Yorkshire).  The emoluments of this situation, together with giving private lessons both in the town and the country around, procured a degree of comfort for the young William.  He availed himself of it to remedy, or rather to complete, his early education.  It was then that he learnt Latin and Italian, though without any other help than a grammar and a dictionary.  It was then also that he taught himself something of Greek.  So great was the desire for knowledge with which he was inspired while residing at Halifax, that Herschel found means to continue his hard philological exercises, and at the same time to study deeply the learned but very obscure mathematical work on the theory of music by R. Smith.  This treatise, either explicitly or implicitly, supposed the reader to possess some knowledge of algebra and of geometry, which Herschel did not possess, but of which he made himself master in a very short time.

In 1766, Herschel obtained the appointment of organist to the Octagon Chapel at Bath.  This was a more lucrative post than that of Halifax, but new obligations also devolved on the able pianist.  He had to play incessantly either at the Oratorios, or in the rooms at the baths, at the theatre, and in the public concerts.  Then, being immersed in the most fashionable circle in England, Herschel could no longer refuse the numerous pupils who wished to be instructed in his school.