John Stanley (1712-1786) was an English composer and blind from childhood. He studied music with Maurice Greene and held several organist positions in London. He was friends with Georg Friedrich Händel and performed his oratorios, together with John Christopher Smith, later with Thomas Linley, after Händel's death.



In 1779 he became the successor to William Boyce as "Master of the King's Musick". His oeuvre includes the opera "Teraminta", the cantata "The Choice Of Hercules", 12 further cantatas with texts by John Hawkins, the Oratorios "Jephta", "The Fall of Egypt" and "Zimri", as well as instrumental music.