William was born in South Australia, the son of Charles Sanders from Redruth, Cornwall, and Sarah Rhoda Sanders, née Veysey. She was daughter of Frederick John Veysey of Athelstone. Charles was the keeper of Thorndon Park reservoir, and killed himself there, by hanging. William studied for Bachelor of Music at the Elder Conservatorium of Music around 1888: piano under Gotthold Reimann and organ under John Ellis. William Pybus, a near-contemporary, was a fellow-student. He served briefly as organist at St. Paul's Anglican church inPort Adelaide, followed by Kent Town Wesleyan Methodist Church from 1890 to 1893, then began working in conjunction with organ-builder J. E. Dodd soon after he took over the business of Fincham & Hobday, setting up an organ teaching studio at their factory in Twin Street. He was appointed musical director, choirmaster and organist at Clayton Congregational Church in May 1895 at a salary of £50 per annum. The original church instrument, which though of good make, was old and somewhat limiting, and following a donation of £1,000 from Sir Edwin Smith, Sanders ordered a new one, built in Adelaide by the firm of J. E. Dodd of Twin Street, which was duly installed and opened by Sanders on 8 September 1897. He resigned his post in 1916, and his replacement, pro tem, was Harold Wylde. He remained a worshipper at Clayton for many years, sometimes giving organ recitals, on occasion as a duet with his son Ray.
Other activities
He was frequently called on to judge choir competitions and musical contests in the city and country centres. He wrote, as "Musicus", the column Musical Notes for the Evening Journal and the South Australian Register from 1897 to 1911, and served as the paper's music critic. He was one of the first to predict future greatness for Peter Dawson. A similar Musical Notes column, also bylined "Musicus", ran in the Daily Herald in 1920 and 1921. This may have been Sanders, but the style of writing bears little resemblance to the Evening Journal pieces. Sanders edited a paper called Music from 1896 to 1900. In 1913 or earlier he established "Sanders' Piano Warehouse" at 81 Grenfell Street, selling pianos and organs. The firm was still operating in 1950, managed or owned by Ray Sanders.
Family
Charles Sanders married Sarah Rhoda Veysey in 1866
William Sanders married Amy Delbridge of Melbourne on 12 April 1893. She was sister of Pearce Delbridge.
William Sanders married again, to Ada Hazel Garden on 19 May 1913 Their home for many years was at 2 Charles Street, Norwood. Relationship, if any, to William Charles Sanders who on 24 December 1859 married Jane Pybus, sister of noted SA organist W. R. Pybus, is not known.
