Reading Town Hall organ, built by Willis in 1864, extended in 1882 and rebuilt by Harrison & Harrison in 1999St Bees Priory organ, the last major instrument to be personally supervised by "Father" Henry Willis, 1899
Henry Willis & Sons is a British firm of pipe organ builders founded in 1845. Although most of their installations have been in the UK, examples can be found in other countries.
Five generations of the Willis family served as principals of the firm, until 1997, when Henry Willis 4[1] appointed as Managing Director, David Wyld; who subsequently became the majority shareholder.
Founded in London, at 2 & 1/2 Foundling Terrace, Gray's Inn Road, the firm later moved to a purpose-built works, designed by Henry Willis III, at Petersfield; and after acquisition by David Wyld, to its present base and head office in Liverpool.
History
The founder of the company, the eponymous Henry Willis, was nicknamed "Father Willis" because of his contribution to the art and science of organ building and to distinguish him from his younger relatives working in the firm.[2]
He was a friend of Samuel Sebastian Wesley whom he met at Cheltenham, and who was instrumental in gaining for Willis the contract for his first work on a cathedral organ, at Gloucester, in 1847.[3]
The Willis firm is regarded as the leading organ builder of the Victorian era, itself a time when both civic and religious commitment led to the construction of a large number of impressive buildings and other public works. During the Industrial Revolution many towns equipped themselves with imposing town halls, preferably with a Willis instrument of the symphonic organ style, and a substantial (and similarly equipped) church. Industrialists competed to endow the most lavish halls and instruments. The result was a convergence of both a very fine and technically proficient organ builder, and a substantial number of commissions for really exceptional instruments. This heritage continues with recent new instruments in Florence (Italy) and Auckland (New Zealand).[4]
As well as large organs, from around 1860 the firm made compact and lower-cost instruments suitable for smaller spaces such as the chancels of village churches. These were called Scudamore organs after their proponent, John Baron, who was rector of Upton Scudamore, Wiltshire.[5]
In March 1919, Henry Willis & Sons merged with another prominent firm of organ builders, Lewis & Co, and traded under the name of Henry Willis & Sons and Lewis & Company Ltd. until 1923 when the reference to Lewis was dropped. The firm moved into Lewis's works at Brixton and remained there until it was destroyed by bombing during the London Blitz in 1941.[6][7] The firm acquired A. Hunter & Son of Clapham in 1937.[8]
Notable Willis organs
The "Father" Willis's organ won a 'Council' gold medal in the Great Exhibition of 1851 at the Crystal Palace in Hyde Park, London. With 70 speaking stops this was the largest of the organs exhibited. The organ was later installed in Winchester Cathedral by the family firm (largely due to the initiative of Samuel Sebastian Wesley, the then Cathedral organist) after being reduced to 49 speaking stops, which was felt at the time to be an appropriate size for the Cathedral. When installed at Winchester in 1854, it was the first cathedral organ in the world to have thumb pistons and a concave and radiating pedalboard, both the inventions of "Father" Willis (in collaboration with Wesley in the case of the pedalboard) and now standard features of organs throughout English-speaking countries.[9]
The organ at Union Chapel, Islington, was designed and built specially for the size and acoustics of the new Chapel building in 1877 by “Father” Willis, it was fully restored from 2013-2015 and it is notable for its fully working original hydraulic blowing system.[17]
The Grand Organ built by Henry Willis & Sons between 1923 and 1926 at the Cathedral Church of Christ in Liverpool is the largest pipe organ in the UK, with two five-manual consoles, 10,268 pipes and a trompette militaire.[18]
In Australia, a 4,600 pipes organ was installed at the Brisbane City Hall in Brisbane. This was built in 1892, and originally installed in the Brisbane Exhibition Building, then in 1927 moved to its current location.[20]
Although four generations of Henry Willises are mostly remembered for organs on the grand scale, they also built smaller instruments. Seven examples exist in Australia, including the last one imported, the 1881 organ (Great: 5 stops; Swell: 4 stops; Pedal: 1 stop; 3 couplers) in All Saints Church, Bodalla, New South Wales, commemorating the 'father of Australian dairying', Thomas Sutcliffe Mort.[21]
Norfolk Island has a small Willis organ comprising one manual of four and a half octaves, seven stops and 350 pipes. The organ, donated by Charlotte Yonge of England, arrived on Norfolk in 1876 and was installed in St Barnabas' church in 1880. In 1985, Henry Willis IV, great-grandson of the founder, travelled to the island to carry out restoration work on the instrument.[22]
Henry Willis III built and worked on many organs across Britain, the most notable examples of his work (in addition to Liverpool Cathedral) being in Westminster Cathedral and Sheffield City Hall, both built in 1932. These organs both contain stops invented by the builder: the Sylvestrina at 8 foot pitch on the Choir divisions. In 1929, he rebuilt Father Willis' notable concert instrument at Alexandra Palace. The resulting instrument was said to eclipse any other Willis concert hall organ, and to be the finest concert organ in Europe.[23]
Related Research Articles
Aristide Cavaillé-Coll was a French organ builder. He has the reputation of being the most distinguished organ builder of the 19th century. He pioneered innovations in the art and science of organ building that permeated the profession and influenced the course of organ building, composing and improvising through the early 20th century.
Ernest Martin Skinner was an American pipe organ builder. His electro-pneumatic switching systems advanced the technology of organ building in the first part of the 20th century.
Harrison & Harrison Ltd is a British company that makes and restores pipe organs, based in Durham and established in Rochdale in 1861. It is well known for its work on instruments such as King's College, Cambridge, Westminster Abbey, and the Royal Festival Hall.
N.P Mander Limited later Mander Organs Limited was an English pipe organ maker and refurbisher based in London. Although well known for many years in the organ building industry, they achieved wider notability in 2004 with the refurbishment of the Royal Albert Hall's Father Willis Grand Organ. That company filed for insolvency in 2020 with their trading name and intellectual rights being bought out by the Canterbury firm F. H Browne and Sons.
Peter Collins was an English pipe organ builder based in Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire. He specialised in tracker action organs. Collins was an advocate of computer-aided design, using it to produce compact instruments and to control material costs.
William Drake (1943–2014) was the founder of the firm of William Drake, Organ Builder, that manufactures pipe organs in Buckfastleigh, Devon, England. He held a Royal Warrant as organ builder to Queen Elizabeth II.
The Grand Organ situated in the Royal Albert Hall in London is the second largest pipe organ in the United Kingdom, after the Liverpool Cathedral Grand Organ.
Henry Willis, also known as "Father" Willis, was an English organ player and builder, who is regarded as the foremost organ builder of the Victorian era. His company Henry Willis & Sons remains in business.
Brighton and Hove has numerous notable pipe organs, from the small early 19th-century organs to the large 20th-century instruments in the large churches.
J. W. Walker & Sons Ltd is a British firm of organ builders established in 1828 by Joseph William Walker in London. Walker organs were popular additions to churches during the Gothic Revival era of church building and restoration in Victorian Britain, and instruments built by Walker are found in many churches around the UK and in other countries. The firm continues to build organs today.
Nicholson & Co. Ltd manufactures pipe organs. It was founded in 1841 by John Nicholson. Its work encompasses the creation of new instruments as well as historical restorations, rebuilds and renovations. In 2013, the firm completed the first wholly new instrument in a British cathedral since 1962 at Llandaff Cathedral in Cardiff.
John Snetzler was an organ builder of Swiss origin, who worked mostly in England. Born in Schaffhausen in 1710, he trained with the firm of Egedacher in Passau and came to London about 1741. When he retired in 1781, his business continued and ended up with Thomas Elliot. Snetzler died in Schaffhausen on 28 September 1785.
Rushworth and Dreaper was a firm of organ builders, and later general instrument suppliers associated with Paul McCartney based in Liverpool. The manufacturer was founded in 1828 by William Rushworth, operating until 2002. Upon its liquidation, its archives were mostly destroyed, and the Victorian clock in the works tower was removed. The premises are now occupied by Henry Willis & Sons.
James Jepson Binns was a pipe organ builder based in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England.
Lewis and Company was a firm of organ builders founded by Thomas Christopher Lewis (1833–1915), one of the leading organ builders of late 19th-century Britain.
All Saints' Church is in Queens Road, Hertford, Hertfordshire, England. It is an active Anglican parish church in the deanery of Hertford and Ware, the archdeaconry of Hertford, and the diocese of St Albans. It is the civic church of the town and of the county. The church is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II* listed building. It is the largest church in Hertfordshire, other than St Albans Cathedral, and can seat up to 1,000 people.
Conacher and Co was a firm of British organ builders based in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England.
Abbott and Smith were a firm of organ builders based in Leeds, England from 1869 to 1964.
A. Hunter & Son was an English pipe organ maker and refurbisher, established in London in 1856. Hunter was best known for the instruments at St Cuthbert's Philbeach Gardens and St James's, Spanish Place. The firm was acquired by Henry Willis & Sons in 1937.
The Positive Organ Company was an English pipe organ maker, established in London in 1898 by Thomas Casson, although with some earlier antecedents. The firm was best known for small, one-manual organs, which were able to be moved about. It ceased trading in 1941, but the name was revived in 2020 with a new, unrelated organ builder.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
