INDUSTRIES 



Lynn, Norfolk, where the churchwardens 

 inquired what their old organ would be worth 

 if repaired. His reply was, ' If they would 

 lay out a hundred pounds upon it, perhaps 

 it would be worth fifty.' Snetzler lived to 

 an advanced age and died at the end of the 

 1 8th or the beginning of the igth century. 

 Having realized a competent income he re- 

 turned to his native country to settle for the 

 remainder of his life. He had, however, 

 become too much of a Londoner to live else- 

 where, and the attractions of London porter 

 and London living proved so great as to 

 compel him to return and spend the rest of 

 his days in the Metropolis. 



Snetzler was succeeded in 1780 by his fore- 

 man Ohrmann, who took W. Nutt into part- 

 nership in 1790. Thomas Elliott next joined 

 the firm, but appears in I794 83 as in business 

 by himself at 10, Button Street, Soho, and one 

 of six organ-builders then carrying on their 

 trade in London. Elliott took into partnership 

 in 1825 William Hill of Lincolnshire, who 

 had married his daughter, and was the inventor 

 of a pattern of viola da gamba which became 

 extensively used. On the death of Elliott in 

 1832 Hill remained alone till 1837, when he 

 was joined by Frederic Davison, who shortly 

 afterwards retired to become a partner of John 

 Gray. Thomas Hill then joined the firm, 

 which became Hill & Son, and William Hill 

 died 1 8 December 1870. He will long be 

 remembered for having in conjunction with 

 Dr. Gauntktt introduced the C C compass 

 into this country. The present partners of 

 the firm are A. G. Hill and W. Hill. The 

 firm has built, amongst many others, organs 

 for Westminster Abbey, 1 884, Ely, Worcester, 

 and Manchester Cathedrals, Birmingham and 

 Melbourne Town Halls, St. Peter's Cornhill, 

 and All Saints' Margaret Street. One of the 

 present partners, Mr. Arthur George Hill, is 

 the author of a valuable work on Organ-cases 

 and Organs of the Middle Ages and Renaissance, 

 published in 1883. 



The firm of Bishop & Son of 2O, Upper 

 Gloucester Place, London, N.W., was estab- 

 lished about the end of the i8th century by 

 James C. Bishop, and has always had a high 

 reputation for excellent workmanship. The in- 

 vention of the double-acting composition pedal, 

 the clarabella stop, and the anti-concussion 

 valve is to be placed to the credit of the 

 founder of this firm. Among the finest speci- 

 mens of their work are the organs of St. Giles's 

 Camberwell ; St. James's Piccadilly ; the 

 Brompton Oratory ; Jesus College, Cambridge ; 



and those of Bombay Cathedral and Town 

 Hall. After the death of J. C. Bishop the 

 style of the firm successively became Bishop, 

 Son & Starr ; Bishop, Starr & Richardson ; 

 Bishop & Starr ; and Bishop & Son. Mr. 

 C. K. K. Bishop is the author of Notes on 

 Church Organs, published in 1873. 



Messrs. Gray & Davison are a London 

 firm of long standing and high reputation. 

 Robert Gray established an organ factory in 

 London in 1774, and was succeeded by 

 William Gray, who died in 1820. John 

 Gray then became head of the firm, which 

 became in 18378 John Gray & Son ; 

 shortly afterwards Frederic Davison was re- 

 ceived into partnership, when the style of the 

 firm was altered to Gray & Davison. John 

 Gray died in 1849, but the style of the firm 

 continued, their premises in London being at 

 6, Pratt Street, N.W.; they have also a fac- 

 tory at Liverpool. Among the many fine 

 organs built by this famous firm are those of 

 the Crystal Palace ; St. Paul's Wilton Place; 

 St. Pancras ; Magdalen College, Oxford ; and 

 the Town Halls of Bolton, Leeds, and 

 Glasgow. The Keraulophon stop was in- 

 vented by the firm in 1843. 



Samuel Green, who appears to have been a 

 London maker, was born in 1740, and died 

 at Isleworth 14 September 1796. He is said 

 by Rimbault 83 to have been a partner of the 

 younger Byfield, and to have probably learned 

 his trade in the workshops of Byfield, Bridge 

 & Jordan. Green was organ-builder to 

 George III, and much patronized by the king. 

 The royal favour brought him much business, 

 but little financial benefit ; although he was 

 so long at the head of his profession he yet 

 scarcely obtained a moderate competency, and 

 died a poor man. Green was a true artist, 

 and his zeal for the mechanical improvement 

 of the organ consumed a great part of his time 

 in experiment and research which brought him 

 little or no emolument. The organs built by 

 Green possess a peculiar sweetness and delicacy 

 of tone entirely original, and probably in this 

 he has never been excelled. There is a list 

 of fifty organs of his construction taken from 

 his own account book and printed in the 

 Gentleman's Magazine?* It contains no less 

 than twelve cathedral and collegiate organs, 

 including that of Canterbury Cathedral, eleven 

 London organs, including several City churches 

 and Freemasons' Hall, and twenty-seven others 

 built for the country or abroad. 



Crang & Hancock were a London firm 

 established in the last quarter of the i8th 



ffl Musical Directory (1794). See Hopkins and 

 Rimbault, Organ, 156. 



M Hopkins & Rimbault, Hist, of the Organ, 150, 

 84 June 1814, pp. 543-4. 



