A HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX 



century. John Crang came from Devonshire 

 and joined in partnership with Hancock, a 

 good voicer of reeds. Hancock added new 

 reeds to many of Father Smith's organs, and 

 Crang was chiefly occupied in turning the old 

 echoes into swells. Among the organs thus 

 treated by the firm were those of St. Paul's 

 Cathedral, St. Peter's Cornhill, and St. 

 Clement Danes. There were two Hancocks, 

 James and John, who with John Crang were 

 employed in repairing the organ of Maidstone 

 Church between 1755 and 1790. In some 

 particulars taken from the churchwardens' 

 accounts published by Mr. W. B. Gilbert, 85 

 ' Mr. Hancock,' who is described as ' organ- 

 builder of Wych Street, London,' is stated to 

 have died suddenly near Maidstone in January 

 1792. James Hancock was living in 1820, 

 and perhaps some years later. The following 

 are some of the organs built by this firm : 

 St. John's Horsleydown, 1770; Barnstaple 

 Church, 1772; Chelmsford, Essex, 1772; 

 St. George the Martyr Queen's Square, 1773; 

 St. Vedast Foster Lane, 1780; and Brompton 

 Chapel. 



John Avery, whose work was held in high 

 reputation, was in business at this time in the 

 churchyard of St. Margaret's Westminster. 

 No other particulars of his life are known. 

 His organs were built between the years 1775 

 and 1808 ; in the latter year he died whilst 

 constructing the organ of Carlisle Cathedral. 

 The list includes the following : Croydon, 

 Surrey, 1794, which he considered his best 

 work; Sevenoaks, Kent, 1798; Winchester 

 Cathedral, 1799 ; Christ Church Bath, 1800; 

 St. Margaret's Westminster, 1804; King's 

 College Chapel, Cambridge, 1804 ; in which 

 he incorporated portions of Dallam's earlier 

 work and the case made by Chapman & Hartop 

 in 1606 ; and Carlisle Cathedral, 1808. 



Henry Willis, one of the greatest of English 

 organ-builders, was born on 27 April 1821, 

 and was articled in 1835 to John Gray. In 

 1847 he rebuilt the organ of Gloucester 

 Cathedral with the then unusual compass of 

 twenty-nine notes in the pedals. In a patent 8 ' 

 which he took out on 28 August 1851 for 

 ' improvements in the construction of organs,' 

 he is described as of Manchester Street, but 

 on 9 March 1868, when another patent 87 

 was granted him, his address is given as 

 Rochester Terrace, Camden Road. He ob- 

 tained much fame at the Exhibition of 1851 

 for the large organ which he exhibited there, 

 and this led to his receiving the commission 



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" Mem. of the Collegiate Ch. of Maidstone (1866), 

 216-17. 

 "No. 13,538. "\J4b. 812. 



to build the organ for St. George's Hall, 

 Liverpool, which so greatly enhanced his 

 reputation. For the Exhibition of 1862 he 

 made another organ, which became the 

 nucleus of that of the Alexandra Palace, un- 

 fortunately destroyed by fire on 9 June 1873. 

 He next built the splendid organ at the Royal 

 Albert Hall, which for its size, and the effici- 

 ency of its pneumatic, mechanical, and acoustic 

 qualities, shares the high reputation procured 

 for him by his second Alexandra Palace organ, 

 which was opened in 1875. The improve- 

 ments in organ-construction which he effected 

 in 1851 comprise the application of an im- 

 proved exhausting valve to the pneumatic 

 lever, the application of pneumatic levers in a 

 compound form, and the invention of a move- 

 ment for facilitating the drawing of stops, 

 singly or in combination. Sir George Grove 88 

 thus estimates the work of this celebrated 

 maker : ' Mr. Willis has always been a 

 scientific organ-builder, and his organs are 

 distinguished for their excellent "engineer- 

 ing," clever contrivances, and first-rate work- 

 manship, as much as for their brilliancy, force 

 of tone, and orchestral character.' Willis died 

 in 1905. Besides his principal works already 

 mentioned he also built or renewed the organs 

 of nearly half the English cathedrals, besides 

 those of numerous halls, colleges, churches, &c. 

 George England, a notable builder, flourished 

 between the years 1740 and 1788, and is 

 stated to have married the daughter of his 

 contemporary, Richard Bridge. He built the 

 following among many other fine instruments : 

 St. Stephen's Walbrook (1760) ; Graves- 

 end, Kent (1764); St. Michael's Queen- 

 hithe (1779); St. Mary's Aldermary ( 1 7 8 1 ) ; 89 

 St. Alphege Greenwich ; and Dulwich Col- 

 lege Chapel. The last organ, built in 1760, 

 cost j26o, together with the old instrument 

 by Father Smith, which England took in part 

 payment. In 1887 the organ was restored 

 on the advice of Dr. Hopkins, who pronounced 

 it to be a magnificent specimen of England's 

 work, and well worthy of reverent and 

 thorough restoration. An illustration of this 

 organ is given in J. W. Hinton's Organ Con- 

 struction.** George England was succeeded by 

 his son, G. P. England, at Stephen Street, 

 Rathbone Place, who carried on the business 

 until 1814, and built twenty-two organs be- 

 tween 1788 and 1 8 12. The list of these 



68 Diet, of Music (ed. i), iv, 460. 



89 The last two in conjunction with Hugh 

 Russell. An organ builder of that name in Theo- 

 bald's Road is one of the six named in the Musical 

 Dir. for 1794 ; Hopkins & Rimbault, op. cit. 156. 



" 1900, pi. Hi, 54. 



192 



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