INDUSTRIES 



taken from England's own account book 91 

 includes St. James's Clerkenwell ; St. Mar- 

 garet's Lothbury ; Gainsborough, Lincoln- 

 shire ; Sheffield Parish Church ; and Rich- 

 mond, Yorkshire. The Englands' business 

 was taken over by their apprentice, Joseph 

 William Walker, in iSig, 92 or according to 

 another account in i8a8. 93 Walker started 

 in Museum Street, and removed in 1838 to 

 27, Francis Street, Tottenham Court Road, 

 where the business is still carried on. Walker 

 died in 1870, and was succeeded by his four 

 sons, whom he .had previously taken into part- 

 nership, the style of the firm being changed 

 to J. W. Walker & Sons. The high reputa- 

 tion of the firm is shown by the large number 

 of important organs which have come from 

 their works, including those of York Minster ; 

 Exeter Hall ; St. Margaret's Westminster ; 

 Bow Church, Cheapside ; the Royal College 

 of Music, South Kensington ; and Sandring- 

 ham Church. 



The firm of Flight and Kelly, organ builders 

 of Exeter Change, Strand, is one of the six 

 London makers recorded in the Musical Direc- 

 tory of I794- 94 Nothing further is known of 

 John Kelly, but Benjamin Flight was succeeded 

 by his son, also named Benjamin (born in 1 767), 

 who commenced business about 1800 in 

 partnership with Joseph Robson, in Lisle 

 Street, Leicester Square, under the style of 

 Flight and Robson. They afterwards removed 

 to St. Martin's Lane, where they constructed 

 and for many years publicly exhibited the 

 Apollonicon, a large chamber organ of peculiar 

 construction, comprising both keyboards and 

 barrels. They had previously exhibited a 

 smaller instrument made for Viscount Kirk- 

 wall, and in consequence of its popularity they 

 designed one of larger dimensions *n 1812 

 which occupied five years and cost 10,000 

 in its construction and perfecting. For nearly 

 a quarter of a century after its completion in 



1817, an exhibition of its mechanical powers 

 was daily given. The performance of the 

 overture to ' Oberon ' has been especially re- 

 corded as a notable triumph of mechanical 

 skill and ingenuity, every note of the score 

 being rendered as accurately as though exe- 

 cuted by a fine orchestra. Flight also per- 

 fected and gave practical form to the invention 

 of an improved form of bellows by which a 

 supply of steady wind is maintained. 98 The 

 partnership was dissolved in 1 832, after which 

 Robson's share of the business was bought by 

 Gray and Davison, whilst Flight in conjunc- 

 tion with his son J. Flight, who had long 

 actively assisted him, carried on business in 

 St. Martin's Lane as Flight and Son. Ben- 

 jamin Flight died in 1847, Robson in 1876, 

 and J. Flight in 1890 at Strathblaine Road, 

 Clapham Junction. 



The firm of Bevington and Sons was 

 founded about the beginning of the igth 

 century by Henry Bevington, who was ap- 

 prenticed to Ohrmann and Nutt, successors to 

 the famous Snetzler. The present members 

 of the firm are Henry and Martin Bevington, 

 sons of the founder, who are in business in 

 Rose Street, Soho. The organs of St. Martin's 

 in the Fields, the Foundling Hospital, and 

 St. Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin, were built 

 by this firm. The firm of Bryceson Brothers 

 was founded in 1796 by Henry Bryceson, and 

 carries on business at St. Thomas's Hall, High- 

 bury. The principal organs which they have 

 built are those for the great Concert Hall, 

 Brighton ; the Pro-Cathedral, Kensington ; 

 St. Michael's Cornhill ; and St. Peter and 

 St. Paul, Cork. Many equally famous builders 

 had their works within the City of London. 

 Such were, among early makers, the Dallams 

 and the Jordans ; the last-named were the 

 inventors of the Swell Organ, which they 

 first introduced in 1712 in the famous organ 

 of St. Magnus London Bridge. 



COACH-MAKING 



The earliest coaches were of necessity heavy 

 and clumsy in their design, as the terrible con- 

 dition of even the most frequented highways 

 of the City prohibited the use of lighter vehicles. 

 For this reason the Thames was for many 

 centuries London's great highway, and the 

 waterman down to the beginning of the 



91 Hopkins and Rimbault, The Organ, 155. 

 Grove, Diet, of Music (ed. i), iv, 376. 



93 Who's Who in Business, 1906. 



M Hopkins and Rimbault, op. cit. 156. 



century was the serious competitor of the coach 

 and fly-man. The London coach-building 

 trade took up its quarters from an early 

 period principally in the western part of the 

 City. When once introduced the trade grew 

 apace, as it soon became the correct thing for 

 people of fashion to have their own coach. 

 The art of coach-building gave great scope 



"This invention is ascribed to Cummins, whose 

 name appears as residing at Pentonville, in the 

 Musical Dir. (1794). 



193 



