William Hill & Son
William Hill & Son was one of the main organ builders in England during the 19th century.[1]
The founder
William Hill was born in Spilsby, Lincolnshire, in 1789. He married Mary, the daughter of organ-builder Thomas Elliot, on 30 October 1818 in St Pancras Parish Church, and worked for Thomas Elliott from 1825. The company was known as Elliott and Hill until Elliott died in 1832.
After William Hill's death in 1870 at his home near Regents Park he was buried in Highgate cemetery in north London.[2] A memorial window was installed in the church at Spilsby, Lincolnshire.
The company
On Elliot's death in 1832, William Hill inherited the firm. In 1837, he formed a partnership with Frederick Davison, who left in the following year to form a partnership with John Gray, Gray and Davison.
From 1832, William Hill's elder son William joined him in the firm. From 1855, William Hill's younger son Thomas joined the company and took control after his father's death in 1870.
When Thomas died in 1893, the firm continued under his son, Arthur George Hill, until 1916[3] when it was amalgamated with Norman & Beard into a huge organ-building concern as William Hill & Son & Norman & Beard Ltd. later shortened to Hill, Norman & Beard.
Examples of the firm's work, in order, are:-
- Birmingham Town Hall, 1832 was rebuilt in 1890 (Thomas Hill) and again in 1932 (Willis), with significant restoration work occurring in 1984 and 2007.
- King's College Chapel, Cambridge, 1834, 1859, 1889 and 1911. Rebuilt and enlarged by Harrison & Harrison in 1934
- St James's Palace, London 1837, organ for Chapel Royal commissioned by William IV, donated to St James the Great Barrow in Furness by Queen Victoria 1868, replaced by a second Hill organ
- St James Spilsby. Lincolnshire, (Hill family parish church), 1840, Swell added in 1866
- Westminster Abbey, 1848 updated and expanded by the same firm in 1884, 1895 and 1909 (fine organ case designed by J L Pearson, 1895). Replaced by a new Harrison & Harrison organ in 1937 retaining some Hill pipework.
- Kidderminster Town Hall, Worcestershire, 1855 [4]
- Ulster Hall, Belfast, 1861-2, the gift of Andrew Mulholland, the mayor of Belfast, rebuilt by Wm Hill & Sons 1903, restored by Mander 1978 with some tonal changes
- St Andrew's Cathedral, Sydney 1866, rebuilt by Hill, Norman & Beard and Orgues Létourneau
- Truro Public Rooms, 1868-9 , nothing known of its subsequent career [5]
- Ullet Road Unitarian Church, Liverpool, 1869
- St Peter's Church, Streatham, 1870
- Holy Name Church, Manchester, 1871
- Bangor Cathedral, 1871 enlarged by the firm in 1896 and by others since
- St John's Church, Torquay, 1872
- Melbourne Town Hall, opened 1872, destroyed by fire 1925
- Holy Trinity Church, Gosport, 1874, rebuild of organ purchased from the Duke of Chandos by parishioners in 1747.[6][7]
- St Paul's, Burton upon Trent, 1874. The Hill organ was moved to Trinity Methodist Church, Burton, in 1896, and then in 2012 to Sankt-Afra-Kirche in the Berlin suburb of Gesundbrunnen[8][9] and inaugurated on 22 November 2015. It is regarded as the most significant English organ in Germany.[10]
- St Peter's Church, Mundham, 1877
- Adelaide Town Hall, 1877, reconstructed and installed at the Barossa Regional Gallery, Tanunda, South Australia, reopened 2014[11]
- Corpus Christi College Oxford in the chapel, 1880 [12]
- Little Malvern Priory, Worcestershire, 1882, historical restoration by Nicholson & Co, 2019
- Lichfield Cathedral, 1884 new organ supplied which has since been altered
- Eton College, 1885 famous college chapel organ featuring significant 1902 rebuilds and later restorations
- Sydney Town Hall Grand Organ, 1886–89, opened 1890, the largest organ in the world at the time of its construction, with a case designed by A. G. Hill
- St Mary's Church, Tottenham,1889 with alterations by the firm 3 years later, received Grade 1 listing in 2004 with Barker lever Action intact, manual air pump working and many stops, given its relatively small size.[13]
- Thomas Coats Memorial Baptist Church, Paisley, 1890.[14]
- St Andrew's, Croydon, 1891 and a replacement in 1906
- All Saints Hove, 1894, enlarged in 1905 and encased in 1915 (elaborate case designed by F L Pearson)
- Peterborough Cathedral, 1894, subsequently Hill, Norman & Beard (1930/31), Harrison & Harrison (1980–present). Case designed by A. G. Hill.[15]
- St Augustine's Church, Penarth, 1895[16]
- Christ Church, Llanfairfechan, Wales, 1895/1902 (rebuilt)[17]
- St Joseph's Church, Highgate, London, 1898 large instrument in unaltered condition
- Selby Abbey, 1909
- Christ Church / Crimean Memorial Church, Istanbul, 1911
- St Alban's Church, Ilford, England, 1914
References
- ^ The Making of the Victorian Organ. Nicholas Thistlethwaite - 1999
- ^ Ludwig Hannes (2025) W. Hill & Son (1832-1916): Die Orgelbauer des britischen Königshauses. ISBN 978-3000822742
- ^ Obituary: Arthur George Hill, The Musical Times, Vol. 64, No. 965 (1 July 1923), p. 507.
- ^ "William Hill organ". Kidderminster Town Hall. Archived from the original on 14 November 2017. Retrieved 14 November 2017.
- ^ http://www.truro_news_public_rooms_1869.pdf/http://www.opc-cornwall.org.
{{cite web}}: Missing or empty|title=(help) - ^ "Hampshire, Gosport, Holy Trinity, Trinity Green, N11540". The National Pipe Organ Register. Retrieved 11 July 2024.
- ^ "The Handel Organ at Holy Trinity Church, Revd John Capper. Gosport Records No.5 (1972) p.22-25" (PDF). Gosport Society. Retrieved 11 July 2024.
- ^ "Church organ to make Germany its new home" Burton Mail 10 January 2012
- ^ "Hacked by ./GNT".
- ^ "Eine Hill-Orgel für Berlin". Institut St. Philipp Neri, Berlin. 22 September 2013. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016.
- ^ "'Barossa Regional Gallery'". The Barossa Council. Retrieved 11 July 2024.
- ^ "Organ Scholarships". Corpus Christi College Oxford. Retrieved 9 January 2024.
- ^ "The Hill Organ". St Mary's Church, Tottenham. Archived from the original on 9 October 2016.
- ^ Speirs, Kenneth (17 March 2011). "£1000,000 organ fund given a boost". Paisley Daily Express. Archived from the original on 10 September 2011.
- ^ "Cambridgeshire, Peterborough, Cathedral of St. Peter, Paul & Andrew, [D04648]". NPOR. Retrieved 13 April 2022.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link) - ^ "William Hill organ". Friends of St Augustine's. Retrieved 28 May 2016.
- ^ Jones, Peter (17 August 2005), St Mary & Christ Church, Llanfairfechan, retrieved 18 August 2024