Henry Willis 1 - 'Father' Willis

Our prospective new organ, for which we are raising funds was built by Henry Willis 2, son of the great "Father" Willis, adhering to his father's design and specification. One of the greatest organ builders of his generation Henry Willis and Sons Limited is still thriving today.

Henry "Father" Willis was born in Spitalfields, just east of the City of London. He was the first of five children, all boys, and all were associated with organ building. His father (Henry, 1794-1872) was a carpenter who was at one time was the kettle-drummer for Cecilian Society, a well-known local amateur musical group, and he had sung in the choir of the Surrey Chapel in the Blackfriars Road when the organist was the celebrated Benjamin Jacob. From an early age, Henry I learned to play the piano and the organ, the latter in competition with his friend, George Cooper junior, son of the assistant organist of St Paul’s.

In 1835, at the age of fourteen, he was apprenticed for seven years to John Gray (later Gray & Davison). In 1842, he went to work with Wardle Evans in Cheltenham for three years. Evans was a fine violinist who had a music shop, gave music lessons, supplied musical instruments and was developing a reed organ, which he called the Organo-Harmonica. It was through the exhibition of this instrument in London in 1844 that Henry I met and made a profound impression on S. S. Wesley, probably the most celebrated organist of his day.

In 1845, Henry I returned to London and set up in business. Most of his work at this point was in the west of the country, but in 1851 he made a startling appearance in London with a seventy-stop organ for the Great Exhibition, the first successful organ of this size in the land. This was followed by the hundred-stop organ for the St George’s Hall, Liverpool, ordered on the strength of the Exhibition organ.

Thereafter, for the next fifty years, a stream of organs issued from the Willis works, ranging from the very large to the very small. There is occasional speculation as to how many organs Henry "Father" Willis did build, but we shall never know exactly as the early ledgers are no longer extant. Whilst the surviving work of other nineteenth-century organ builders may be admired, the work of Father Willis is treasured.

St Mary's prospective new organ was the last that to be supervised by 'Father' Wiliis, and was to his design though it was built by his son Henry Willis 2. This is the last organ mentioned in a letter in the hand of the Father' Willis. The letter was never posted due to his unexpected death in 1901. He indicated in that letter that he was going to visit Elgin Place Church in Glasgow, the organ’s original home, to do some detailed planning.

Today the new organ will be restored by the same company that built it using some of the notes that were made and tools that were used when it was originally built. The Willis family continued through three further generations until Henry Willis IV retired in 1997.

For nearly twenty-five years the Company has been run by David Wyld. David is a chemist by training, working in the laboratory and manufacturing side of a major rubber and plastics company but at the same time carrying out musical studies including the organ, counterpoint and composition with Philip Moore and, later, Dr. Ruth Gipps. He was the founder and Managing Director of Mirabilis Records from 1989 to 1995. Prior to being appointed as Managing Director of Henry Willis & Sons he was taught pipemaking and voicing personally by Henry 4, before Henry retired from the Company in 1997. On taking over, David's objective was to bring the Company back to the forefront of British organbuilding and strictly to maintain the Willis characteristics and house style which has, in some areas, meant a reversion to the older methods of the firm.

In 2000 The Head Offices and factory re-located from Petersfield in Hampshire to Liverpool, a city with which Henry Willis & Sons has had very strong ties including a working Branch since 1854.

It is Liverpool that our new organ will be built before it takes the road north for the second time in its existence and - thanks to, hopefully, generous donation and funding - is installed in its new home at St Mary's Cathedral.