The Organ at St John's Waterloo

by Gary Barr

An important feature of the churches built as part of the 1818 Act of Parliament, later to be called the Waterloo Churches, was the provision of music for Worship. As the churches were nearly all built to accommodate between 1500 and 2000 people, a large sound would be required. This required a complete rethink about the form of the English organ, and generally the organ builders of the day rose to meet these new challenges but with varying degrees of success.

Here at St John's, being so close at the centre of London, more care and money was spent on the church and its furnishings. The architect was Francis Octavius Bedford, and the style chosen was that of the then currently fashionable Greek revival. This attention to detail went as far as the organ case, with its classical Greek pediment that he designed.

The person charged with building the instrument was James C Bishop. The firm of Bishop & Son is still in existence, and they currently have care of the instrument. Amongst their company documents is the original estimate for the work to be undertaken. The cost, including the manufacture of a case from mahogany was for the sum of £750. This was for a moderately sized three manual instrument consisting of 23 stops. The most unusual feature was the provision of a separate pedal stop, of 25 "Double Diapason pipes of very large scale". This pedal stop was one of the earliest to be found in London, and was quite an innovation. The whole cost of the instrument which had risen to £1,200 was met by a generous parishioner Thomas Letts Esq. His generous benefaction is still recorded on the Organ case, and on the donations board in the entrance porch.

"The Great and Choir Organs from GG to F in alt. including the GG#, the Swell from E below middle C to F. The Bellows to have two feeders with Inside waste Valves and Extra Bellows for pedal pipes. The Wind to be perfectly steady, the touch and all the movements to be Smooth, Regular and free from Noise."

The Church was consecrated on the 3rd November 1824, and the organ was formally opened on 23rd November with a concert given by William Horsley Esq., who had acted as advisor to Mr Bishop.

The organ was considered one of the finest in London and as such attracted many musicians who desired to play it. The young Samuel Sebastian Wesley, (great grandson of Charles Wesley) was organist from 1829 - 30, to later successively become organist at the Cathedrals of Hereford, Exeter, Winchester and Gloucester. The German composer Felix Mendelssohn also played here during his time in London.

Some minor re-voicing work was carried out by Bishops in 1877 who had carried on with the maintenance of the instrument. However in the following year the head tuner , by all accounts quite a 'choleric individual' had a violent dispute with the organist of the day and threatened to pitch him over the gallery front! Not surprisingly the church left unpaid a bill for £21 10s 0d and changed firms.

The next phase of the instrument's life begins in 1882. The contract for maintenance having passed from Bishops to Messrs Hele & Co. of Plymouth. They instigated a thorough rebuild during this year at the cost of £400. They extended the compass of the organ to the modern CC, and also extended the pedal compass. Part of the new pipework was housed in a new small chair case fixed to the front of the gallery.

In 1889 the organ was given a fourth manual and a small Solo division at a cost of £130. The outstanding addition at this time was a Tuba which was described by Gilbert Benham in 1931 as 'a veritable giant of the old school, the slight extra pressure enables it just to top the full organ without seeming crude.' The organ in Saint John's, 1889

This period saw the pinnacle of the church's musical history, when under the direction of the organist, Henry J. Dart Esq. monthly concerts were arranged for the ordinary people. These must have been something to behold, with a choir of 60 and a string orchestra of 25 -30. The vicar, the Reverend Arthur W Jephson would read aloud from the lifestory of a great composer, which would be then be interspersed with a selection of their music. The church would be full, and on one occasion the Princess of Wales (later Queen Alexandra) attended.

The final phase in this organ's history began with an overhaul in 1924 by Rushworth & Dreaper. They also carried some re-voicing and added a 4ft stop to the Solo. In an article written for the December edition of Musical Opinion in 1931 Gilbert Benham states that "at St John's Church one may hear the effect of the classical design in organs, as opposed to what is often merely haphazard.", and that "tonally, this Waterloo organ possesses so many excellent features that there is some difficulty putting one before the other." This organ met it's end on the night of 8th December 1940, when the church received a direct hit from a high explosive bomb.

Following the bombing of the church, the organ was dismantled and placed into storage in the crypt of St Mark's Church, North Audley Street until the future of the Church could be decided. In 1950 it was decided to restore St John's to be the Christian Centre of the Festival of Britain to be held on the South Bank in 1951. The work of trying to piece together the organ was given to Noel P. Mander. Firstly the parts of the organ were removed from storage and transported to the disused Emmanuel Church in Lambeth for assessment. It was found that much of the pipe work had been quite badly damaged if not by the bombing but by it's subsequent dismantling and storage. The front of the case was also salvaged. In view of the time scale and condition of the instrument it was decided to rebuild as a much reduced two manual instrument, using where possible the existing salvageable pipework. The consultant for this was Sir William McKie MVO who was at the time the organist at Westminster Abbey. The organ was rebuilt with 26 speaking stops.

As can be seen the organ bears some resemblance to its predecessor, but lacks some of its more powerful stops. The rebuilt chair case today is just a dummy. Whilst the new organ is big enough to cope with its day to day use, it sounds weak when there is a sizeable congregation, and we can only lament that which used to be. It is becoming evident that at some time in the not too distant future that fairly major work will have to be undertaken. We have seen in the last few years a marked deterioration in the reliability of the now almost fifty year old electric action. During the last major work on the church in 1998 a humidifier was installed to counteract the effect of the warm dry atmosphere in the building. Shortly following the re-opening of the church in April 1998 the Swell slider engines have had to be re-leathered, with the Great to follow soon.

It is hoped that at some time in the future, as funding allows that enlargement can take place, even if this utilises the spare sliders incorporated in the 1951 rebuild. This would allow the organ to become more of a solo instrument, rather than the accompanimental instrument it is at the present.

I hope that these brief notes have been of interest to you and that you will enjoy your time here at St John's.

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