Henry “Father” Willis, organ builder.
1821 Henry Willis was born in Spitalfields, the first of five children. His father (Henry, 1794-1872) was a carpenter/builder who, at one time, was the kettle-drummer for Cecilian Society, a local amateur musical group.
From an early age, Henry 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.
1835 He was apprenticed to John Gray (later Gray and Davison).
1841 Henry Miller, 40, carpenter, lived in Regents Park, St Pancras, with Mary Miller, 40, James Miller, 20, organ builder, Ann Miller, 10, Amelia Pogson, 5, Thomas Mathews, 25, organ builder, Henry Willis, 20, organ builder[1]
1842 Worked with Warble 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 met, and made a profound impression on, S. S. Wesley, probably the most celebrated organist of his day.
1845 Went into business for himself
1846 Rebuilt the organ of Tewkesbury Abbey
1847 Rebuilt the organ of Gloucester Cathedral
1847 Married Esther Maria Chatterton in Holborn[2]
1848 Returned to London and established his workshop in Foundling Terrace, Gray's Inn Road - see Henry Willis (Organ Builder)
Most of his work at this point was applied in the west of England
1851 Henry Willis 29, organ builder employing 12 men, lived in Grays Inn Lane with Esther M Willis 33, Vincent Willis 2, Edith Willis 10 months[3]
1851 The first of nineteen patents between 1851 and 1893.
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, which was built between 1854–5.
Thereafter, for the next fifty years, a stream of organs issued from the Willis works, ranging from the very large to the very small.
1871 Designed the grand organ for the Hall for Arts and Sciences, South Kensington.
1871 Henry Willis 49, organ builder, lived in Kentish Town with Esther M Willis 52, Vincent Willis 32, organ builder, Edith Willis 20, Henry Willis 18, organ builder's assistant, Kate Willis 17, Mary Willis 11[4]
1881 Henry Willis 59, organ builder, senior partner in firm employing 80 hands in London and Liverpool; lived in Kentish Town with Esther M. Willis 61, Edith Willis 30, Henry Willis 28, organ builder, partner, Kate Willis 27, Mary Willis 21[5]
1894 Married Rosetta Chatterton in Camden[6]
It is not known how many organs Henry built as the early ledgers of the firm no longer exist.
1898 A profile by F. G. Edwards in "The Musical Times" described him as small in build, but highly charged with nervous energy. Edwards also noted his strong personality, 'obstinate perseverance', and extraordinarily thorough and very painstaking concern over every detail of his work. He concluded by conferring on him the title "Father Willis".
1901 Willis died on 11 February at his home, Argyle Villa, 2 Bartholomew Road, Kentish Town, and was buried in Highgate cemetery.
See Also
Sources of Information
- [1] Henry Willis and Sons
- Biography of Henry Willis, ODNB