The History of the Organ at St James’ Prebend Street, Islington
The twenty page ‘History of St James’ Islington”, written by Peter Baugh in 1992, describes in some detail the opening of St James’ Church on 5th May 1875 by the Bishop of London, John Jackson, in the company of the Master of the Clothworkers Company, John Bazeley-White, the Company architect F W Porter and the Vicar of St Mary’s Church in Upper Street, Daniel Wilson. “Since the Church was not ready to receive an organ the hymns were played on a harmonium. It was expected an organ gallery would be built (that did not materialise)”.
The National Pipe Organ Register records that a two manual organ by Gray and Davison of Euston Road was placed in ‘a lofty chamber in the south chancel’. The date of installation can only be an educated guess. Gray and Davison had an enviable reputation and one of their organs can be found in the Ballroom at Buckingham Palace. While the new bells were the gift of Baroness Angela Burdett Coutts and the Westlake and Laver stained glass windows were given by the Heysham-Wood family and a number of other individual Clothworkers, there is no record of how the organ was funded.
A sole parish magazine from 1934 gives a glimpse of parish life during the height of the Depression. There were four services each Sunday, the main ones being a Choral Eucharist and a Solemn Evensong. A copy of ‘Choristers Chirping’, a magazine written for the choir by the organist of the time, Vernham Cartwright, suggests there was a very healthy choir of boys and young men and this may have been the reason for the first rebuilding and extension of the organ in 1937 by the Tottenham based firm, Monk and Gunther. Sadly, the choir did not survive the fall in congregational numbers in the 1960s and the choir stalls were sold.
The Clothworkers continued to act as patrons to the parish but just when the fortunes of the parish, under Fr Jack Holden, were beginning to revive, the Company let it be known that they would be ending their patronage on St James’ Day 1989. But not before they offered the parish a series of very generous grants which included the cost of remodelling the sanctuary, the laying of new flooring throughout the nave and the opportunity to rebuild the organ which had become largely unplayable. The contract for the refurbishment of the instrument, with electric action, was awarded to Hill, Norman and Beard.
There was one complication however. At about this time, a team of very active bellringers sought the opportunity to increase the size of the bell chamber by lowering the ringing room floor as part of a big project to replace the old peal with newer lighter bells. A lively debate followed because this change meant that the height of the organ chamber below would have to be reduced, limiting the size of the new organ and making tuning access more difficult. In the end the PCC accepted the bell ringers proposal.
One of the concerns discussed with HNB in 1989 was the way the organ spoke solely into the short chancel resulting in a lack of power at the back of the nave. To improve transmission, and in keeping with the Organ Reform Movement principles current at the time, the pipework was ‘opened up’, giving more volume and a sharper quality to the voicing. On the other hand, the pedal division, buried at the back of the chamber, lacked definition. Despite the huge investment by the Clothworkers, the musical balance of the organ was poor and, critically, the rebuilds had lost sight of the distinctive warmth of its Gray and Davison origins.
Every new generation brings fresh insights and the development of the music ministry at St James’ began to gain momentum after an experimental ‘Year of Music’ in 2012 when the Islington Proms concert series was first launched. Almost at once an appeal was made for funds to purchase a grand piano for St James’ and the appointment of Anthony Hill as organist in 2013 led to an exponential growth in the numbers of people using the Church for rehearsals and concerts. However rude early critics had been about the style of the Church designed by Frederick Porter in 1875, Anthony was convinced that the acoustics of St James’ for chamber and choral singing were first class.
To provide greater flexibility for such musical events, the PCC submitted plans for the re-ordering of the chancel and this was completed as part of the 140th anniversary of the consecration of the Church in 2015. Alongside these improvements to the interior, informal discussions were held with various organ advisers and their practical advice informed a series of extended discussions with organ builders from both pipe and digital backgrounds.
An important survey of the site by Christopher Batchelor, a former Managing Director of Harrison and Harrison, led to a major investigation to see if the reorientation of the whole organ to face the nave would allow for the scaling down of the pipework. His belief that a 90degree turn would enable the organ to be heard throughout the Church without working so hard was the key to all that followed. A question remained, however, whether the current specification would be adequate for the growth in music making we were seeking.
After many lengthy debates, the PCC decided to explore ways to enhance the current specification with some digital stops, voiced to blend with the Gray and Davison pipework. While Christopher had to withdraw from the Project at this point because of current IBO rules on hybrid instruments, the skills of Paul Mortier of MPOS were sufficient to allow the Diocesan Organ Adviser, John Norman, to recommend this development to the Diocesan Advisory Committee “in our case” because of the very limited space available in the organ chamber.
After a full Consistory Court case had ruled in favour of the Project, the organ was removed from St James’ in August 2021 and a new wood and steel platform constructed which would not only allow a proportion of the organ to extend into the south aisle, but would also permit the whole instrument to be located on one level not two as before. This has enabled the creation of a new cupboard beneath, a real bonus in a Church as compact as St James’.
With the assistance of Rhidian Jones and our other organ consultants, a new specification was devised although the number of additional stops was limited by the size of the jambs on the console. The most significant additions have been in the pedal department where a modern equivalent of the 32’ Acoustic Bass in the 1937 rebuild has been restored and a 16’ Contra Trombone and a Mixture have been provided to give substance to the full chorus. The Monk and Gunther clarinet has been replicated and some familiar mutations have been added.
There can be no doubt however that, thanks to Paul Mortier and MPOS, this remains a good quality pipe organ, restored and reorientated, with a very limited number of digital stops added, to form a versatile Gray and Davison style instrument which is now ready for use in a Church dedicated to the highest standard of musical performance.
- John Burniston