RESEARCH NOTES

PUGIN'S ORGAN AT THE GRANGE, RAMSGATE
Further to April's Reporter, John Maidment of OHTA has kindly pointed out that a nineteenth-century photograph of the organ at The Grange has been recently published. He has discovered that, under strong magnification, the builder's plate appears to say 'Bevington & Sons', and is of similar style to that of an 1845 Bevington organ in Victoria. The square upper part of the case has no visible pipes, and consists of a gothic (wooden?) latticework with quatrefoils at the intersections. The part below the impost is decorated with fleurs-de-Lys and other patterning.    
   Pipeless gothic cases are not unusual in the 1840s: well-known examples are Leeds Parish Church, St Giles, Camberwell, and St Eustace, Tavistock. The Tablet 28 December 1844, records the first service in Pugin's private chapel at The Grange, and the organ may have arrived about this time.

1. Brooks, C., The Gothic Revival (London, 1999), 245.
2. Ord-Hume, A.W.J.G., Barrel Organ (London, 1978), 134.

* * * *
SCIENCE AND THE ORGAN
The Musée des Arts et Métiers in Paris contains some thought-provoking exhibits which point up the delight in new discoveries common to the nineteenth-century scientific world and to that of the organ. The Nicholsons came from a family of weavers: the late eighteenth century was a highly innovative period in this trade. Jacquard's loom utilises two techniques now familiar from automatic organs of various types: c.1810 he combined the punch cards invented by Jean-Philippe Falcon early in the eighteenth century with the cylinder drive of Vaucanson. Froment's electric telegraph of c.1850 has two keyboard-like manuals to operate the alphabet, with a shift for numbers.
   Most intriguing of all is the apparatus used by Foucault for measuring the speed of light. It consists of an arrangement of revolving mirrors driven by compressed-air turbines. The three witnesses at the first demonstration at the Paris Observatory in 1862 were Le Verrier the Director, Froment the engineer, and Aristide Cavaillé-Coll, who had provided the bellows to drive the apparatus.
   Another intriguing instance of the influence of organ mechanism is the case of Jethro Tull (1674-1741). His invention of the seed drill is nowadays regarded as slightly less significant than it used to be as a talisman of the early industrial revolution, but his explanation of its invention, published in 1731,³ is still worthy of note:

When I was young, My Diversion was Musick: I had also the Curiosity to acquaint my self thoroughly with the Fabrick of every Part of an Organ; but as little thinking that I should take from thence, the first Rudiments of a Drill. ...that I could contrive an Engine to plant St. Foin more faithfully than such Hands [i.e., his labourers] would do. To that Purpose I examin'd and compar'd all the mechanical Ideas that ever had enter'd my Imagination, and at last, repitch'd upon a Groove, Tongue and Spring in the Sound-Board of the Organ: with these, a little alter'd, and some Parts of 2 other Instruments as foreign to the Field as the Organ is, added to them, I compos'd my Machine: 'Twas nam'd a Drill...

   One wonders what particular organ drew Tull's attention. He was born (and indeed died) in the village of Basildon, Berkshire: the only places in the area known to have had organs in the late seventeenth century are Windsor and Oxford, both rather far away.

3. Tull, Jethro, The New Horse-Houghing Husbandry, or, an Essay on the Principles of Tillage and Vegetation (Dublin, 1731), vii-viii

* * * *
THE PARSONS
I do not refer to ecclesiastics but to the organ-building family. Andrew Freeman wrote a seminal article⁴ in 1945 and Bernard Edmonds revisited the subject in 1979.⁵ Further information has now come to light, some of it puzzling. Note that all ages in the 1841 Census were rounded down to the nearest five years.
   The raw evidence is this:
The George Parsons trade card from the Finnish church in Cardiff read 'S. Parsons, Maker, Nephew to G. Parsons, No. 26, January 1st 1830'. R.V. Gill⁶ said that this was written on the back, so either Samuel or Stephen was working for George in that year. Samuel seems more likely to be a nephew, since he was born in Dorset, while Stephen was born in London. Printed on the front was: 'G. Parsons, Conductor of the Business of the late celebrated Mr G.P. England for 14 years'. This is open to interpretation. Presumably it means that he worked for England at some period, rather than being in some way his successor. Parsons is not mentioned in England's will, but W.A.A. Nicholls (his son-in-law) was left the unfinished work and tools and is generally thought to have taken over the business. On the other hand, the time from England's death to the printing of the card (1815-29) is fourteen years, as stated. The matter remains open.
   A George Parsons died in Bloomsbury in the last quarter of 1840 (Register of Deaths) so he may well be the organ-builder.
   Stephen Parsons was already in Duke Street in 1834, when a daughter Eliza was born to his wife Jane (born 21 November, baptised 12 December, St George's, Bloomsbury), and in Little Russell Street in 1837 (Harriet, born 31 May, baptised 3 September). The 1841 Census (HO 107/672, book 3) records 'Duke Street, Bloomsbury [no numbers]; Stephen Parsons, ob, aged 30, wife Jane 30, son George 2; all born in this County'. A Stephen Parsons was christened 9 July 1809 at St Anne's, Soho, son of George and Mary Parsons. This would fit, given the rounding down of ages in 1841. Son George, as a family name, is suggestive, too.
   To confuse the matter, Samuel Parsons was also in Duke Street in 1834 (daughter Jane Elizabeth born 12 November, baptised 7 December, St George's, Bloomsbury). The 1841 Census (HO 107/672, book 3) says for him, 'Duke Street, Bloomsbury, [no numbers but about five doors down from Stephen] Samuel Parsons, ob, 35, Caroline 25, Jane 6, Caroline 4'.
   In the 1861 census (RG 9/167, 60-61) there is no-one relevant in Duke Street, but at 2 Little Russell Street, known as his later address, Samuel appears as 'ob aged 55, born Dorset; Caroline 48 [sic], b. Middx., Alfred J., Organist and Professor of Music 19, Eliza 17, Louisa 14, Emily 11, Fanny 8, all born London'. Samuel Parsons of St Giles in the Fields appears in the Register of Deaths for the first quarter of 1868, aged 62, so he was born c.1806.
   Therefore the Parsons succession appears to be as follows:
·George Parsons, worked for G.P. England?, working on his own as early as 1809, died 1840?, 25 Duke Street, Bloomsbury 1826-40.
·Stephen Parsons, born London 1809?-1844 at least; living in Duke Street 1834, listed at 25 Duke Street 1835, living in Little Russell Street 1837 and listed there at No. 2 1838-1841, but back at 25 Duke Street 1841-4.
· Samuel Parsons, born Motcombe, Dorset c.1806, died 1868. In Duke Street in 1834 and 1841, listed at 2 Little Russell Street 1846-68.
   How can one reconcile all this information? Frankly, all suppositions or new evidence would be gratefully received. I have two suggestions, both entirely unsupported by evidence.
   1. Stephen was George's son, but Samuel his nephew, and the latter was working for George in 1830. George probably died in 1840, and perhaps left the business to his son. Stephen and Samuel then swapped workshops, Stephen (who was working independently) taking over his father's, while Samuel, who had been working for George, continued on his own in premises at 2 Little Russell Street. The chamber organ at Shadingfield is marked George Parsons & Son, Duke Street (BIOSRep III,2,8): the son would therefore be Stephen, rather than yet another Parsons.
   2. A simpler interpretation is that Samuel and Stephen worked together, and had two workshops, or one workshop but separate houses in Duke Street. It would be interesting to have reliable evidence of a nameplate spelling out either Stephen or Samuel Parsons: I have not seen either. Alfred John Parsons seems to have been the last known organ-builder of the family. A Mr Parsons (Alfred J., presumably), professor of music, Hemel Hempstead, advertised for sale the business, stock and tools of the late Samuel Parsons in Musical Standard 191, 28 March 1868, but he is listed as an organ-builder in Hemel Hempstead later (Reeves Musical Directory, 1897-1902). He was born 16 April 1842, baptised 8 May (St George's, Bloomsbury).
   It is time perhaps to lay to rest 'W. Parsons of London', credited with the organ at St Peter & Paul RC, Wolverhampton c.1829 as described in Musical Standard 239, 27 February 1869. He is said to have rebuilt the organ of St Matthew, Walsall in 1824, according to Freeman in 'Samuel Green', The Organ XCII (1941), 155, but this is a misprint: he corrects it to George in a subsequent issue. Pearce, following Leffler, says 'Mr Parsons of London'.
   The organ at Wolverhampton was likely to be by George, since he worked at Bilston and St John, Wolverhampton nearby at around this time. I am not convinced of W. Parsons's existence. Sir William Parsons was Master of His Majesty's Band in 1814. Could he be the source of confusion?⁷ Another in the Midlands might be William Parsons 1796-1857, a well-known architect in Leicester in the early nineteenth century,⁸ hence perhaps the 'Parsons of Leicester' query in BIOSRep IV,4,10.

4. Freeman, Andrew: 'The Four Parsons', The Organ XCVI (1945), 156-160.
5. BIOSRep III,2,8.
6. Letter to Musical Opinion 923 (August 1954).
7. Testimonial from him in Gray's circular, BIOSRep XV,1,10.
8. Colvin, Coward M., A Biographical Dictionary of British Architects 1600-1840, 3rd edition (New Haven and London, 1995), 737.

G.P. ENGLAND
There is an interesting query concerning the organ in St George's, Colegate, Norwich. Although the instrument was opened in 1802, when restored in 1945 the soundboard was found to contain the inscription 'G.P. England, Pentonville Road N. 1798'.⁹ Can anyone explain this? Pentonville Road is far away from Stephen Street and Theobalds Road where the Englands and the Russells are known to have worked.

9. Paged, G., An Account of the Organs in the Diocese of Norwich (St Edmundsbury, 1976), 190

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