Organ Biography > Places and Organs > England > London > Westminster > Abbey

Details of Abbey, Westminster, London, England

Organ History
1596Built by John Chapington
Status
Unknown

1730

Organ History
1660Built by Bernard Smith
1730Built by Schrider & Jordan
1848Rebuilt by Hill
Status
Rebuilt
Sources
Hopkins & Rimbault - “The Organ: Its History and Construction - A Comprehensive Treatise on the Structure and Capabilities of the Organ”, 1877.

ManualsStopsRanksCouplersAction
438385-

I. Choir ( CC-F 54 notes)
1.Open Diapason  
2.Hohl Flute  
3.Stopped Diapason  
4.Principal  
5.Flute  
6.Cromorne  
II. Great ( CC-F 54 notes)
7.Double Diapason  
8.Open Diapason  
9.Open Diapason  
10.Stopped Diapason  
11.Principal  
12.Principal  
13.Stopped Flote  
14.Twelfth  
15.Fifteenth  
16.Sesquialtera  
17.Mixture  
18.Double Trumpet  
19.Posaune  
20.Clarion  
iSwell to Great  
III. Swell ( CC-F 54 notes)
21.Double Diapason  
22.Open Diapason  
23.Stopped Diapason  
24.Principal  
25.Fifteenth  
26.Sesquialtera  
27.Contra Fagotto  
28.Cornopean  
29.Hautboy  
30.Clarion  
IV. Solo ( CC-G 56 notes)
31.Bourdon8 
32.Open Diapason8 
33.Harmonic Flute8 
34.Tuba Mirabilis8 
35.Vox humana8 
36.Orchestral Oboe8 
Pedal
37.Great Open Diapason32 
38.Open Diapason16 
iiGreat to Pedal  
iiiGreat octave to Pedal  
ivChoir to Pedal  
vSwell octave to Pedal  

1895

Organ History
1895Rebuilt by Hill
Status
Rebuilt
Sources
“Dictionary of Organs and Organists”, 1912.
“Dictionary of Organs and Organists”, George Mate & Son, 1921.

ManualsStopsRanksCouplersAction
578-22-


List of Organists
1549John Howe
1562-69John Taylor
1570-75Robert White (1530-1574)
1575-1606Henry Leeve
1606-21Edmund Hooper (1553-1621)
1621-23John Parsons (-1623)
1623-25Orlando Gibbons (1583-1625)
1625-32Thomas Day (-1654)
1633-42Richard Portman (1610-1656)
1642-44Thomas Warwick (-1644)
1660-66Christopher Gibbons (1615-1676)
1666-68Albertus Bryan (1621-1668)
1668-79John Blow (1649-1708)
1679-95Henry Purcell (1659-1695)
1695-1708John Blow (1649-1708)
1727-62John Robinson (1682-1762)
1762-93Benjamin Cooke (1734-1793)
1793-1802Samuel Arnold (1740-1802)
1802-14Robert Cooke (1768-1814)
1814-19George Ebenezer Williams (1783-1819)
1819-31Thomas Greatorex (1758-1831)
1831-82James Turle (1802-1882)
1882-1919Frederick Bridge (1844-1924)
1919-28Sydney H. Nicholson (1875-1947)
1928-41Ernest Bullock (1890-1979)
1941-63William Mc Kie (1901-1984)
1963-81Douglas Guest (1916-1996)
1981-87Simon Preston (1938-)
1988-99Martin Neary (1940-)
1999Martin Baker (1967-)
2000-James O’Donnell

List of Assistant Organists
Stephen le Provost
Peter Holder
Geoffrey Morgan
1774Benjamin Cooke (1734-1793)
1800-05George Ebenezer Williams (1783-1819)
John Scott (1776-1815)
1819-31James Turle (1802-1882)
1845-47C. E. C. Willing (1830-1904)
1860-75Charles S. Jekyll (1842-1914)
1881-96Davan Wetton (1862-1928)
Frank J. Sawyer (1857-1908)
1884-Charles W. Perkins (1855-1927)
F. Muspratt (1860-)
1889-1916Walter G. Alcock (1861-1947)
1895-1904Wilfrid Ernest Sanderson (1878-1935)
1899-1904T. J. Crawford (1877-1955)
1917-Stanley Roper (1878-1953)
F. Hubert Belton (1894-1975)
1920-27A. W. Goldsborough (1892-1964)
Osborne Harold Peasgood (1902-1962)
1947-50Hugh Marchant (1916-)
1962-67Simon Preston (1938-)
1967-Timothy Farrell (1943-)
1968David Bruce-Payne (1945-)
Stephen Cleobury (1948-2019)
1979-84Christopher Herrick (1942-)
Harry Bicket (1961-)
1988-92Andrew Lumsden (1962-)
1992-99Martin Baker (1967-)
1999Robert Quinney (1976-)
Daniel Cook (1979-)
2004-13Robert Quinney (1976-)

List of Organ Scholars
James Cryer
Adrian Lenthall
Meirion Wynn Jones
William Whitehead (1970-)
1996-99John Hosking (1976-)
Daniel Cook (1979-)
2007-08Benjamin Chewter (1983-)

List of Other Organists
1875-82Frederick Bridge (1844-1924)
Larry King (1932-1990)
1974-79Christopher Herrick (1942-)

Please note we have not yet completed the full cross index of organists to churches, &c.