Henry Bevington

Henry Bevington (26 July 1777[1] – 8 November 1850)[2] was a prolific English organ builder active in London during the Victorian era. Many of his organs were erected in Australia[3] and South Africa.(van der Linde 1993)

Bevington was born in London to Samuel and Elizabeth (Portsmouth) Bevington, who were Quakers.[1] He was an apprentice of Ohrmann & Nutt, and also of John Snetzler. He began his trade as journeyman with Robert Gray.(Thistlethwaite 1999, p. 58) He set up his own workshop in Greek Street, Soho, London in 1794,(Boeringer & Freeman 1989, p. 89) (this early date of 1794 is disputed), his earliest recorded organ is dated 1820.

Bevington was also an accomplished organist and was the organist at King's College, London.[4](Boeringer & Freeman 1989, p. 89)

He died in 1850, aged 73, and was buried at St Peter's Church, Walworth.[2]

Bevington's organ building business was continued by his sons; Henry and Martin, in Rose Street, Soho, in the same premises as were occupied by Ohrmann. The organ of St. Martin's in the Fields and of the Foundling Hospital in London, and that of St. Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin, were built by the Bevington firm.(de Pontigny 1900)(Thistlethwaite 2000)

On 21 May 1854, a fire damaged his works on Rose Street, including the original carved case being constructed for St. Martin's in the Fields, and valuable tools. Fortunately, the majority of their inventory was at the Greek Street location.[5][6]

Some organs built by Bevington & Sons

• St. George's Cathedral, Cape Town (17 February 1861)[7]
• The Foundling Hospital, London (1855)[8][9]
• St Swithin's Church, Wickham (1851)[10]
• St Peter and St Paul and St Elizabeth Catholic Church, Coughton (c.1855)[11]
• Nottingham Mechanics' Institution (17 October 1849)[12][13]
• St Mary's Cathedral, Sydney (c. 1838)[14]
• St Michael and St George Cathedral, Grahamstown (1860)[15]
• Church of St. John the Evangelist, Kensal Green (1846) [16]
• The chapel at Stanbrook Abbey[17]
• English College, Rome[17]
• All Saints' Church, Turnditch 1891[18]
• Parroquia de la Concepción, Santa Cruz de Tenerife (1862)
• Hatley St George church, Cambridgeshire – a small Bevington organ of 1878
• St Thomas Church, Corstorphine - built 1843, now much altered from original concept

See also

• George Fincham
• List of pipe organ builders

Notes and references

1. England & Wales, Quaker Birth, Marriage, and Death Registers, 1578-1837
2. London, England, Church of England Deaths and Burials, 1813-2003
3. "Bevington Pipe Organ". South Australian Heritage Foundation. Retrieved 30 April 2016.
4. "Advertisements & Notices". Derby Mercury. 17 July 1861. p. 4 col E. Retrieved 30 April 2016 – via British Newspaper Archive.
5. "Fire at Messrs. Bevington's Organ Factory, Soho". London Daily News. 22 May 1854. p. 3. Retrieved 24 December 2018.
6. "Fire At Messrs. Bevington's Organ Factory, Soho". London Daily News. 22 May 1854. p. 3 col C. Retrieved 30 April 2016 – via British Newspaper Archive.
7. "WESTERN PROVINCE". Cape and Natal News. 1 April 1861. Retrieved 30 April 2016 – via eGGSA Newspaper Extracts.
8. (Thistlethwaite 1999, p. 258)
9. "New Organ for the Chapel of the Foundling Hospital". Morning Advertiser. 9 October 1855. p. 3 col F. Retrieved 30 April 2016 – via British Newspaper Archive.
10. (Boeringer & Freeman 1989, p. 89)
11. "COUGHTON - SS PETER AND PAUL AND ELIZABETH". Taking Stock.
12. The British Institute of Organ Studies (2015). "Nottinghamshire Nottingham, Mechanics Hall [N13557]". The National Pipe Organ Register. Retrieved 30 April 2016. c1835
13. "Opening of the New Organ, Mechanics' Hall". Nottinghamshire Guardian. 18 October 1849. p. 3 col D. Retrieved 30 April 2016 – via British Newspaper Archive.
14. (Catholic Directory 1838, p. 148)
15. "The Organ at the Grahamstown Cathedral". grahamstowncathedral.org. Retrieved 30 April 2016.
16. (Boeringer & Freeman 1989, p. 89)
17. (Catholic Directory 1838, p. 148)
18. "Opening of New Organ at Turnditch. The Church". Derbyshire Times and Chesterfield Herald. England. 18 April 1891. Retrieved 15 January 2017 – via British Newspaper Archive.

• Boeringer, James; Freeman, Andrew (1989). Organa Britannica: Organs in Great Britain 1660-1860 : a Complete Edition of the Sperling Notebooks and Drawings in the Library of the Royal College of Organists. Bucknell University Press and the Royal College of Organists. ISBN 978-0-8387-1894-0.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• The Catholic Directory and Annual Register. 1838.
• van der Linde, Bernard (1993). "Book review, with special reference to the problem of the preservation of historically valuable South African organs". Ars Nova. 25 (1): 55–65. doi:10.1080/03796489308566511. ISSN 0379-6485.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• de Pontigny, Victor (1900). "Bevington and Sons" . In George Grove (ed.). A Dictionary of Music and Musicians  – via Wikisource.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Downes, Ralph; Sumner, William Leslie (1952). "The Organ". The Musical Times. 93 (1313): 311. doi:10.2307/935203. ISSN 0027-4666. JSTOR 935203 – via Jstor.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Kent, Christopher (1992). "Book Review: The Making of the Victorian Organ by Nicholas Thistlethwaite". Music & Letters. Oxford University Press. 73 (2): 299–301. JSTOR 735949 – via Jstor.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Thistlethwaite, Nicholas (1999). The Making of the Victorian Organ. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-66364-9.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Thistlethwaite, Nicholas (2000). "Bevington". In Stanley Sadie; John Tyrrell (eds.). The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. Groves Dictionaries. ISBN 978-1-56159-263-0.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)

Further reading

• Bevington, Tony; Bevington, Jill; Bevington, Romana (2013). Bevington and Sons, Victorian Organ Builders. Preston House Publishing. ISBN 978-0-9576655-0-7.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Douglas Earl Bush; Richard Kassel, eds. (2006). The Organ: An Encyclopedia. Psychology Press. ISBN 978-0-415-94174-7.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)