01/05/2026
We are looking forward to a series of events later this year where we explore the history and making of the Willis II organ that we hope to save for Glasgow. As a taster here is a wonderful article from https://www.choirandorgan.com/content/features/new-vintage-henry-willis-sons with a substantial section about our Willis II organ. Read it here...Henry Willis & Sons are busy on another redundant Willis, to be installed in the Cathedral of St Mary the Virgin, Glasgow. Here it will replace a much rebuilt (and spoilt), large 1909 Harrison & Harrison organ, the instrument for which the firm made its first 32ft reed (which will remain). This exciting project is called An Organ for Glasgow and centres on the 1903 Willis II organ formerly in Elgin Place Congregational Church, Glasgow, which has been donated to the cathedral. Father Willis was intending to visit the Elgin Place church in 1901 and wrote to the then organist, expressing his concerns about the poor acoustics of that building. Alas, he never made the trip, as he died before the letter (preserved in the Willis archives) could be posted. Built by the firm under HWII, the instrument was eventually removed to the R C Metropolitan Cathedral of St Andrew in 1980, being rebuilt then and in 1990. The R C Archdiocese of Glasgow has generously donated the organ to St Mary’s Episcopal Cathedral. David Wyld (Managing Director of Henry Willis & Sons) has kindly written an account of the project for this article:
The Henry II instrument was in use until the church closed in c1962, when the building was repurposed as a night club. The organ was left in situ but was painted all over in rainbow colours! It was eventually removed and installed during 1980 in St Andrew’s R C Cathedral, Glasgow, by Michael Macdonald. The 32ft Double Open Diapason (wood) from the previous Bruce/Mirlees instrument in the cathedral was retained, together with the case. The Elgin Place casework could not be removed due to Listed Building legislation, which meant that it had to be left behind, only to be destroyed later when the building was demolished. For some (unknown) reason, in 1990 the original Willis Vox Humana was replaced by an inferior example by Brook. We have tried to locate the original but it is now lost, so we will be making a new Willis replacement.
When the organ was removed (by David Wells Organ Builders) from St Andrew’s Cathedral, it was put into storage, but then subsequently moved by amateurs and there was, unsurprisingly, a deal of damage caused. In addition, the entire storage facility was overrun by rats during the COVID-19 shutdown periods, so considerably more damage was caused. We removed the whole lot from storage in Glasgow to bring it back to Liverpool, where all of the original Willis material is now being restored as the first stage of the contract for preparation to go into St Mary’s Episcopal Cathedral.
The intention of the scheme is to keep all of the original 1902 instrument intact, also adding a new Solo division and those things which will make it suitable for its new purpose at St Mary’s, where there is a full, traditional cathedral choral tradition. All of the Willis compound lever actions are restored and an additional compound lever action has been made to provide the new Solo division with the same action. The intention is to have the original three-manual organ playable, pneumatically, via the original Willis lever actions and mechanical drawstop action, from the original console, which will be installed in the case of the earlier organ in St Mary’s. A new four-manual console is to be provided for daily use in the cathedral, to include the new Solo division and the Pedal additions: the 32ft flue and reed are being retained from the previous organ in St Mary’s.
There are few unaltered Henry Willis II organs still playing; this one will be a most significant addition. Henry II, the least talked-about head of the Willis firm, was known for complex pneumatic mechanisms of all sorts, large-bore lead tubing and multiple wind reservoirs. Unfortunately, during his time, all was not well with the firm’s finances. Bruce Buchanan writes:
Henry II was the younger of Father Willis’s sons. With his older brother Vincent (1848-1928), he was made a partner in the business in 1878. Father Willis allotted part of the capital in the business to them but in unequal portions, assuming that Vincent would succeed him as senior partner. Vincent was brilliantly inventive but lacked many of the necessities of the well-ordered man. He was hopeless with money, and he was hopeless at management. He was not a team player. Ideally, he wanted to spend his time improving Willis organs with new inventions. His squabbles on the matter with his father and later his brother led to Vincent leaving the partnership in 1894. But he could not take his capital with him while his father lived because it was a sizeable chunk of the working capital of the business. From the moment of Henry I’s death, Vincent waged a legal war against his brother with the sole purpose of getting his money out of the business, knowing full well that the business would collapse without it. The matter was settled in the High Court in 1904, with the business given time to pay off Vincent. To raise money, the lease on the Rotunda Works was sold and the firm relocated to a rented space in High Street, Homerton. The anxieties and difficulties arising from this fraternal war drove Henry II to the edge of reason and induced an obsession with money.
