# Dictionary of National Biography, 1912 supplement/Willis, Henry

​WILLIS, HENRY (1821–1901), organ-builder, born in London on 27 April 1821, was eldest of four sons of Henry Willis, a builder, who was a member of the choir of the old Surrey Chapel, Blackfriars Road, and of the Cecilian Society, where he played tympani and bass-drum. Of the organ builder's brothers, George became a celebrated voicer of organ reeds and Edwin was employed in organ building.
As a boy Henry taught himself to play ​the organ, practising it in rivalry with a playmate, George Cooper [q. v.], and from a very early age began experimenting on the mechanism of the instrument. In 1835 he was articled for seven years to John Gray (afterwards Gray & Davison), organ builders, of London, and soon afterwards became organist of Christ Church, Hoxton, where Clement William Scott [q. v. Suppl. II], son of the vicar, was his solo-boy.
Subsequently he filled similar posts at Hampstead parish church, and was for some thirty years (c. 1860-1891) organist of Islington chapel-of-ease. He was an apt extemporiser in a diatonic and classic manner. He also was an efficient player on the double-bass, performing at many festivals, including the Gloucester festival of 1847 and the Handel festivals of 1871 and 1874.
Willis spent three years (1842-5) as assistant to W. E. Evans, a music-warehouseman, at Cheltenham, where he assisted in the construction of a new instrument of the 'Seraphina' class. In 1845 he started organ building in Manchester Street, Gray's Inn Road, London, W.C, removing in 1851 to Albany Street, Regent's Park, and in 1865 to King Street, Camden Town, finally setthng in 1866 at Rotunda Works, Rochester Place, Camden Town. In 1847 he achieved his first success by rebuilding Gloucester Cathedral organ, which brought him 400l.
In 1851 he built the great organ in the west end gallery of the Great Exhibition, which he claimed to be entirely his own in conception, design and 'every detail.' It was afterwards erected in Winchester Cathedral, and, renovated in 1891, is still in use. In 1855 Willis won the competition for building the organ at St. George's Hall, Liverpool (rebuilt 1898). Another organ built for the exhibition of 1862 was equally notable; it was transferred to the Alexandra Palace, and when that building was burned in 1873 Willis replaced the destroyed organ by another instrument. His largest organ was that in the Albert Hall, London (opened 1871). Willis contracted to have a new organ ready at St. Paul's Cathedral by April 1872, but he was warned before that date that the instrument was required for the thanksgiving service (on 27 Feb.) on the recovery of Edward VII, then Prince of Wales, from serious illness. The pneumatic action for the pedals was not ready, but Willis made a temporary pedal-board and music desk by the pedal pipes on which he played, while George Cooper played on the manuals. No discrepancy was noticeable. Willis was directly concerned in the building, or rebuilding, of over a thousand organs, including those, in addition to the places named, at the cathedrals of Canterbury, Carlisle, Durham, Hereford, Oxford, Salisbury, Truro, Wells, St. David's, Edinburgh, and Glasgow, at Windsor Castle and the Dome, Brighton. In 1878 Willis took his two sons into partnership — the firm assuming the style of Henry Willis & Sons, but he remained in active superintendence till his death. A special gold medal was awarded the firm at the Inventions Exhibition of 1885.
Willis took out numerous patents for important inventions in organ building. He practically extended the range of the pedal-board from G to C. He insisted on a high pitch. In 1877 he began with Alexander John Ellis [q. v. Suppl. I] some interesting experiments at the Rotunda Works, with reference to the temperament question; but Ellis and Willis disagreed in their conclusions.
Some critics have occasionally complained that Willis voiced the reed stops on so heavy a wind pressure that the flue stops could not contend with them, so that the full power appeared to consist of reed stops only. But Willis's work was always marked by scrupulous conscientiousness and artistic insight. He could make every part of an organ from his own drawings. The workmanship and material of his instruments were admirable, down to the smallest detail, and he may justly be regarded as the greatest organ-builder of his time.
His rectitude, enthusiasm, and artistic spirit won him the regard of many well-known musicians, including Best, Costa, Elvey, Goss, Hopkins, Monk, Ouseley, Henry Smart, Stainer, Walmisley, and S. S. Wesley, with whom he came into professional relations.
Of smaU physique, 'Father' Willis, as he came to be known, abounded in breezy energy. His chief recreation was yachting, to constant indulgence in which he attributed his excellent health. In his yacht Opal he circumnavigated Great Britain.
Busy to the end, he died in Bartholomew Road, Camden Town, London, on 11 Feb. 1901, and was buried at Highgate cemetery, where there is a monument to his memory.
In 1847 he married Esther Maria, daughter of Randall Chatterton, a London silversmith, by whom he had two sons, Vincent ​and Henry (his partners from 1878), and three daughters. After his death his firm removed in 1905 to High Street, Homerton.
[Notes supplied by Mr. Henry Davey; Grove's Dict. of Music; Musical Times, 1 May 1898 (personal interview, with two portraits), March 1901 (with portrait as skipper of yacht Opal); Musical Herald, March 1901; information from Sir George C. Martin, St. Paul's Cathedral, Henry Willis (son) and Henry Willis (grandson).]
C. M.