A. Hunter & Son
FormerlyHunter & Webb, Alfred Hunter
Founded1856
FounderAlfred Hunter
Defunct1937
FateAcquired by Henry Willis & Sons
HeadquartersClapham, London, England, UK
Area served
International
Key people
Alfred Hunter, Henry Webb, Robert Hunter
ProductsPipe Organ Builders

A. Hunter & Son (also known as Hunter & Webb and Alfred Hunter but generally referred to as Hunter) was an English pipe organ maker and refurbisher, established in London in 1856. Hunter was best known for the instruments at St Cuthbert's Philbeach Gardens and St James's, Spanish Place. The firm was acquired by Henry Willis & Sons in 1937.

Alfred Hunter

Alfred Hunter (1827-1911) was born in Lambeth, the son of Frances Steare Hunter, a wax chandler, and his wife Mary.[1] [2] He was baptised at St Mary's, Lambeth in 1827.[3] (St Mary's, Lambeth had a 1700 Renatus Harris organ; in 1918 Hunter's firm restored it, but the church was made redundant in 1972, and the organ was broken up.)[4] He was apprenticed to George Maydwell Holdich, and then worked for Henry Bevington and JC Bishop (Holdich had been apprenticed to Bishop).[5]

Hunter organs

In 1851 he was a journeyman organ builder.[6] In 1856 he entered into partnership with Henry Webb (1821-bef 1881),[7] as Hunter & Webb, at 14A Griffin Street, York Road, Lambeth.[8] Webb was also a former Bishop employee; Hunter and Webb's wives were sisters.[9] The partnership was dissolved at the end of 1864,[10] and Webb became a publican.[11] Hunter then worked on his own account, as Alfred Hunter, until 1882, first at 13 Lower Kennington Green, then at 379 Kennington Road and finally at 65A (later renumbered as 87) High Street, Clapham.[12] The Clapham High Street premises were purpose-built by the Tate philanthropist architect, Sidney Smith.[13] Hunter was a churchwarden at Holy Trinity, Clapham Common,[14] which has a Hunter organ.[15]

In 1882 he entered into partnership with his son Robert (1856-1932), [16] as A. Hunter & Son. The firm continued to trade in that style after Hunter's death in 1911. In 1928 it moved to 235 Queens Road, Battersea. In 1937 it was acquired by Henry Willis & Sons.[17] Robert's sons Alfred Robert (1885-1971)[18] and George Frederick (1889-1963)[19] both also joined the firm; there is no record of them continuing to work as organ builders after the firm was sold to Willis in 1937. They are both recorded as retired organ builders in the 1939 register.[20]

Hunter were specialists in pneumatic key action organs.[21] [22]

Some Hunter organs

United Kingdom

Hunter organ in Brentwood Cathedral

Australia

  • Methodist Church, Waverley, New South Wales, 1888. The three-manual Hunter was removed from the church when it was closed in 1971, and sold to Somerville House, an independent girls' school in Brisbane, Queensland and rebuilt by Whitehouse Bros. It was relocated within the school in 2001 by W.J. Simon Pierce.[55]
  • Wesley Uniting Church, Canberra, 1893. The organ at Wesley is the largest liturgical and recital instrument in the Australian Capital Territory.[56] A three-manual Hunter organ was installed in Burwood Methodist Church in Sydney in 1893. John Bathgate installed most elements of the Hunter organ, along with some elements of a two-manual 1955 George Fincham & Sons organ. It was rebuilt by George Stephens in 2002.[57] [58]
  • St Peter's Cathedral, Armidale, New South Wales, 1896. A two-manual Hunter organ replaced an earlier Fincham organ, incorporating some elements of it. The organ was restored by Peter Jewkes in 1996.[59]

References

  1. "National Pipe Organ Register: Alfred Hunter". Retrieved 2 February 2021.
  2. "St Mary's, Lambeth baptismal register via Ancestry". Retrieved 2 February 2021.
  3. "St Mary's, Lambeth baptismal register via Ancestry". Retrieved 2 February 2021.
  4. "National Pipe Organ Register: N16082". Retrieved 2 February 2021.
  5. "National Pipe Organ Register: Alfred Hunter". Retrieved 2 February 2021.
  6. "1851 census via FindMyPast". Retrieved 2 February 2021.
  7. "National Pipe Organ Register: Webb". Retrieved 2 February 2021.
  8. "National Pipe Organ Register: Hunter". Retrieved 2 February 2021.
  9. "Northampton Organists December 2012 Newsletter" (PDF). Retrieved 3 February 2021.
  10. London Gazette, 10 January 1865, p 144.
  11. Thistlethwaite, Nicholas, The Making of the Victorian Organ, (1990: CUP), ISBN 978-0521343459, p 527.
  12. "National Pipe Organ Register: Hunter". Retrieved 2 February 2021.
  13. "Local Guardian: "Local piece of history for those interested", 25 January 2007". Retrieved 3 February 2021.
  14. "National Heritage List Entry No 1080491". Retrieved 4 February 2021.
  15. "National Pipe Organ Register: N18020". Retrieved 4 February 2021.
  16. "National Pipe Organ Register: Robert Hunter". Retrieved 2 February 2021.
  17. "National Pipe Organ Register: Hunter". Retrieved 2 February 2021.
  18. "National Pipe Organ Register: Alfred Robert Hunter". Retrieved 2 February 2021.
  19. "National Pipe Organ Register: George Frederick Hunter". Retrieved 2 February 2021.
  20. "1939 Register via FindMyPast". Retrieved 2 February 2021.
  21. "FH Browne & Sons: St Mellitus Church, Tollington Park". 30 November 2016. Retrieved 4 February 2021.
  22. "British Institute of Organ Studies: Mechanical and Pneumatic Actions". Retrieved 4 February 2021.
  23. "National Pipe Organ Register: N11572". Retrieved 3 February 2021.
  24. "National Pipe Organ Register: N12425". Retrieved 3 February 2021.
  25. "National Pipe Organ Register: H00580". Retrieved 3 February 2021.
  26. "National Pipe Organ Register: N08287". Retrieved 3 February 2021.
  27. "National Pipe Organ Register: N11610". Retrieved 3 February 2021.
  28. "National Pipe Organ Register: N11611". Retrieved 3 February 2021.
  29. "National Pipe Organ Register: N12473". Retrieved 3 February 2021.
  30. "National Pipe Organ Register: D02774". Retrieved 3 February 2021.
  31. "National Pipe Organ Register: N17782". Retrieved 3 February 2021.
  32. "National Pipe Organ Register: A00607". Retrieved 3 February 2021.
  33. "National Pipe Organ Register: N17189". Retrieved 3 February 2021.
  34. "National Pipe Organ Register: N09879". Retrieved 2 February 2021.
  35. "National Pipe Organ Register: N09880". Retrieved 2 February 2021.
  36. "National Pipe Organ Register: R02077". Retrieved 3 February 2021.
  37. "National Pipe Organ Register: N05502". Retrieved 3 February 2021.
  38. "National Pipe Organ Register: N17336". Retrieved 3 February 2021.
  39. "National Pipe Organ Register: N00945". Retrieved 3 February 2021.
  40. "Harrison & Harrison: All Souls', Langham Place" (PDF). Retrieved 3 February 2021.
  41. "National Pipe Organ Register: D00937". Retrieved 3 February 2021.
  42. "National Pipe Organ Register: D03187". Retrieved 3 February 2021.
  43. "National Pipe Organ Register: P00620". Retrieved 3 February 2021.
  44. "St Mellitus Organ Restoration Project". Retrieved 3 February 2021.
  45. "St Mellitus Organ Restoration Project". Retrieved 3 February 2021.
  46. "National Pipe Organ Register: N08089". Retrieved 3 February 2021.
  47. "National Pipe Organ Register: D04634". Retrieved 3 February 2021.
  48. "National Pipe Organ Register: D02784". Retrieved 2 February 2021.
  49. "National Pipe Organ Register: N05215". Retrieved 2 February 2021.
  50. "National Pipe Organ Register: C00927". Retrieved 2 February 2021.
  51. "National Pipe Organ Register: N16527". Retrieved 3 February 2021.
  52. "National Pipe Organ Register: G01868". Retrieved 3 February 2021.
  53. "National Pipe Organ Register: N11019". Retrieved 3 February 2021.
  54. "Hertford College: Chapel history". Retrieved 3 February 2021.
  55. "Organ Historical Trust of Australia: Somerville House". Retrieved 3 February 2021.
  56. "The Organ in Wesley Uniting Church". Retrieved 3 February 2021.
  57. "The Organ in Wesley Uniting Church". Retrieved 3 February 2021.
  58. "Organ Historical Trust of Australia: Wesley Uniting Church". Retrieved 3 February 2021.
  59. "Organ Historical Trust of Australia: St Peter's Anglican Cathedral". Retrieved 3 February 2021.
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