Читать книгу Chelsea, in the Olden & Present Times - George Sands Bryan - Страница 9

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On the 22nd of January, 1818, the following resolution was unanimously carried at a meeting in Vestry assembled:—“Resolved that this meeting sensibly feels the propriety as well as the necessity of an organ being placed in the parochial Church, and that the best means to effect this desirable object will be by voluntary subscription, and that it be immediately entered into.” A committee was appointed to carry this resolution into effect, and Luke Thomas Flood, Esq., was requested to become the treasurer, but, although a great many contributions were received, the aggregate sum was insufficient for the purpose, and the money was tendered back to the subscribers. This failure, and the offer made, occasioned considerable amusement amongst some of the parishioners, and many laughable squibs were printed and circulated. The most ludicrous of these was a poetic effusion, written by a gentleman of education and who was not altogether a stranger in literary circles. It was entitled “The Organ in the Suds,” and embodied much of that wit and humour which is so frequently displayed in “Punch.” Sometime afterwards, however, the effort was successfully renewed, and an organ was purchased. The two principal candidates for organist were Mr. Goss, then comparatively unknown in the musical world, but who has since risen to eminence as a composer, and is now organist at St. Paul’s Cathedral, and Mr. Ling, who had become a great favourite with many of the subscribers. The feeling amongst the friends of these gentlemen was very strongly manifested, and the proceedings on the day of election were characterized by much excitement. Mr. Ling obtained the greatest number of votes from the subscribers, and consequently was elected. Mr. Goss, however, was appointed organist of the New Church, when it was completed, by the Church Trustees, agreeably to the decision of Dr. Crotch, Mr. Attwood, and some others, who were requested to decide on the relative qualifications of the candidates. There were a great many parishioners present on this occasion.

From the Report of the Old Church Organ Committee, dated Feb. 16, 1819, a copy of which is now before me, it appears that the entire amount received was £325 4s. 6d.; that the organ cost £200, and that the expenses altogether were no less than 125 4s. 6d., including £24 4s. for a Faculty, and £25 to Mr. H. Bevington, for removing the organ and keeping it in repair for twelve months, as per agreement. The remaining expenditure was for necessary alterations in the gallery, and for fittings, &c. The organ had been previously erected in a private mansion, which will explain the charge for removal, and the sum paid for the organ was considered at that time to be a great bargain.

The singing, prior to the erection of the organ, was indeed very bad, being almost entirely confined to the school children, who were placed in galleries specially erected for them, at the extreme western part of the church, and so close to the ceiling that a grown person could scarcely stand upright in them.