The Builder:

Henry Jones was born in Folkestone, Kent on 19th May 1822, one of five children born to Pilcher Jones, a cabinet maker, and his wife Mary Hall.

Little is known of Henry's early life but at the age of sixteen we find he has moved to London and has apprenticed himself to the organ builder Joseph Walker at his Francis Street works in Tottenham Court Road. In 1845 he set up in business on his own account at 10 Pond Place in Brompton.

Much of his early work consisted of rebuilding older instruments but by 1849 he had married Susannah Spain, begun a family and taken on an apprentice, one William Davis. The indenture for this apprenticeship is still in the Kensington Library archive.

During the 1850's we have records of a few small organs being built but the breakthrough came in 1861 with the contract for the large instrument at St. Matthew's Church, Bethnal Green (destroyed in the Blitz) and the instrument built for the International Exhibition of 1862. This latter instrument has been altered much over the years but still exists, although in an unplayable state, at Christchurch, Reading. It won special commendation at the exhibition for "Power and Tone".

Other contracts followed and Jones moved his expanding business and expanding family to 136 Fulham Road, Brompton, with a new works established a few yards further east in an old 'floor cloth manufactory'.

From these new works came a steady stream of one‑ and two‑manual organs with the occasional larger showpiece. Amongst these were the instruments for St. Matthias, Earls Court (1872, destroyed in the Blitz), for the International Exhibition of 1872 (broken up in 1912), the Grand Organ for the Royal Aquarium (1876 ‑ broken up in 1909) and the large organ for the Servile Priory in Fulham Road which survived until 1967.

In 1881 the firm produced a catalogue which listed 306 organs of which 106 were in London, 184 in the provinces and 17 had been shipped abroad. During the 1880's much of the business was taken over by the eldest son, Henry Spain Jones, whilst the older Henry, now in his sixties, began to concentrate on individual instruments. In 1885 he built a tracker instrument for the Inventions Exhibition in Kensington. This organ was noted for its exceptionally light touch and thereafter went to one of the London Music Colleges.

In 1886 came the invitation to build an organ for the National Art Treasures Exhibition in Folkestone. The work of a Master Organ Builder at the pinnacle of his career, this organ was for the exhibition in his own home town, and was destined to be one of his finest.

Jones continued to work until well into his seventies. The last organ to receive his personal attention was at the Bencher's Chapel, Grays Inn in 1894 (destroyed in the Blitz). He died on May 18th 1900 and is buried in the family grave in the Brompton Cemetery, London.

His obituary was published in the "Organ and Chorimaster" of June 1900. A more personal letter appeared in one of the Folkestone broadsheets from the Rev. Edward Husband, a lifelong friend:

A kinder, more straightforward man we have yet to find. His genial presence was always so bright and cheerful. It was not so long ago that he said to me, "Thank God I have so enjoyed life ‑ I have had such a happy life." He was a kind and worthy gentleman and a trusty friend.

Of his instruments, the Moseley Organ is the last of his large instruments in anything like original form. Many of the smaller organs can be found in varying states of decay but nothing approaching this size or quality.