John Compton (organ builder)

John Compton (1876–1957), born in Newton Burgoland, Leicestershire was a pipe organ builder.[1] His business based in Nottingham and London flourished between 1902 and 1965.[2]

Restored Apollo pipe organ console

Life

John Compton was educated at King Edward's School, Birmingham and then studied as an apprentice with Halmshaw & Sons in Birmingham. In 1898 he joined Brindley and Foster in Sheffield.[3] Then he joined Charles Lloyd in Nottingham.

He set up the business Musson & Compton in 1902 in Nottingham with James Frederick Musson. The partnership dissolved in 1904. In 1919, the business moved to workshops at Turnham Green Terrace, Chiswick, London, which had been vacated by August Gern. He occupied a new factory at Chase Road, Park Royal, North Acton, London in 1930.

Compton worked primarily on electric-action pipe organs and electronic organs. Compton's first electronic instrument was the Melotone (a solo voice added to theatre organs);[4][5] next came the Theatrone. The Electrone, an electrostatic tonewheel instrument introduced in 1938, evolved out of research by Leslie Bourn, an association begun in the 1920s.[3] Throughout his organ-building career, John Compton was assisted by the very capable and inventive James Isaac Taylor, who spent his entire working life with the Compton firm prior to his death in 1958. John Compton also befriended a wealthy industrialist by the name of Albert Henry Midgley; one of the founders of C A Vanderwell, which was later to become CAV-Lucas Ltd; a major supplier of electrical equipment to the motor industry. Midgley was one of the most prolific inventors of his age, with over 900 inventions to his name and following a rift with C A V-Lucas,he was appointed Technical Director of the Compton firm soon after, in 1925. Midgley's genius in electrical engineering and mass-production techniques, helped the Compton firm to achieve an extraordinary level of productivity. The company were awarded many original patents in things ranging from simple organ mechanisms to the most complex, state of the art electronic and electrical inventions. Many of those patents show that Midgley was cited as the inventor.

On 13 June 1940, during World War II, Compton was arrested while holidaying on the island of Capri, in Italy. He was interned as an enemy alien but spent much of his time restoring pipe organs, before being permitted to return to England.

Compton died in 1957, and the business continued under the direction of his right-hand man, James I Taylor. Taylor died the year after in 1958, and the business was wound up around 1965. The pipe organ department was sold to Rushworth and Dreaper; the electronic department became Makin Organs.[3]

Compton organs

Compton cinema organs, built by the John Compton Organ Company of Acton, were the most prevalent of theatre organs in the UK; 261 were installed in cinemas and theatres in the British Isles. Comptons made many fine church and concert organs as well. Their cinema organs employed the latest technology and engineering and many are still in existence today. One of the most notable is the large 5 manual example at the Odeon Cinema Leicester Square in central London.

List of new organs

(the last two organs are unconfirmed, but their existence is attested to by local documentary sources; the Westover instrument is now in private hands at Ryde on the Isle of Wight; the Astoria instrument no longer exist)

Rebuilds and restorations

References
  1. National census 1911 Routledge, 2006, p.122
  2. Pipes & Actions. Laurence Elvin. 1995
  3. Douglas Earl Bush, Richard Kassel, The organ: an encyclopedia. Routledge, 2006, p.122.
  4. "Webshots - Wallpaper / Screen Savers". Webshots.com. Retrieved 29 August 2020.
  5. "SUMMERLEE HERITAGE MUSEUM COMPTON". Girdwood.co.uk. Retrieved 29 August 2020.

Other sources
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