St Peter's Church, Bournemouth

• 1845 – Alexander Morden Bennett
• 1880 – Vincent William Ryan (formerly Bishop of Mauritius)
• 1881 – George Stopford Ram
• 1890 – Cecil Edward Fisher
• 1904 – Alfred Edward Daldy (also Archdeacon of Winchester}
• 1921 – Lumley Cecil Green-Wilkinson
• 1927 – Hubert Henry Lovatt Lloyd Marsh
• 1936 – Hedley Robert Burrows (also Archdeacon of Winchester and later Dean of Hereford)
• 1944 – Norman Robert Boyd
• 1946 – Anthony Lewis Elliott Williams (later Bishop of Bermuda)
• 1957 – Wilfred Henry Fox-Robinson
• 1967 – Colin Clement Walter James (later Bishop of Winchester)
• 1973 – Arthur Colin Bouverie Deedes (later Master of St. Cross)
• 1980 – Dick Heath Remi Jones
• 1996 – James John Richardson (awarded the OBE in 2006 for services to the Church of England.[5])
• 2009 – Ian Andrew Terry

The choristers singing during a filming session in 2017

St. Peter's has always maintained a choral tradition as a key part of its ministry. In 1865, on completion of the chancel and east transepts, a Choir Home was started, where eight of the eighteen choristers (known as 'Home Boys') lived in the care of a matron, while the other ten (known as 'Town Boys') lived in the town. All of the choristers were educated at St. Peter's School, which had opened in 1850 on land next to the church. The choir sang evensong every day, the Litany on Wednesday and Friday, and a total of four services each Sunday. As Bournemouth grew larger, there was less need to recruit choristers from far away, and the Choir Home was closed in 1924.

Today, the choir leads the music at two choral services each Sunday, with boys and girls joining to sing each week. Adult altos, tenors and basses sing with the trebles at each service.[6] Some services are sung by the St. Peter's Consort, a small group of adult singers specialising in unaccompanied works, particularly those of the Tudor period. The St. Peter's Singers, a mixed adult voluntary choir, sing for services during choir holidays.

The first organ in St. Peter's was built for the opening of the previous 'Mock-Gothic' building of 1845. It was built by a Mr. J. Duncan of Poole, who was also the first organist. As Street's work began to replace the old building from 1855, this instrument was moved about, first from its west gallery to the new north aisle in 1856, then into the north-east transept soon after 1864 when the east end was completed. In this last position, with the majority of the new church complete, the organ was found to be 'nearly worn out' and of 'insufficient power'.[7] As a temporary measure, a second-hand instrument was bought from Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens in London, probably in 1865. This had been built by Bates of London in 1840, and originally consisted of seven stops on a single manual.[8] There is no record of its specification after being rebuilt in Bournemouth, but the organ was sold to St. John's, Carlton Hill in Brighton in 1870, and the pipework was later re-used in a 1997 instrument in St. Laurence, Falmer in East Sussex – this specification is not much larger. It is reasonable to speculate that the move to Bournemouth may have only added the Bourdon pedal pipes.[9] Nonetheless, contemporary sources described the Bates organ as 'ugly-looking' and as occupying the whole north transept. Funds were sought to provide a case and pipe decoration, but Alexander Morden Bennett desired an instrument more worthy of the church and attention quickly turned to the idea of a new organ.[10]

In 1869 Alexander Morden Bennett placed an order with Henry Willis for a new organ costing £700. Street's new building was largely completed, lacking only west transepts and tower, and the temporary Bates instrument was ineffectual in the new building. Morden Bennett's choice may also have been influenced by the largely-new organ by Willis in nearby Christchurch Priory which was of a similar size to the new St. Peter's instrument and completed in 1865.[11] The entirely new organ, of 24 stops over three manuals and pedals and with 1292 pipes, was dedicated on St. Luke's Day in 1870. The organ occupied a chamber on the east side of the north transept, next to the sanctuary, and the front pipes were decorated with coloured diaper work in 1873 in keeping with its location.[12] The specification of the organ is here:.[13] Willis cleaned the instrument in 1892, but by 1912 it was described as 'nearly worn out and hardly worth repairing'.[14]

The organ console

Some of the Swell pipework in the organ

In 1913, the church launched an appeal for a new and much larger organ, together with new purpose-built vestries on the north-east corner of the church. A contract was signed with Harrison and Harrison of Durham to build an instrument of 48 stops over three manuals and pedals, eventually costing over £2700. The organ was built in a new chamber created in the space formerly occupied by the vestries on the east side of the north-east transept, and the area next to it formerly occupied by the Willis organ was made into a chapel. Much of the Willis pipework was incorporated into the new specification, which can be seen here:.[15] Arthur Harrison is said to have taken 'infinite pains with it, and had special difficulties to contend with owing to the distance of the instrument from the main body of the church'. A case for the new instrument was designed by Ninian Comper, but the estimated cost of £750 was never found and the instrument remains caseless except for plain dark pine panelling up to the pipe feet. The organ was overhauled by the Liverpool firm of Rushworth and Dreaper in 1976, increasing the size to 54 stops and adding a detached console on a moveable platform at the front of the nave. Cleaning and various repairs and modifications have taken place over the years, but following its centenary, the instrument is in need of a full overhaul.

• 1859 – J.H. Caseley (formerly assistant organist, Worcester Cathedral)
• ? - William Henry Beare
• 1868? - Mr. Taylor
• 1869 – Thomas Burton
• 1880 – Duncan Hume
• 1905 – James Chandler BMus FRCO (formerly organist and choirmaster, All Saints, Wokingham)
• 1946 – Charles Palmer, BMus FRCO
• 1953 – Michael Peterson MA FRCO (later organist, Tewkesbury Abbey)
• 1966 – Harry Sayles (temporary appointment - formerly assistant organist, Guildford Cathedral)
• 1967 – Frederick Hewitt MA MusB FRCO
• 1968 – Cyril Knight FRCO
• 1971 – John Belcher MA FRCO (formerly assistant organist, Chester Cathedral, later organist, St Asaph Cathedral and Tewkesbury Abbey)
• 1981 – Dr. Martin Firth (né Freke) (later director of music, UWE)
• 1985 – Stephen Carleston MA FRCO (later director of music, Bolton Parish Church)
• 1993 – David Beeby BMus FRCO (now head of music, Poole Grammar School)
• 2002 – Charles Spanner BMus
• 2003 – Ben Lamb MusB (now director of music, Lichfield Cathedral)
• 2007 – Stephen Le Prevost BA FTCL (formerly assistant organist, Westminster Abbey)
• 2008 – David Coram (formerly assistant organist, Romsey Abbey)
• 2011 – Sam Hanson MA ARCO (formerly organ scholar, Jesus College, Cambridge)
• 2015 - Duncan Courts AdvDip CRCO (formerly assistant director of music)