William Hill & Son was one of the main organ builders in England during the 19th century.

The founder

William Hill was born in Spilsby, Lincolnshire in 1789. He married Mary, the daughter of organ-builder Thomas Elliot, on 30 October 1818 in St Pancras Parish Church, and worked for Thomas Elliott from 1825. The company was known as Elliott and Hill until Elliott died in 1832. When William Hill died in 1870 a memorial window was installed in the church at Spilsby, Lincolnshire.

The company

On Elliot's death in 1832, William Hill inherited the firm. In 1837 he formed a partnership with Federick Davison who left in the following year to form a partnership with John Gray, Gray and Davison. From 1832 William Hill's elder son William joined him in the firm. From 1855 William Hill's younger son Thomas joined the company and took control after his father's death in 1870. When Thomas died in 1893 the firm continued under his son, Arthur George Hill, until 1916 when it was amalgamated with Norman & Beard into a huge organ-building concern as William Hill & Son & Norman & Beard Ltd. later shortened to Hill, Norman & Beard. Examples of the firm's work include: * Peterborough Cathedral,1894, subsequently Hill, Norman & Beard (1930/31), Harrison & Harrison (1980-present). Case designed by A.G. Hill. * Sydney Town Hall Grand Organ, 1886–89, opened 1890, the largest organ in the world at the time of its construction, with a case designed by A.G. Hill * Melbourne Town Hall, opened 1872, destroyed by fire 1925 * Adelaide Town Hall, 1877, reconstructed and installed at the Barossa Regional Gellery, Tanunda, South Australia, reopened 2014 * Christ Church, Llanfairfechan, Wales 1895/1902. * Church of St Mary The Virgin, Tottenham London N17 9XE built from 1889 and received Grade 1 listing in 2004 as a heritage organ due to it being in its original state with Barker lever Action intact and manual air pump working and many stops given the relatively small size of the organ. *

Birmingham Town Hall Birmingham Town Hall is a concert hall and venue for popular assemblies opened in 1834 and situated in Victoria Square, Birmingham, England. It is a Grade I listed building. The hall underwent a major renovation between 2002 and 2007. It no ...

1832 * St Andrew's Cathedral, Sydney 1866, rebuilt by Hill, Norman & Beard and Orgues Letourneau *Trinity Methodist Church in

Burton-upon-Trent Burton upon Trent, also known as Burton-on-Trent or simply Burton, is a market town in the borough of East Staffordshire in the county of Staffordshire, England, close to the border with Derbyshire. In 2011, it had a population of 72,299. The d ...

, 1869. After the closing of the church in 2011, the organ had been transferred to the catholic St. Afra church in Berlin, and inaugurated on 22 November 2015. It is regarded to be the most significant English organ in Germany. *

St Peter's Church, Streatham St Peter's Church is an Anglican church in the London Borough of Lambeth. It is a Grade II* listed building and occupies a prominent position in Leigham Court Road, Streatham. Parish Until Streatham Hill and West Norwood railway stations were ...

1870 *

St John's Church, Torquay The Church of St John the Apostle, Torquay, is a Grade I listed parish church in the Church of England Diocese of Exeter on Montpellier Road in Torquay, Devon. History The church started in 1823 as a chapel-of-ease to the parish church at Tormoha ...

1872 *St. Peter's Church Organ,

Mundham Mundham, historically Mundaham or Mundhala, is a small village and civil parish in the county of Norfolk, England. Archaeological and toponymic evidence of Mundham's existence predates its appearance in the Domesday survey of 1086, dating back to ...

, 1877 *

Thomas Coats Memorial Baptist Church Thomas Coats Memorial Baptist Church, colloquially known as the Baptist Cathedral of Europe, stands at the west end of the High Street in Paisley, Scotland. It has been a dominant feature of the Paisley skyline for over 100 years with its strik ...

in Paisley 1890. * St Andrew's, Croydon, 1891, and a replacement in 1906. *

St Augustine's Church, Penarth St Augustine's Church ( cy, Eglwys Sant Awstin) is a Grade I-listed Gothic Revival nineteenth-century parish church in Penarth, Vale of Glamorgan, Wales. History Written records indicate there has been a church on this site since 1242. In 1183, ...

, 1895 * Kidderminster Town Hall, Worcestershire, 1855 * St. Alban's Church, Ilford, England

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hill, William and Son Pipe organ building companies Organ builders of the United Kingdom Musical instrument manufacturing companies of the United Kingdom