John Loosemore (August 1616 – 18 April 1681) was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

builder of

pipe organs The pipe organ is a musical instrument that produces sound by driving pressurized air (called ''wind'') through the organ pipes selected from a keyboard. Because each pipe produces a single pitch, the pipes are provided in sets called ''ranks' ...

. He is best known for his organ at

Exeter Cathedral Exeter Cathedral, properly known as the Cathedral Church of Saint Peter in Exeter, is an Anglican cathedral, and the seat of the Bishop of Exeter, in the city of Exeter, Devon, in South West England. The present building was complete by about 140 ...

Devon Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devon is ...

, which he completed in 1665. John Loosemore was born in

Barnstaple Barnstaple ( or ) is a river-port town in North Devon, England, at the River Taw's lowest crossing point before the Bristol Channel. From the 14th century, it was licensed to export wool and won great wealth. Later it imported Irish wool, bu ...

where he was baptized on 25 August 1616. His father was also a builder and repairer of organs, and passed on the trade to his son John, who moved to

Exeter Exeter () is a city in Devon, South West England. It is situated on the River Exe, approximately northeast of Plymouth and southwest of Bristol. In Roman Britain, Exeter was established as the base of Legio II Augusta under the personal comm ...

sometime before 1645. The other two sons of the family,

Henry Henry may refer to: People *Henry (given name) * Henry (surname) * Henry Lau, Canadian singer and musician who performs under the mononym Henry Royalty * Portuguese royalty ** King-Cardinal Henry, King of Portugal ** Henry, Count of Portugal, ...

and

George George may refer to: People * George (given name) * George (surname) * George (singer), American-Canadian singer George Nozuka, known by the mononym George * George Washington, First President of the United States * George W. Bush, 43rd Presiden ...

, also had a connection with organ music as they were eventually appointed organists at

King's College, Cambridge King's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Formally The King's College of Our Lady and Saint Nicholas in Cambridge, the college lies beside the River Cam and faces out onto King's Parade in the centre of the city ...

and

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by Henry VIII, King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any college at either Cambridge ...

, respectively, probably under the patronage of

Dudley North, 4th Baron North Dudley North, 4th Baron North, KB (160224 June 1677) of Kirtling Tower, Cambridgeshire was an English politician, who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1628 and 1660. Life North was the elder son of Dudley North, 3rd Baron ...

. During the rule of the

Puritans The Puritans were English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries who sought to purify the Church of England of Roman Catholic practices, maintaining that the Church of England had not been fully reformed and should become more Protestant. P ...

in Exeter from 1646 to 1660, church music was frowned upon. Many church organs, including the previous instrument in Exeter Cathedral, were vandalized or destroyed during the

English Civil War The English Civil War (1642–1651) was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Parliamentarians (" Roundheads") and Royalists led by Charles I ("Cavaliers"), mainly over the manner of England's governance and issues of re ...

. During this period, Loosemore was employed primarily in repairing organs and building other keyboard instruments for private ownership. One of his

virginal The virginals (or virginal) is a keyboard instrument of the harpsichord family. It was popular in Europe during the late Renaissance and early Baroque periods. Description A virginal is a smaller and simpler rectangular or polygonal form of ha ...

s dated 1655 has been preserved in the

Victoria and Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (often abbreviated as the V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.27 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and nam ...

. With the restoration of Charles II to the throne in 1660, Loosemore was commissioned first to repair the old organ in Exeter Cathedral, and then, in 1662–1663, to build a new one. This was completed on 27 May 1665. Loosemore reported the cost of the new organ as £847.7s.10d. Loosemore constructed at least two other organs during his lifetime, another in Exeter Cathedral for the choir school and one at

Nettlecombe Court Nettlecombe Court and park is an old estate on the northern fringes of the Brendon Hills, within the Exmoor National Park. They are within the civil parish of Nettlecombe, named after the house, and are approximately from the village of Willi ...

for Sir George Trevelyan. After the marriage of his eldest daughter Joan to his assistant John Shearme in 1674 or 1675, Loosemore turned over much of his business to him and lived in semi-retirement. After a period of increasing infirmity, he died on 18 April 1681, and was buried in Exeter Cathedral. His gravestone was originally placed in the floor at the east end of the nave near the entrance to the south aisle of the choir, close to his organ, but has since been moved to the north choir aisle near the north wall. He is the namesake of the John Loosemore Centre for Organ and Early Music in

Buckfastleigh Buckfastleigh is a market town and civil parish in Devon, England situated beside the Devon Expressway ( A38) at the edge of the Dartmoor National Park. It is part of Teignbridge and, for ecclesiastical purposes, lies within the Totnes Deanery. ...

, founded in 1974 by John Wellingham, William Drake and Allan Thomas as a teaching establishment offering tuition in both organ playing and history, and construction of organs in an adjoining workshop. The teaching program has since been discontinued, but the organ-building workshop remains under the direction of William Drake.

References

External links

Exeter Cathedral organ

More Loosemore genealogy information

William Drake, organ builder
{{DEFAULTSORT:Loosemore, John 1616 births 1681 deaths Businesspeople from Barnstaple British pipe organ builders