BIRCHILLS
Historical restoration of II/20 1889 Nicholson & Lord organ
We are pleased to have been commissioned to undertake the restoration of the two-manual, 20-stop 1889 Nicholson & Lord organ in St Andrew’s Church, Birchills, Walsall.
The instrument is a rare unaltered example of the work of the Nicholson & Lord firm, and has spent its whole life within a mile of the workshop where it was built.
The organ has mechanical action throughout, except for charge pneumatic to the pedal division. The instrument will be restored without alteration.
The roots of the Nicholson & Lord firm started with Richard Nicholson (1788–1862), who began organ building in his home town of Rochdale in the 1820s. Of his 15 children, five sons became organ builders:
- John (1815–1895) moved to Worcester in 1841. He traded under his own name. When he retired in 1885, the firm was re-named Nicholson & Co., and we are still going strong.
- James (1819–c.1890) moved to Newcastle-upon-Tyne in 1843 and set up his own business, now defunct.
- Joseph (1823–1855) stayed in Rochdale, worked with his father and died young.
- Thomas (1835-1910) moved to Lincoln c.1860 and set up his own business, now defunct.
Of most interest in this instance is the youngest of the five, Charles (1840–1909). In 1861, he moved with his father Richard from Rochdale to Walsall. They set up a new company called Nicholson & Son, and brought with them various employees, including Edmund Lord (born 1832 in Rochdale) and Edmund’s wife Emma, also Rochdale-born. Unfortunately, Richard died only a year later in 1862, leaving 22-year-old Charles newly arrived in Walsall on his own with his mother Maria (Richard’s second wife). The business continued however, trading as Nicholson & Son, owned by Charles and Maria. Among their employees remained Edmund Lord. In 1874, Edmund was taken into partnership and the firm’s name was changed to Nicholson & Lord.
While they always remained a provincial firm, Nicholson & Lord flourished. Most of their work was building small but well-built instruments around the Midlands. The firm’s magnum opus was the four-manual organ for Walsall Town Hall, completed in 1908. A few years ago, we restored one of their smaller instruments, built in 1895 for All Saints’ Church in Dilhorne, Staffordshire.
The Nicholson & Lord firm continued trading until subsumed into the Birmingham firm of Walter J. Bird in 1951. That firm was in turn subsumed into Nicholson & Co. in 1953.