The Harrison & Harrison Organ of The Royal Military Chapel
Martin Ford
On 18th June 1944 a flying bomb struck The Royal Military Chapel (The Guards’ Chapel) in Westminster during the Sunday morning service. The roof collapsed onto the congregation below, killing over 120 people, including members of the Band of the Coldstream Guards and their Director of Music. Commemoration of this devastating event lies at the heart of the rebuilt chapel, with the rubble of the old forming the foundations of the new. The original George Street apse survived the bombing, and forms the focal point of the present-day building. The Chapel is the spiritual home of the Household Division, whose musicians regularly perform in both religious services and concerts. The Chapel is fortunate to be one of the few churches in London with a 12-voice professional choir, and services here are a unique mix of the Anglican choral tradition and contributions from some of the Army’s best instrumental ensembles.
As far as the (limited) archives show, the original Chapel appears not to have had a pipe organ. There is some evidence of an early electronic instrument in the chancel, presumably just for accompanying the choir, as the military bands provided all pre- and post-service music, as well as leading the hymns. When the chapel was rebuilt there was initially no pipe organ provided, but in 1971 an organ was installed by Hill, Norman & Beard, with much of the pipework coming from the instrument in the Organ Room at Glyndebourne – the place where John Christie’s twin interests of opera and organ-building combined. The Glyndebourne organ in turn used parts of a house organ belonging to Mr Boustead of Wimbledon Common, and thus The Guards’ Chapel instrument was essentially third-hand.
