Charles Lloyd (organ builder)

Charles Lloyd was a pipe organ builder based in Nottingham who flourished between 1859 and 1909.^[1]

Background

Charles Lloyd had previously worked for Groves of London. Charles Lloyd set up in business first with Lorenzo Valentine and shortly afterwards with Alfred Dudgeon. Their workshop was at 52A Union Road, near the centre of Nottinghan. They were soon at work installing organs in places of worship in and around the Nottingham area. Charles Lloyd was commissioned by Sydney Pierrepont, 3rd Earl Manvers of Holme Pierrepont, to construct and exhibit a 2 manual & pedal organ at the Birmingham Trades Exhibition in 1865. It was to win Lloyd a gold medal award for its workmanship and tone. After the exhibition was over the organ was removed back to Nottingham and installed in St. Edmund's Church, Holme Pierrepont.

It appears that Lloyd & Dudgeon were partners until 1876. It then became changed to C. Lloyd & Co, Church Organ Builders, Nottingham.

When the Great Central Railway was brought to Nottingham in 1896, land occupied by the Lloyd business had to be cleared to make way for the Victoria Station. Charles Lloyd moved to 79 Brighton Street, St Ann’s.

In 1909, his son, Charles Francis Lloyd took over the business and it continued until 1928 with no change to the name.

Company names and addresses

• Lloyd and Valentine 1859 - 1860, Bilbie Street, Nottingham
• Lloyd and Dudgeon 1862 - 1876, 52A Union Road, Nottingham
• C. Lloyd & Co 1876 - 1896, 52A Union Road, Nottingham
• C. Lloyd & Co 1896 - 1928, 79 Brighton Street, St Ann’s, Nottingham

Apprentices

The first was Ernest Wragg of Carlton, who after his period of training set up as an organ builder himself in 1894 on Carlton Road, Thorneywood, as E. Wragg & Son, Organ Builders.

The second was John Compton, born in Measham, Leicestershire. He entered into organ building first at Birmingham, then with Brindley of Sheffield, then in Nottingham under Charles Lloyd. When free of his apprenticeship in 1902, along with an organ builder named Musson of Woodborough Road, Nottingham, they became Compton & Musson.

Noted instruments

• St. Edmund's Church, Holme Pierrepont 1868
• Broad Street Batist Church, Nottingham 1869
• Addison Street Congregational Church, Nottingham 1885
• St. Giles Church, West Bridgford, Nottingham 1899 at a cost of £300. It was a 3 manual & pedal with Choir organ prepared for. It was rebuilt and enlarged by Henry Willis & Sons in 1952, and removed in 1993.
• Albion Street Congregational Church, Sneinton, Nottingham 1905

References

1. ^ Memories of Organs, Organ Builders and Organists of Nottingham. F. T. Hodgkinson