Royal Russell School Music

The Chapel Organ of St Christopher and The Infant Jesus

The organ was built by Ingram in 1926 as a two-manual instrument with pneumatic action and a stop-key console. The specification was as follows:

GREAT ORGAN	Ft.	SWELL ORGAN	Ft.	PEDAL ORGAN	Ft.
Lieblich Bourdon	16	Geigen Principal	8	Bourdon	16
Open Diapason	8	Rohr Flute	8	Lieblich Bourdon (GO)	16
Claribel	8	Viol de Gambe	8	Bass Flute (Ext.)	8
Dulciana	8	Gemshorn	4	Great to Pedal
Harmonic Flute	4	Closed Horn	8	Swell to Pedal
Swell to Great		Sub Octave
		Unison Off
		Octave

Between 1975-80 the organ was altered by Mr. Thomas, who was a member of the school staff. He was assisted by Mr. Dennis Coffin and Colmer Brothers. The action of the Swell Organ was electrified and the Great was given a new direct action soundboard. Solid-State switching was installed and a new attached console was built by Kimber-Allen, of Swanley.

However, when the firm of F. H. Browne inspected the instrument in 1988, they found that it was practically unplayable. In the first instance, they fitted a new transformer rectifier and carried out other emergency repairs in order to render the organ useable.

In 1989 the organ was rebuilt and enlarged by F. H. Browne, of Canterbury in consultation with Mr. William Walls. This involved the introduction of nine new or second-hand ranks of pipes and additional chests for the Swell reed unit and the Great upper-work. The specification then stood as follows:

GREAT ORGAN	Ft.	SWELL ORGAN	Ft.	PEDAL ORGAN	Ft.
Open Diapason	8	Geigen Principal	8	Bourdon	16
Claribel Flute	8	Rohr Flute	8	Principal	8
Principal	4	Viole di Gamba	8	Flute (ext.)	8
Harmonic Flute	4	Gemshorn	4	Fifteenth (Ext.)	4
Nazard	2 ²/₃	Mixture (15, 19, 22)	III	Flute (Ext.)	4
Fifteenth	2	Double Trumpet (Ext.)	16	Sext (12, 17)	II
Tierce	1 ³/₅	Trumpet	8	Double Trumpet (Swell)	16
Mixture (26, 29)	II	Clarion (Ext.)	4	Trumpet (Swell)	8
Swell Sub to Great		Tremulant		Clarion (Swell)	4
Swell to Great		Sub Octave		Great to Pedal
Swell Octave to Great		Octave		Swell to Pedal
Great and Pedal		Generals on Swell		Swell Octave to Pedal
Combinations Coupled		Foot Pistons

In 2000 as the result of financial assistance by the 1853 Society, the organ was again improved to the specification of Hugh Sutton, Director of Music, by the addition of a modern piston capture system. This includes six pistons to each department (those for the Swell being duplicated by foot pistons) and six general pistons. There are also reversible pistons to each unison coupler and a piston for the full organ. In addition, there is a setter piston and a cancelling piston to the entire organ. There are sixty-four channels, individually lockable, with a digital display and selector. There is a balanced crescendo pedal to the Swell Organ.