The antique pipe organ situated here in Saint Mark's Church, Te Aroha is not only a unique musical instrument - it also has an intriguing story to tell
Its story begins when Queen Anne [1665-1714] petitioned the English Parliament to raise a special tax to pay for the construction of ten pipe organs for various churches in the City of London.
The Queen's desire was that the organs should be of the finest craftsmanship so they were built by Renatus Harris - organ builder to the Crown and recognised as the finest organ builder of his day.
At first it was thought that 30 January 1769 was the date when the organ was made and it was attributed to the master craftsman of that time, John Snetzler. However Mr E Hardingham of Hamilton, who assembled the organ in Saint Mark's in 1927, said then, It is quite unique, very ancient and must have been in use in 1769. Further research has proved his assessment to be correct.
Renatus Harris
The ten organs were built at the workshop of Renatus Harris- the last being completed towards the end of 1712. These instruments represented the peak of English craftsmanship of their day. The casework is of heart-oak and the carving is thought to be by Grinling Gibbons, the renowned master carver and woodworker, whose work adorns Sir Christopher Wren's Saint Paul's Cathedral in London.
For some reason unknown to us this organ in Saint Mark's was not installed in a central London church. However we do know that in 1769 it was acquired by a small village church, All Saints, at Baschurch in Shropshire, because it is recorded in the archives there.
It gave continuous service for 137 years until in 1906 it was replaced by a new organ given by the Mr and Mrs St Barbe Sladen. The old instrument was dismantled, packed and stored in the basement of the family's home for over 20 years.
Maud Elizabeth St Barbe Wayne
A daughter of the St Barbe Sladen family, Maud Elizabeth St Barbe Wayne, came here to Te Aroha, New Zealand, with her husband and young family. At that time, in the late 1920's, the people of Te Aroha were busy raising money and building this Saint Mark's as a First World War memorial peace church.
Mrs Wayne thought of the old organ in storage in England, wrote to her mother and arranged for it to be sent out here to New Zealand. It was her gift to the new church built in 1926 and was installed in 1927. It was truly a godsend to the people here because no provision had been made for a pipe organ in the planning of the new church. The Vestry was fully occupied with the building of it, and raising money to pay for its completion. In fact Vestry was unable to pay anything towards the costs of freighting it down from Auckland, repairing or assembling it in the church. All the costs involved were borne by Mrs St Barbe Wayne.
It is one of those quirks of history that had Mrs Wayne not sent for the organ to be dispatched to New Zealand it may well have been destroyed with the others during the blitz in the Second World War. So is this instrument in Saint Mark's Te Aroha now the only one remaining, of the ten Queen Anne commissioned 289 years ago?
Restored to its former glory
The action is mechanical throughout and until 1931 the organ was pumped by hand. Now there is a blowing unit in the basement the only modern addition. After many years of faithful service the organ became mechanically "precarious........ to say the least!
In 1959 the Churchwardens reported to the AGM that it looks as though a replacement will be needed". While in 1964 it was reported "that the work on the organ had been completed at a much lower cost than originally anticipated." This renovation provided only a temporary reprieve and the condition of the organ again deteriorated to the point where it was unusable.
In 1985 a decision was made to fully restore the instrument and to resite it; and the Auckland firm of George Croft and Son was contracted to do the work at a cost of $27,000.
The original specification was retained but the keyboard had to be replaced with one constructed by the Auckland craftsman Bruce Thompson. This was necessary because some of the old keys were warped, some were badly worn, and this was affecting the whole mechanical action.
In November 1985, when the restoration work had been completed, the instrument was not returned to its original site in the chancel on the pulpit side but placed in a specially constructed niche in the nave. This enables the organ to speak well into the central space of the Church and to show its beauty to full advantage.
On 16 November a celebratory concert was presented in Saint Mark's to herald the organ's return. Then on 21 March 1986 the organ featured in a wonderful recital by Gillian Weir the world-famous New Zealand organist. The organ has received much praise from visiting organists both from within New Zealand and overseas. It continues to be in regular use for church services and for concerts.
18 October 2001
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