List of Worcester Cathedral organists

This is a list of organists at Worcester Cathedral, in the city of Worcester, England. Notable organists at Worcester have included Thomas Tomkins (from 1596), Hugh Blair (from 1895), Ivor Atkins (from 1897), David Willcocks (from 1950) and Christopher Robinson (from 1963). The present organist (from 2019) is Samuel Hudson.

Organists

1240 Thomas the Organist*
1415 T. Hulet*
1468 Richard Grene
1484 John Hampton
1522 Daniel Boyse
1541 Richard Fisher
1569 John Golden
1581 Nathaniel Giles
1585 Robert Cotterell
1590 Nathaniel Patrick
1595 John Fido
1596 Thomas Tomkins
1649 Vacant
1661 Giles Tomkins
1662 Richard Browne
1664 Richard Davis^[1]
1686 Vaughan Richardson^{[n 1]}
1688 Richard Cherington
1724 John Hoddinott
1731 William Hayes
1734 John Merifield
1747 Elias Isaac
1793 Thomas Pitt
1806 Jeremiah Clark
1807 William Kenge
1813 Charles E. J. Clarke
1844 William Done
1895 Hugh Blair
1897 Ivor Atkins
1950 David Willcocks
1957 Douglas Guest
1963 Christopher Robinson
1974 Donald Hunt
1996 Adrian Lucas
2012 Peter Nardone
2018 James Lancelot (Interim Organist)
2019 Samuel Hudson

1710–1745, the post of Master of the Choristers was separated from that of Organist, Ralph Dean (1710–23) and William Davis (1723–45) serving as Master of the Choristers.

Source for dates 1662–1897: Atkins, Ivor (1918). The early occupants of the office of organist and master of the choristers of the Cathedral Church of Christ and the Blessèd Virgin Mary, Worcester. London: Mitchell Hughes and Clarke. pp. 70–71.

Assistant Organists

William Done 1835–1844 (afterwards organist)
Alfred James Caldicott c.1860
Robert Taylor 1865
Mr. Garton 1879
James Henry Caseley (later organist of Holy Trinity Church, Stratford-upon-Avon)
Hugh Blair Assistant Organist 1887–1889, Organist-in-Charge 1889–1895 (afterwards organist)^[3]
Henry Holloway 1889–1893^[4]
George Street Chignell 1893–1896^[5]
Frank Alfred Charles Mason 1895–1899^[6]
Edgar Thomas Cook 1904–1909
Alexander E. Brent Smith ?–1912
Edgar F.Day 1912-1962
Christopher Robinson 1962–1963 (later organist of St. George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle)
Harry Bramma 1963–1976 (later organist of Southwark Cathedral)
Paul Trepte 1976–1981 (later organist of Ely Cathedral)
Adrian Partington 1981–1991 (later organist of Gloucester Cathedral)
Raymond Johnston 1991–1998 (later organist of St Mark's Cathedral, Minneapolis, US)
Daniel Phillips 1998–2004
Christopher Allsop 2004 – 2018
Nicholas Freestone 2018 –

Assistant Organists and Assistant Directors of Music

Christopher Allsop 2012 - August 2018 (later Assistant Director of Music, King's School, Worcester, then Organist, Eton College)
Nicholas Freestone September 2018 -

Sub-Assistant Organists

Simon Bertram 2007 - 2008
George Castle 2008 - 2012
James Luxton 2012 - 2014
Justin Miller 2014 - 2016
Richard Cook 2017 - 2019 (later Assistant organist of St Edmundsbury Cathedral)
Ed Jones 2019 - 2021

Explanatory notes

^ Vaughan Richardson deputized for the ailing Davis who officially held the post of organist until his death in 1688. Richardson was never officially in the post of organist and was not offered the position when Davis died in 1688.^[2]

References

^ Ian Spink (2001). "Davis, Richard (17th-century English composer)". Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.45534.
^ Andrew Ashbee (2018). "RICHARDSON, VAUGHAN (d. 1729). Child of the Chapel Royal, -1678 - 1688; [composer]". In David Lasocki (ed.). A Biographical Dictionary of English Court Musicians, 1485-1714, Volumes I. Routledge. p. 1673. ISBN 9781351578226.
^ "Blair, Hugh (BLR884H)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
^ Dictionary of Organs and Organists. First Edition. 1912. p.361
^ Dictionary of Organs and Organists. First Edition. 1912. p.258
^ Dictionary of Organs and Organists. First Edition. 1912. p.382

[3] Vaughan Richardson deputized for the ailing Davis who officially held the post of organist until his death in 1688. Richardson was never officially in the post of organist and was not offered the position when Davis died in 1688.^[2]

[1] Ian Spink (2001). "Davis, Richard (17th-century English composer)". Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.45534.

[2] Andrew Ashbee (2018). "RICHARDSON, VAUGHAN (d. 1729). Child of the Chapel Royal, -1678 - 1688; [composer]". In David Lasocki (ed.). A Biographical Dictionary of English Court Musicians, 1485-1714, Volumes I. Routledge. p. 1673. ISBN 9781351578226.

[4] "Blair, Hugh (BLR884H)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.

[5] Dictionary of Organs and Organists. First Edition. 1912. p.361

[6] Dictionary of Organs and Organists. First Edition. 1912. p.258

[7] Dictionary of Organs and Organists. First Edition. 1912. p.382

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