Gray and Davison
Organ builders of 18 Colquitt Street, Liverpool, and Euston Road, London.
The firm was established by Robert and William Gray.
1772-1840 Instruments constructed in the firm's workshops included pianofortes, combination organs, chamber organs and barrel organs, as well as church organs.
c1782–6 Robert and William Gray's trade card describes them as "Organ, harpsichord & piano-forte makers"
1796 William Gray (b.1756) became sole proprietor of the business on his brother, Robert's, death.
Over the next twenty years, the firm became one of the most productive and profitable instrument builders in the metropolis. The death of the King's organ builder, Samuel Green, just two months after Robert Gray, had left a gap in the market that enabled Gray to pick up little of Green's cathedral trade.
William's eldest son, John Gray (1790-1849), succeeded his father in the business.
1826-7 Gray extended his premises in New Road. He and his family continued to live in 11 New Road[1].
Frederick Davison (b.1815) and Louisa Gray were married by Licence at St Pancras Church on 6 February 1839.
By 1840 Gray & Davison were concentrating on domestic instruments for the middle classes buying pianos; demand for ecclesiastical organs also increased considerably as a result of the explosion in church-building at home and overseas; a few concert organs were conceived on such a scale that their construction absorbed the entire energy of the workforce for extended periods, and provided the stimulus for musical and technological innovations which were then applied selectively to the firm's other organs.
1849 John Gray died in April 1849; Frederick Davison became sole proprietor. Within a few years he had implemented major changes which determined the firm's business strategy and tonal philosophy during its Victorian heyday. Under Frederick Davison, the firm maintained its position in the trade until overtaken in the 1870s by younger and more innovative builders.
1851 Built the organ for the Crystal Palace[2] as well as exhibiting at the Great Exhibition.
1882 Reconstructed the great Handel Festival organ at the Crystal Palace, introducing modern improvements. Hitherto it had been blown by nine men, the bellows being placed in one of the upper galleries but, in future, it would be blown by three of Joy's organ blowers, supplied by Messrs. Hathorn, Davey, and Co., of Leeds. The organ would also be revoiced and fitted with pneumatic action, by which the touch will be made as light as that of a pianoforte. It would also be fitted with a carrillon of bells of considerable size.[3]
1880s The firm was in financial difficulty, as were other London organ builders during the Depression[4].
1903 The company was in voluntary liquidation[5] but presumably was reinstated under a similar name
1970 The company was in liquidation. F. J. Davison was chairman.[6]
See Also
Sources of Information
- Organ-building in Georgian and Victorian England. The work of Gray & Davison, 1772–1890, by Nicholas Thistlethwaite, published by Cambridge University Press