John Haywood Compton (1876–1957) was an English pipe organ builder.National census 1911 Routledge, 2006, p. 122 His business based in Nottingham and London flourished between 1902 and 1965.Pipes & Actions. Laurence Elvin. 1995

Life John Compton was born in Newton Burgoland, Leicestershire, England on 20 June 1876. He was an apprentice with Halmshaw & Sons in Birmingham. In 1898, he joined Brindley and Foster in Sheffield.. Then he joined Charles Lloyd in Nottingham.

He set up the business of Musson & Compton in 1902 in Nottingham with James Frederick Musson. The partnership was dissolved in 1904. In 1919, the business moved to workshops at Turnham Green Terrace in Chiswick, London, which had been vacated by August Gern. He occupied a new factory at Chase Road in Park Royal, North Acton, London in 1930.

Compton worked primarily on electric-action pipe organs and electronic organs. His first electronic instrument was the Melotone, a solo voice added to theatre organs, followed by the Theatrone. The Electrone, an electrostatic tonewheel instrument introduced in 1938, evolved out of research by Leslie Bourn, an association begun in the 1920s. Throughout his organ-building career, Compton was assisted by the very capable and inventive James Isaac Taylor, who spent his entire working life with the Compton firm before his death in 1958. Compton also befriended a wealthy industrialist by the name of Albert Henry Midgley, one of the founders of C A Vandervell which later became CAV-Lucas Ltd; a major supplier of electrical equipment to the motor industry. Midgley was one of the most prolific inventors of his age, with over 900 inventions to his name. Following a rift with C A V-Lucas, he was appointed technical director of the Compton firm in 1925. Midgley's genius in electrical engineering and mass-production techniques helped the Compton firm to achieve an extraordinary level of productivity. The company was awarded many original patents in things ranging from simple organ mechanisms to the most complex, state-of-the-art electronic and electrical inventions. Many of those patents show that Midgley was cited as the inventor.

On 13 June 1940, during the Second World War, Compton was arrested in Italy while holidaying on the island of Capri. He was interned as an enemy alien but spent much of his time restoring pipe organs before being permitted to return to England.

Compton died at King Edward's Hospital in Ealing on 6 April 1957, and was cremated at Mortlake Crematorium. The business continued under the direction of Taylor, who died the next year. The business was wound up around 1965. The pipe organ department was sold to Rushworth and Dreaper and the electronic department became Makin Organs.

Compton organs

Compton cinema organs, built by the John Compton Organ Company of Acton, were the most prevalent of theatre organs in the UK. 261 were installed in cinemas and theatres in the British Isles. Comptons made many fine church and concert organs as well. The company's cinema organs employed the latest technology and engineering and many are still in existence. One of the most notable is the large 5 manual example at the Odeon Cinema Leicester Square in central London. The Pavilion Theatre, Bournemouth in Dorset continues to operate its stunning example, with regular performances from organists from across the United Kingdom.

List of new organs

All Souls' Church, Radford, 1903 Emmanuel Church, Nottingham, 1903 United Methodist Free Church, Stapleford, 1903 Church of St. Mary Magdalene, Hucknall, 1903 Emmanuel Church, New Park St, Leicester, 1905 St Wilfrid's Church, Cantley, South Yorkshire, 1905 Selby Abbey, North Yorkshire, 1906 St. Peter's School Chapel, York, 1907 Launceston Wesleyan Church ,1909 Holdenhurst Road Methodist Church, Bournemouth, 1909 Westbourne Wesleyan Church, Bournemouth, 1910 Shakespeare Street Wesleyan Reform Chapel, Nottingham, 1914 Stowmarket Parish Church, 1922 St Swithun's Church, Cheswardine, Shropshire, 1922 memorial for those killed in the 1914-1918 war Shepherd's Bush Pavilion, 1923 Bournemouth Pavilion Theatre, 1929Bournemouth Pavilion Theatre 1929 Elite Picture Theatre, Nottingham, 1930 Chapel Cranleigh School Surrey, 1930. Eight ranks, three manuals. Lasted until 1978. Verifiable on NPOR site. Church of St Osmund, Parkstone, 1931 Downside Abbey, 1931 St. Mary Magdelene's Church, Paddington, 1932 Church of St Edmund the King and Martyr, Lombard Street, London, 1932 BBC Theatre Organ Broadcasting House, London, 1932 Broadway Theatre, Catford, 1932 (contemporaneously, a music hall) Plaza Cinema, Stockport, 1932 O2 Forum Kentish Town, 1934 St Luke's Church, Chelsea, 1932 Odeon Cinema, Weston-super-Mare, 1935 St. Benedict's Priory, Ealing, 1935 East Church of St Nicholas, Aberdeen, 1936 Southampton Guildhall, 1936Southampton Guildhall 1936 Regent Street Cinema, London, 1936Regent Street Cinema, London 1936 St. George's Hall, London, second BBC Theatre Organ, 1936 Maida Vale Studios, third BBC Theatre Organ, 1936 Odeon Cinema, Leicester Square, 1937 Emmanuel United Reformed Church, Worthing, 1937 (formerly St Columba's Presbyterian Church) Savoy Cinema, Lincoln 1937 Wolverhampton Civic Hall, 1938 Methodist Mission, Great Yarmouth, 1938 St John's Cathedral, Salford, 1938 Church House, Westminster, 1939 Christchurch Priory, 1951 St Eugene's Cathedral, Derry, 1956 St Bride's Church, London, 1957 St George's Cathedral, Southwark, 1958 St Alban's Golders Green, London Bablake School, Coventry Westover (now ABC) Cinema, Bournemouth, c.1937 Astoria Cinema, Pokesdown, c.1930s (The last two organs are unconfirmed, but their existence is attested to by local documentary sources; the Westover instrument is now in private hands at Ryde on the Isle of Wight; the Astoria instrument no longer exists.)

Southern Grammar School for Boys, Portsmouth, c. 1957 Portsmouth Guildhall, 1959 St.Alban's Holborn, 1961

Rebuilds and restorations Holy Trinity Church, Hull, 1938 Holy Trinity Church, Exmouth, 1953 Christ Church Pennington, Leigh, 1953 Kinema in the Woods (formerly at the Super Cinema, Charing Cross Road, London, February 1928) St Catherine, Bearwood, Wokingham, Berkshire ,1952 (NPOR A00449) Tower Hill Methodist Church, Hessle, 2001 (formerly at Oxted United Reformed Church, Surrey) St Mark's, Portsmouth, 1955, later moved to St Edmund's, Southampton in 1969

References

Other sources Includes details on Theatrones and Electrones

External links Includes a thorough technical description. . Includes sound of organ. Accessed 29 October 2009. . Accessed 29 March 2010. . Accessed 29 March 2010. . Accessed 29 March 2010.