John Norman, last of a great British organ-building dynasty

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24-03-2025

​John Norman, who has died aged 93, was the last of his famous name to be associated with British organ building; and the last active member of any of the great British organ building families founded in the 19th century.
He was the great-grandson of William Norman, a cabinet-maker turned organ-builder whose two sons continued the business eventually to become Norman & Beard Ltd, based in Norwich. In 1916 they merged with the illustrious but fading William Hill & Son. The resulting business, William Hill & Son & Norman & Beard Ltd, became better known by its acronym, HNB.
In 1920, John Christie of Glyndebourne commissioned a large four-manual organ from HNB for his Music Room. Shortly after its installation, Christie began contemplating significant enlargement of the instrument. When HNB expressed reservations about some of his proposals, Christie took matters into his own hands and bought the company. Thus the Norman family lost their stake in the firm, though they continued to play a key role in its management.
Herbert John La French Norman (always known as John) was born in Hornsey, North London, on January 15 1932, the only child of Herbert Norman (1903-2001), a director of HNB, and his wife Hilda, née West.
Norman's education started in Muswell Hill but during the war he was sent to Norwich School, then as now associated with the Cathedral (which then housed a five-manual Norman & Beard organ).
After school, Norman took a BSc course with an emphasis on acoustics at Imperial College. At a university dance, he met Jill Sharp, who was reading history. They married in 1956.
After graduating, Norman joined the family firm as an apprentice, soon moving through the business into its management. He was elected to the board in 1960, becoming managing director in 1972, allowing his father to concentrate on design, which was his real strength.
Good with numbers, Norman proved to be a shrewd man of business at a time when British organ building was dealing with the postwar organ reform movement, provoked mostly by the 1954 instrument in the Royal Festival Hall, designed by Ralph Downes.
Probably no British organ was ever so radically different to what went before. In the debate that followed its first use, Norman welcomed the change in style and set about introducing his version into the work of HNB, mostly in reconstructions such as at Exeter College, Oxford, the Royal College of Organists and Bath Abbey.
The culmination of this style came with the rebuilding of the organ of Gloucester Cathedral in 1971 to a scheme devised by Downes. The work included many advanced mechanical innovations devised by Norman, aided by his science background. As with the Festival Hall organ, the public was divided over Gloucester but once again the division was essentially between the young and the old.
In 1974, the Glyndebourne Estate decided that the Manor Organ Works in Hornsey was not providing a sufficient return for its book value. HNB was invited to remove to much smaller premises in Thaxted.
Norman's father, now aged 71, was horrified and took immediate retirement. John Norman agonised before deciding that even though his name was over the door of the business, his family responsibilities outweighed those to HNB.
He therefore resigned and joined IBM, where he became a front man for their software application STRUDL, used in marine and offshore structures, particularly in the North Sea exploration for oil and gas.
IBM notwithstanding, Norman continued his association with organ building by his writings and with consultations. He published four books on organs or organ design, one co-written with his father, as well as numerous magazine articles. His influence on British organ building and its organisation was deep-seated and was likely greater than when he ran HNB. He was consultant for such notable new instruments as Worcester Cathedral, St Mary le Bow, the OBE Chapel of St Paul's Cathedral and St Mary Undercroft in the Palace of Westminster.
Norman was at various times a member of the Association of Independent Organ Advisers, the London Diocesan Advisory Committee for the Care of Churche​s, the Council of the Institute of Musical Instrument Technology and the Cathedrals Fabric Commission for England, and chairman of the British Institute of Organ Studies. He was also a freeman of the City of London and liveryman of the Musicians' Company.
His wife Jill predeceased him in 2018. He is survived by their two daughters and son.
John Norman, born January 15 1932, died January 27 2025​
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