James Jepson Binns - The Binns Family

The Organ Builder - James Jepson Binns
We heard in our last edition of the musical interests and exploits of our
co-editor Alan Binns and how he had learned of the organ builder James
Jepson Binns. Alan has now located an obituary for James who certainly
appears to have been a most interesting personality. It is quoted here in
full:
“ The late J. J. Binns.
James Jepson Binns, organ
builder, musician and idealist, of
Bramley, Leeds, passed away on
March 11 th , 1929, aged seventyfour
years. Over sixty-two years
of his life had been spent in organ
building. Born in the village
of Burley, near Leeds, he left
school at eleven years of age, at
his own desire, to apprentice
himself to Messrs. Radcliffe &
Sagar, organ builders, of Leeds:
seven years later, in January,
1875, he entered the firm of
Messrs. Abbott & Co. (now Abbott
& Smith) as a voicer. In
January 1880, Mr. Binns started
business on his own account in
small premises in Bramley Town
Street. In August, 1885, the present
works in Hough Lane,
Bramley, were opened. The present
premises were built by him,
and later on twice enlarged. The
Bramley Organ Works are now
claimed to be among the largest
and best equipped in England.
Throughout his life, Mr. Binns
maintained the keenest interest
in the building of organs, and
has left behind him a skilled and
efficient staff, many of whom
had served the firm for from
twenty to forty five years. Many
patents for improvements in organ
construction were taken out
by Mr. Binns, and these, combined
with the personal attention
given to each instrument, and his
great musical ability, have
placed the Binns organs among
the most beautiful and efficient
in existence. They are to be
found in many of the great buildings
of the world, including several
churches in Cape Town;-
Christ Church, Jerusalem,
Wesleyan Chapel: Pretoria;-
Catholic Church, as well as the
Catholic Church at St. Croix,
Dutch West Indies; the Congregational
Church at Durban; and
churches at Cape Colony. The
firm has supplied organs to practically
every town of importance
in the British Isles, a few of
them being:-
Aberdeen. - Cowdray Hall.
Bournemouth. - St Alban’s
Church.
Bristol. - St. Alban’s Church,
Westbury. Cambridge. –
Queen’s College.
Cardiff. – Tredegarville Baptist
Church. D a r l a s -
ton. – Town Hall.
Edinburgh. – Morningside U. F.
Church. G l a s gow. –
Springburn Hall.
Glasgow. Queen’s Park P. C.
Grasmere. – Parish
Church.
Leeds. – St. Aidan’s Church.
Liverpool. – Church of
the Sacred Heart.
London. – Kingsway Hall.
London. – Northampton
Polytechnic Institute.
Newcastle. –Jesmond Parish
Church. Newport (Mon). –
Great Central Hall.
Nottingham. – Castlegate Congregational
Church. Oxford. –
Jesus College.
Port Glasgow. - Town Hall
Portsmouth. – St. Anne’s
Church, Dockyard.
Portsmouth. – Guildhall.
Rochdale. – Town Hall.
Rochdale. – Baillie Street U. M.
Church. Shrewsbury. – St.
Mary’s Church.
Stoke-on-Trent. – Town Hall.
Parish Church. Swansea. – Walter
Road Congregational.
Church.
Tonbridge. – School Church.
West Hartlepool. – Town
Hall.
Yarmouth. – Parish Church.
Mr. Binns was a man of tireless
energy, and an idealist to whom
organ building was a divine art,
which merited the best he could
offer. Music was an absorbing
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