User:Joopercoopers/Lists of Chester Cathedral

List of Organists and assistant organists
The choral tradition at Chester is 900 years old, dating from the foundation of the Bendedictine monastery. In 1741 Handel heard the first recital of his Messiah at Chester. Today, there are usually ten choral services at the cathedral each week. Chester has a cathedral choir of male lay clerks, boy trebles and since 1997 the cathedral has recruited a choir of girl choristers, who sing on alternate Sundays to the boys and the same number of weekday services. There is no choir school at Chester, so the choristers come from local schools. On occasions the boy and girl choristers sing together. There is also a nave choir which sings Evening Prayer on Sundays, and sometimes joins with the cathedral choir on special occasions. The nave choir was formed in the middle of the 19th century, and was England’s first voluntary cathedral choir. The director of music is Philip Rushforth and the assistant organist is Ian Roberts. There are lunchtime organ recitals weekly on Thursday. The monthly program of music is available on the cathedral's website.

List of organists

 * 1541 John Brycheley
 * 1551 Thomas Barnes
 * 1558 Richard Saywell
 * 1567 Robert White
 * 1570 Robert Stevenson
 * 1599 Thomas Bateson
 * 1609 John Alien
 * 1613 Michael Done
 * 1614 Thomas Jones
 * 1637 Richard Newbold
 * 1642 Randolph Jewitt


 * 1661 Rev. Peter Stringer
 * 1673 John Stringer
 * 1686 William Key
 * 1699 John Mounterratt
 * 1705 Edmund White
 * 1715 Samuel Davies
 * 1726 Benjamin Worrall
 * 1727 Edmund Baker
 * 1765 Edward Orme
 * 1776 John Bailey
 * 1803 Edward Bailey


 * 1823 George Black
 * 1824 Thomas Haylett
 * 1841 Frederick Gunton
 * 1877 Joseph Cox Bridge
 * 1925 John Thomas Hughes
 * 1930 Charles Hylton Stewart
 * 1932 Malcolm Courtenay Boyle
 * 1949 James Roland Middleton
 * 1964 John Sanders
 * 1967 Roger Fisher
 * 1997 David Poulter
 * 2008 Philip Rushforth

Assistant organists

 * Herbert Stephen Irons 1873 - 1876
 * John Gumi ???? - 1890
 * John Thomas Hughes 1909 - 1925 (then organist)
 * Guillaume Ormond 1925 - 1926 (later organist of Truro Cathedral)
 * James Roland Middleton 1934 - 1944 (later organist of Chelmsford Cathedral)
 * George Guest 1944 - 1947
 * Brian Runnett 1955 - 1960
 * Peter Gilbert White 1960 - 1962
 * John Belcher 1967 - 1971
 * John Cooper Green 1971 - 1975
 * John Keys 1975 - 1978
 * Simon Russell 1978 - ????
 * Lee Ward ???? - 1989
 * Graham Eccles 1989 - 1998


 * Philip Stopford 2000 - 2003 (now organist of St Anne’s Cathedral, Belfast)
 * Ian Roberts

See also the List of Organ Scholars at Chester Cathedral.