Brindley & Foster was a pipe organ builder based in Sheffield who flourished between 1854 and 1939.
The business was established by Charles Brindley in 1854. He was joined by Albert Healey Foster in 1871 and the company acquired the name Brindley & Foster.
Charles Brindley was born in Baslow in the early 1830s. He retired in 1887 and died in 1893.
Brindley was a follower of Edmund Schulze. He built solid instruments with powerful choruses using Vogler’s Simplification system. Pipes placed in chromatic order on the soundboards allowed for a simple and reliable key action and permitted similar stops to share the same bass, keeping both space and cost to a minimum. The Swell organ was often mounted above the Great in the German manner.
After the partnership with Foster they began to manufacture more complex pneumatic mechanisms for stop combinations; he also concentrated on the production of orchestral effects.
The business of Brindley and Foster was bought by Willis in 1939.
Mechanics' Institute Launceston, Tasmania, Australia 1859. Moved to the Albert Hall, Launceston, Tasmania, Australia 1891. Rebuilt 1961.Water organ.St. Anne's Church, Baslow 1865Holy Trinity, Ashby-de-la-Zouch 1867Market Rasen Wesleyan Church 1867All Saints' Church, Wingerworth 1867All Saints' Church, Glossop 1871All Saints' Church, Oakham 1872St Mary's Church, Carleton in Craven 1875St. Mary's Church, Arnold 1876Anglican Church of Jesus Christ, Saint Petersburg, Russia. 1877 -organ non working.St John's Church, Ranmoor, Sheffield 1877 - destroyed by fire 1887Worksop Priory 1879St Edmund’s Church, Castleton, Derbyshire 1881St Peter and St Paul's Church, Old Brampton 1882St Peter's Church, Hope 1883Saint Mark's Anglican, Alexandria, Egypt 1883Airlie Parish Church, Kirkton of Airlie, Angus, 1884. Moved to Isla Parishes Church,Kilry. Angus 2014.St Andrew's Anglican Church Moscow. 1885 -destroyed 1917All Saints' Cathedral, Bathurst, Australia 1886 St John's Church, Ranmoor, Sheffield 1888Lesmahagow Old Parish Church 1889Pietermaritzburg City Hall, Pietermaritzburg, South Africa 1893. The City Hall and organ were destroyed by fire in 1898, and subsequently rebuilt.Durban City Hall, Durban, South Africa, 1894St. Mary's Wesleyan Methodist Church, Truro 1895Holy Sepulchre Anglican Church, Grafton, Auckland, New Zealand 1896 (rebuilt with new slider soundboards by Norman & Beard 1913, but remains tonally the same.)St. John's Church, Worksop 1896St. Laurence's Church, Long Eaton 1896St Mary's Church, Wirksworth 1899St. Mark's Church, Mansfield 1900Pietermaritzburg City Hall, Pietermaritzburg, South Africa 1901 - one of the largest pipe organs in the Southern Hemisphere, and the largest organ produced by Brindley and Foster. This organ replaced the original 1893 organ, which was destroyed by fire in 1898. Extensively renovated in 1976 to change from pneumatic to electrical action with a movable Walker console.Chalmers' Presbyterian Church, Timaru, New Zealand 1903St Mary Lowgate, Kingston upon Hull 1904St Mary's Church, Copythorne 1905Ficksburg Dutch Reformed Church, Ficksburg, South Africa 1907St John the Baptist's Church, Ault Hucknall 1905Holy Trinity Church, Lenton 1906Toxteth Unitarian Chapel 1906St. Anne's Church, Moseley 1907St. Peter's Church, Ruddington 1908Christ Church, Chester 1909St Paul and St John the Evangelist, Monklands, Airdrie, Scotland – Installed & dedicated 1911 and the only addition made to the original design, was the addition of a Tremolo Stop at some point. The instrument was restored in 1998,and is in original condition and retaining the original hand pump, which can still be used today if there is a power cut.St Giles' Church, Balderton 1912Church of The Sacred Heart, Roscommon, Ireland 1912St Inacio de Loiola Parish, São Paulo, Brazil 1925, opus 2714, 2 manuals, pedal, 13 stops. The only original Brindley organ in America. It was built for the Anglican Church in Niteroi- Rio de Janeiro. The organ was restored and installed at St Inacio in 1993.All Saints' Parish Church, Misterton, NottsList of works of restorations and renovations
St Mary's, Staines 1871 (probable renovation)All Saints Church, Bakewell 1883St Mary's Church, Tickhill 1898St Paul and St John the Evangelist (Monklands), Springwells Avenue, Airdrie, ML6, Scotland, UK 1998Breaston Methodist Church 1927 later transferred to Whitchurch Methodist Church, Cardiff 1992
