Rebuilding: 36-42, Chapel Street, Salford

The site was on the north side of Chapel Street between the Georgian “Volunteer Inn,” re-named the “Salford Hotel” in 1874 and the mediaeval “King’s Head Hotel.” A central alley gave access to Kidderminster Court to the north. The drawing also includes an elevation to Miller Street where Edward Wadsworth had his Organ Manufactory in 1875.

In 1877 the London and North Western Railway Company obtained a compulsory purchase order on the first Manchester Racquets Club (1) in Miller Street in order to build the approach road to Exchange Station. It is, therefore, probable that this part of the organ manufactory suffered a similar fate within a few years of construction. The buildings facing Chapel Street were seemingly demolished in the 1940s, possibly as a result of bomb damage.

Reference    Approved drawing dated 23 July 1875 – ground floor plans
Reference    e-mail from Beryl Patten 12 November 2014

Edward Wadsworth trained as an organ builder with Kirtland & Jardine and then set up in business on his own account in Manchester in 1860. He was joined by his brother Ernest in 1875 setting up a second branch of the business in Aberdeen from 1879, the firm became known as Wadsworth Bros. Following the death of the two brothers around 1916 the company continued to be run by the employees as E. Wadsworth Ltd until the end of the Second World War in 1945. The firm produced organs of moderate size but sound workmanship. From 1917 the firm produced fewer new instruments and concentrated on maintenance work and rebuilds of older instruments. The business was taken over by Jardine & Co in 1946. [Cadbury Research Library: Special Collections, University of Birmingham and The British Institute of Organ Studies]

A number of organs were exported. There are Wadsworth organs from this period in St. James United Church, Montreal, (1888-1891); Madison Wisconsin (1863), Rio de Janeiro (1861), and later Wadsworth organs in Marist College, Canberra and in Natal, South Africa, where a branch was opened in 1930

EDWARD WADSWORTH, organ builder 98 Albert Square, Manchester, begs to intimate that he has this day taken into partnership his brother ERNEST WADSWORTH, and that the business will be carried on as usual under the style of “Edward Wadsworth and Brother” from this date. 1 January 1874. [Manchester Guardian 2 January 1874 Page 1]