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.
List of new organs
Mechanics' Institute Launceston, Tasmania, Australia 1859. Moved to the Albert Hall, Launceston, Tasmania, Australia 1891. Rebuilt 1961. Water organ.
St. Anne's Church, Baslow 1865
Holy Trinity, Ashby-de-la-Zouch 1867
Market Rasen Wesleyan Church 1867
All Saints' Church, Wingerworth 1867
St Andrew's Church, Heckington 1869
All Saints' Church, Glossop 1871
All Saints' Church, Oakham 1872
St Paul's Church, Leicester 1873
St Mary's Church, Carleton in Craven 1875
St Andrew's Church, Keighley, West Yorkshire 1876?
Wallacetown Parish Church, Dundee, Scotland 1891. Re-built in 1953 by Rushworth and Dreaper with new console and electric action following a fire. Church renamed Trinity Parish Church in early 1980’s and the organ refurbished by Forth Pipe Organs in the late 1990’s.
Pietermaritzburg City Hall, Pietermaritzburg, South Africa 1893. The City Hall and organ were destroyed by fire in 1898, and subsequently rebuilt.
Pietermaritzburg 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.
St 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.
Church of The Sacred Heart, Roscommon, Ireland 1912
St Mary and St Laurence's Church, Bolsover 1921
St 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
All Saints' Parish Church, Misterton, Notts
List of works of restorations and renovations
St Mary's, Staines 1871
All Saints Church, Bakewell 1883
St Mary's Church, Tickhill 1898
St Paul and St John the Evangelist, Springwells Avenue, Airdrie, ML6, Scotland, UK 1998
Breaston Methodist Church 1927 later transferred to Whitchurch Methodist Church, Cardiff 1992
