Thomas Pendlebury was born in a poor area of Lancashire, and came from a background of smallholding farmers and coal-miners. Along with many other artisans of the day he strove to increase his education and position by making use of the local Mechanics' Institutes and Technical Colleges. His continual thirst for knowledge and his inventive spirit led him, despite his working-class roots, to strive for recognition as a a craftsman and to shake off the prejudicial epithet of "miner-organbuilder".

He appied to serve as an apprentice with several organbuilders. Having been rejected in each case he set out to teach himself. Later, having founded his own company in Leigh, Lancashire, he remarked "It's only the Boss who doesn't need an apprenticeship".

His tonal ideals were greatly influenced by the organs of Edmund Schulze, especially the instrument at St. Peter, Hindley with its famous wooden strings. Pendlebury was later to attain a great reputation as a voicer of wooden string ranks. Noel Bonavia-Hunt described his 8ft. Violin as "truly remarkable" and considered that in this field he was a genius equal with Edmund Schulze. Pendlebury also amassed many testamonials from eminent organists who were impressed with his instruments.

About the run-of-the-mill organs of his day, he remarked "It isn't a change of strength or power that is required. It is a change of tonal colour." He set out to acheive this by developing a series of characteristic voices.

"In the organ built by us practically every stop on the Swell is a solo stop of very definite character, and all tonal colour is not confined to the everlasting Oboe stop. In fact there is so much diversity of character in our flue stops that in many cases we omit the oboe in our tonal schemes."

Here is how he summarised the qualities of his distinctive voices:

MAJOR BASS

A powerful stop of large scale (width & depth) and the chief foundation tone for the Pedal section of our organs. It has great dignity and depth of tone.

OPEN DIAPASON

This is the true Diapason, a full, rich, warm pervading tone. The bass end of the compass is made from wooden pipes [giving] a rich warm tone than cannot be obtained from either metal or zinc.

VIOLONE

The tone is brilliant and powerful. It has great distinctness in the Pedal section; useful in Fugal work and rapid pedal passages.

GEIGEN DIAPASON

This is our foundation tone for a large Swell organ. It is rich in the bass and brilliant when played in chords.

VIOLIN

Called Cello & Violin; a small scaled stop, it adds brilliance to the Swell organ. It is the most notable of all my creations. When played an octave lower than its unison, as a solo, it is a real "cello" in quality. It will also remain in tune in extreme temperatures.

ROHR FLUTE

This has a distinct character with its odd number of harmonic partials as clearly brought out as possible. It is louder and more refined than the metal stop of the same name. It forms a useful solo stop, the quality of tone is mid-way between an orchestral Clarinet and Flute. We used to make these stops of Oak but now prefer Mahogany.

CORNO DOLCE

The tone of this stop is a little brassy in the lower octaves and as the scale ascends changes to a smooth horn, then to a flutey quality in the treble. It is an imitation of an orchestral horn played softly. The beauty is in the changing tone colour in the scale.

WALD FLUTE

This is a variation of the Corno Dolce but is much brighter in character.

ECHO HORN

This is a special metal stop... It is different from any other metal stop known to me. And again the beauty is in the change of tonal colour as the scale ascends from a rich soft warm Horn in the bass octave, to a full flutey tone at the top of the compass.

Pendlebury also patented a tubular-pneumatic action and designed a pedalboard which he considered more comfortable than the standard radiating/concave type. He was a perfectionist, and advocated the use of the best and most cosly materials in his instruments.

Some 25 new organs or substantial rebuilds were carried out between about 1898 and 1933. After Thomas's death the firm was continued by his eldest son James, who handed it on in turn to his son Stanley. The business closed with Stanley Pendlebury's death in 1988.

As is sometimes the fate of those who do not keep to the well-trod path, Thomas Pendlebury gained little of the recognition he deserved. He appears not to have built any organs outside the counties of Lancashire, Cheshire, Cumbria and Yorkshire, and certainly nothing in London.

Within that sphere he was fortunate to have been given a fairly free rein in the design of his organs. Here is a selection of four representative stoplists, beginning with what appears to have been his largest instrument.

Leigh, Lancashire: King Street Wesleyan Church
Organ by Thomas Pendlebury 1909  III/37
 
GREAT 
    16       Double Violin Diapason        wood & metal           
     8       Major Open Diapason           wood & metal
     8       Minor Open Diapason
     8       Hohl Flöte                    wood
     8       Salicional
     4       Principal
     4       Lieblich Flute
    2 2/3    Twelfth
     2       Fifteenth
     8       Harmonic Trumpet
 
SWELL
    16       Lieblich Bourdon              wood & metal
     8       Geigen Diapason               wood & metal
     8       Corno Flute                   wood
     8       Dolce
     8       Violin                        wood throughout
     8       Violes Célestes               tc
     4       Geigen Principal              wood & metal
     2       Harmonic Piccolo
    16       Contra Fagotto
     8       Horn
     8       Oboe
             Tremulant
 
CHOIR (enclosed)
     8       Viola
     8       Rohr Flöte                    wood
     8       Aeoline
     8       Vox Angelica
     8       Voix Célestes                 tc
     4       Wald Flöte                    wood
     8       Clarinet
     8       Vox Humana
             Tremulant
 
PEDAL
    32       Acoustic Bass                 wood
    16       Major Bass                    wood
    16       Violone                       wood
    16       Bourdon                       wood
    16       Echo Bourdon                  from Swell
     8       Violoncello                   wood & metal
     8       Flute Bass                    wood
    16       Contra Fagotto                from Swell
 
Couplers:  6 unison, Great 8ve, Swell 8ve & sub8ve, Choir 8ve.
 
Double-acting combination pedals:  3 each to Great & Pedal, Swell, Choir.
Sforzando pedals to each: Great & Pedal, Swell.
Reversible pedal to Great to Pedal coupler.
Balanced pedals to Swell and Choir.
Tubular-pneumatic action throughout.
Detached stop-key console.
Compass: 58/30
 
 
 
 
Atherton, Lancashire: St. John the Baptist
Organ by Thomas Pendlebury 1903  III/27
 
GREAT
    16       Double Violin Diapason       wood & metal
     8       Open Diapason                wood & metal
     8       Rohr Flute                   wood; oak from tc up
     8       Echo Horn
     4       Geigen Principal             wood & metal
    2 2/3    Twelfth
     2       Fifteenth
     8       Harmonic Trumpet
 
SWELL
     8       Violin                       wood
     8       Violin Celeste               wood
     8       Salicional                   wood & metal
     8       Corno Dolce                  wood
     8       Lieblich Gedackt             wood
     4       Octave Violin                wood, top 8ve metal
     2       Fifteenth
     8       Cornopean
             Tremulant
 
CHOIR
             unenclosed:
     8       Open Diapason
     8       Claribel Flute               wood
     4       Wald Flute                   wood
     2       Harmonic Piccolo
             enclosed:
     8       Vox Angelica
     8       Voix Celeste tc
     8       Clarionet
     8       Vox Humana
 
PEDAL
    16       Open Diapason                42 pipes
    16       Violone                      42 pipes
    16       Bourdon                      42 pipes
 
5 unison couplers (no Choir to Great); Swell 8ve, Pedal 8ve.
Compass: 58/30.
Tubular-pneumatic action.
 
 
 
 
Leigh, Lancashire: Church of the Sacred Heart
Organ by Thomas Pendlebury 1929  II/16
 
GREAT
     8       Open Diapason 
     8       Rohr Flute
     8       Dulciana
     4       Principal
     4       Lieblich Flute
 
SWELL
    16       Lieblich Bourdon
     8       Violin Diapason
     8       Corno Dolce
     8       Salicional
     8       Voix Celeste
     4       Viol Octave
     8       Oboe
             Tremulant
 
PEDAL
    32       Sub Bourdon
    16       Violin Diapason
    16       Bourdon
     8       Bass Flute
 
3 unison couplers, Swell 8ve to Great.
Compass: 58/30.
Tubular-pneumatic action.
 
 
 
 
Richmond, Yorkshire: Queens Road Methodist
Organ by Thomas Pendlebury 1912  II/13
 
GREAT
     8       Open Diapason
     8       Salicional
     8       Rohr Flute
     8       Dulciana
     4       Flute Amabile
 
SWELL
    16       Bourdon
     8       Corno Dolce
     8       Viola da Gamba
     8       Voix Celeste
     4       Geigen Principal
     8       Trumpet
 
PEDAL
    16       Bourdon
     8       Bass Flute
 
3 unison couplers.
Compass: 58/30.
Mechanical action to manuals, tubular-pneumatic to pedals.

SOURCES:
The main source for Pendlebury's life and work is 'Thomas Pendlebury - a Lancashire craftsman' by Bryan Hughes; ISBN 1 873 888 55 4, published in 1993 by Owl Books, PO Box 60, Wigan WN1 2QB.
Noel Bonavia-Hunt gave technical details of Pendlebury's 'violin' in 'Modern Organ Stops', London 1923.

The stoplists come from the following sources:

King Street Wesleyan, Leigh: 'The Organ' quarterly, January 1930.
St. John the Baptist, Atherton: Bryan Hughes' book (above).
Sacred Heart Church, Leigh: Drane notebooks n.d.
Queens Road Methodist, Richmond: Drane notebooks n.d.