2004-10-30/2019-09-09 - From the OHS PC Database, derived from A Guide to North American Organbuilders by David H. Fox (Organ Historical Society, 1991). - British firm; established American subsidiary named J. W. Walker & Sons Ltd. of North America in Worcester, Massachusetts, 1986. Staff: George Gilliam; Thomas A. Rosiello. Source: The American Organist Octobeer 1986, 47.
2018-12-18/2019-02-11 - From Organ Database Builders editor Stephen Hall, June 2, 2018. - J. W. Walker & Sons Ltd is a British firm of organ builders established in 1828 by Joseph William Walker in London. J.W. Walker was an apprentice to George Pike England of London. He established his own business in Soho, London, moving later to Francis Street, Tottenham Court Road. Following his death, the firm was continued by his only surviving son, John James Walker. The Walker family continued to manage the firm until the death of Reginald Walker, grandson of Joseph William. In 1975 the Firm was reorganized under management of Robert Pennells, a previous employee, who removed it from London to a new facility and revived the companywith the production of new mechanical action instruments. He was joined by his son, Andrew Pennells, who had been apprenticed to Klais Orgelbau in Bonn, Germany. Andrew Pennells died young in 1999. After the retirement of Robert Pennells, Sebastian Meakin, who had been a Walker apprentice and had also had training in Germany, assumed leadership of the firm in 2005. Since 2005 Walker have retained facilities in Brandon, Suffolk and in Devizes, Wiltshire. The firm has exported at least a dozen organs to the United States,1 including a four manual, mechanical key-action instrument of 70 ranks (57 stops) in St. Mark's Episcopal Church, Grand Rapids, Michigan (OHS Database ID 23248). 2 Sources: J. W. Walker & Sons, accessed June 2, 2018. walkerorgans.com. OHS Pipe Organ Database, Organ ID 23248, https://www.pipeorgandatabase.org/OrganDetails.php?OrganID=23248.
Regrettably, it is not possible to display the information about the sponsor of this pipeorgandatabase entry or if there is a sponsor. Please see About Sponsors on Pipe Organ Database.