In 1882, Harrison & Harrison of Durham installed a fine 22 stop three manual instrument in the Church, at a cost of £384 and this remained in use until 1998. For reasons associated with a renovation scheme in the late 1990s, including the poor structural condition and subsequent demolition of a rear annex which housed the organ chamber, the instrument was disposed of, whilst some of the pipework was utilised in other pipe organs in York and in Ripon. 

Francis Jackson

The last organist to play the instrument was Dr Francis Jackson OBE, FRCO, the composer and for 36 years, former organist and director of music at York Minster. Now more than 100 and still living close to Malton in East Acklam, Dr Jackson wrote on 18 March 1998 to the then minister in Malton, the late Revd Mike Smith:

“There is, I am sure, no need for me to put the point that the Malton instrument remains a very valuable example of a Victorian organ, completely untouched and still in its original condition, or that such instruments are to cherished and conserved.”

Appeals

Regrettably, this and other appeals were not heeded, and the organ was ultimately removed and broken up – a loss which has been keenly felt ever since. The historic pipe organ was replaced with a digital instrument in 1999.  The display pipes shown in the picture are all that remain of the Harrison & Harrison organ.

The 1882 Harrison & Harrison instrument had replaced a smaller organ installed in the Church during 1851, and this was later sold to an Anglican Church in Wakefield.  There are no other records of this first instrument in either the Malton Methodist Church archives, or the National Pipe Organ Register.