Dr Stanley Monkhouse, FRCO, FRCSI - RIP

[Martin Cooke]

On 16/09/2023 at 07:43, Martin Cooke said:

And what a delightful little piece the Madsen is - so fresh and 'different.'

In case you are interested, here is a performance of it. It's only available in a set of three volumes of (all era) Danish organ music priced at about £173 - (1500kr). Yikes! 

[SomeChap]

Among his extraordinarily diverse achievements, was Fr/Dr Monkhouse involved in the 2009-ish transplant of the big 2-man Conacher into St Paul's Burton-on-Trent?  I'm not familiar (just had a look on NPOR) but it looks prima facie like a really sensible transplant?  (And not one, but two Bodley cases for the Beautiful English Organs thread, if I can find good enough photos!)

[Colin Pykett]

27 minutes ago, SomeChap said:

 ... was Fr/Dr Monkhouse involved in the 2009-ish transplant of the big 2-man Conacher into St Paul's Burton-on-Trent? ...

I may be wrong, but suspect he was not.  I think his tenure as vicar did not begin until 2014.

[Rowland Wateridge]

4 hours ago, SomeChap said:

And not one, but two Bodley cases for the Beautiful English Organs thread, if I can find good enough photos!

There’s an excellent photograph of the St Paul’s case (and a brief history) here:

https://www.theburtonthree.com/st-pauls-church/

 

[Colin Pykett]

1 hour ago, Rowland Wateridge said:

There’s an excellent photograph of the St Paul’s case (and a brief history) here:

https://www.theburtonthree.com/st-pauls-church/

 

Speaking of photographs, there's a picture of the former Hope-Jones console at St Paul's, Burton in one of my web articles.  If you go to:

http://www.colinpykett.org.uk/HJOrganActions.htm

and then download the PDF version of the article (it's far too long to have put it on the website itself), you can see it on page 51.  This is the actual console which still exists, not just a copy of an old photo.  The console is now preserved by the Lancastrian Theatre Organ Trust in their Hope-Jones museum at Manchester.  The museum also houses the similar-sized Hope-Jones/Norman & Beard console from St Modwen's, Burton.  Equally fascinating but quite different.  When Stanley and I were conversing about them he said that he was intending to go there and have a (silent!) play on them!  I don't know for sure whether he did, though.

For those with the interest there's also a lot of technical detail about the actions of these organs elsewhere in this article which you can find by searching for 'St Paul's' or 'St Modwen's'.

Forgive me for what might appear to be grandstanding or self-promotion.  This is absolutely not my intention, but as this thread is still obviously very much alive, I thought it might be of interest.

[SomeChap]

Absolutely of interest thank you!  Though I think I'd have struggled with the Hope-Jones organ, 

2 hours ago, Rowland Wateridge said:

There’s an excellent photograph of the St Paul’s case (and a brief history) here:

https://www.theburtonthree.com/st-pauls-church/

 

Thank you that's a good pointer!  I seem to be struggling to find a good one of the Chancel case, which is also nice, if less demonstrative than the transept case (which i assume is now empty since it was built to house the Hope-Jones Solo Organ).

[SomeChap]

39 minutes ago, Colin Pykett said:

Forgive me for what might appear to be grandstanding or self-promotion.  This is absolutely not my intention, but as this thread is still obviously very much alive, I thought it might be of interest.

Absolutely of interest, don't worry!  It's a shame the Mander forum doesn't have 'thumbs up' type responses; I find them really useful on other fora as feedback so that you know whether what you're saying is of value to people.

I hope and trust that our late friend would have approved of, or at least tolerated, us wondering off at a tangent on his thread ...

[Rowland Wateridge]

25 minutes ago, SomeChap said:

I hope and trust that our late friend would have approved of, or at least tolerated, us wondering off at a tangent on his thread ...

I’m sure he would.  Here’s a photograph of St Modwen’s case, from the same source as St Paul’s.  I strongly suspect that Stanley was responsible for both descriptions.  Incidentally, as you say, it must be quite exceptional for an organist/ vicar to have two organs with cases of this quality.

https://www.theburtonthree.com/st-modwens-church/

It’s clear that Stanley had a special affection for St Paul’s; he used to refer to St Modwen’s as “the Civic Church”, and I remember some trenchant comments about the civic dignitaries.  There was/ is an organ recital series at St Modwen’s and I recall that Stanley was scheduled to play in it, but that fell victim to Covid ‘lockdown’.

This thread, with an astonishing 2,200+ ‘views’, surely contradicts all the pessimism on the other latest thread and thoughts of closing down.  I have asked myself why this exceptional interest, and have concluded that it can only be recognition of an exceptional person.
 

 

[Rowland Wateridge]

I’m not sure whether we have mentioned that Stanley was also an author, five books published, I believe, his magnum opus being “Cranial Nerves: Functional Anatomy”.  Also “Master Medicine: Clinical Anatomy”.   Interesting to note that these are currently advertised for sale in USA.

I chanced on this when searching for something quite different, and Waterstone’s supplied this further potted professional biography:  

One time examiner at Royal Colleges of Surgeons of England, Ireland; Universities of Nottingham, Leeds, Newcastle upon Tyne, London, Belfast, Dublin (Trinity College), National University of Ireland, King AbdulAziz University (Jeddah, Saudi Arabia), Amman (Jordan), King Faisal University (Dammam, Saudi Arabia).

On top of what we already knew, what a remarkable man!

[Colin Pykett]

There's an essay on Stanley's blog about his experiences at some of his examining/lecturing visits to Middle East universities:

https://ramblingrector.me/2021/07/27/smells-and-middle-east-memories/

[Rowland Wateridge]

I think I have tracked down Stanley’s final recital at St Modwen’s (what I was looking for when I chanced on the anatomy books).   Details to follow, possibly another day, when transcribed.

[Rowland Wateridge]

Details of the Memorial Service in Ireland for Stanley have been announced.  This is to be held at St. Ann's Church, Dawson Street, Dublin 2 on Thursday, November 9th at 7:30 pm.

[Rowland Wateridge]

Details provided by Stanley’s son Ed of the memorial service tomorrow, 7.30 pm at St Ann’s Church, Dawson Street, Dublin 2.  

https://ramblingrector.me/2023/11/07/dublin-memorial-service-for-stan/

I’m sure that those of us unable to be there will have our memories of Stanley.

[Rowland Wateridge]

Following on the memorial service, as promised earlier, details of Stanley’s final public recital at St Modwen’s, Burton on Trent on 25th September 2019 in the month preceding his retirement, provided courtesy of the Lichfield and District Organists’ Association.

This was his varied and challenging programme:

John Rutter:             Toccata in Seven

A Lefébure-Wély:     Pastorale

                                  Élévation ou Communion

                                  Boléro de Concert

J S Bach:                  Toccata, Adagio and Fugue in C major (BWV 564)

Michael Festing (arr. G Thalben-Ball):  “Suite”

Georgi Mushel:         Toccata (Uzbekistan Suite)

Charles-Marie Widor:   Symphonie 2: Finale

The LDOA report includes a characteristic Stanley comment about the Bach, “seems rather more difficult than when I learnt it at the age of 16/17!”  The report concludes that “with the four toccatas Stanley was certainly not going to ‘go out’ with a whimper!”.

[Rowland Wateridge]

A lengthy report of the Memorial Service and eulogies for Stanley in Dublin last week on 9th November:

https://ramblingrector.me/2023/11/14/notes-from-a-memorial/

What a remarkable account of a most remarkable man.  This thread now exceeds 2,900 ‘views’.  

His final resting place is in Ireland.  May he rest in peace and his memory long endure.

[Colin Pykett]

An article has recently been published in The Organ entitled 'Henry Hackett FRCO (1872-1940) - Organist & Composer' by Nigel Hackett, Henry's grandson.  It includes details of Mr Hackett's time as sometime organist of St Modwen's, Burton on Trent, which is one of the three Burton churches of which the late Stanley Monkhouse was priest in recent years.