Abbey, John(bWhilton, Northants.,22 Dec 1785;dVersailles,19 Feb 1859).Englishorgan builder. The son of a local joiner, he first learnt his fathers trade. Against family opinion he was apprenticed while still in his youth to the organ builder James Davis and later joined in partnership with Hugh Russell. Abbey became acquainted with Sbastian Erard in London and went to France to build an organ for the 1827 Industrial Exhibition at the Louvre, which was later moved to the Paris Conservatoire (before 1864). Settling first in Paris, and later in Versailles, he received a royal commission to build an organ for the chapel of the Lgion dHonneur at St Denis and another for the chapel of the Palais des Tuileries (1827), which was badly damaged during the 1830 Revolution. In 1831 with Meyerbeers protection Abbey was employed to build the organ of the Paris Opra (destroyed by fire, 1873). These instruments were the first in France to be fitted with free reeds, a Venetian swell, inverted-rib bellows (invented by the clock maker Cumming) and composition pedals.Another innovation was Abbeys small organ built in the chancel of St Etienne-du-Mont, Paris (1829), which initiated the French tradition of the orgues du choeur for accompaniment purposes, as opposed to the larger instruments to be found in west-end galleries. Such innovations, together with Abbeys reputation for fine craftsmanship and voicing, quickly established a fame overshadowed only by Cavaill-Coll, with whom he competed unsuccessfully for the building of the new organ at St Denis (1833).Abbey built large new gallery organs for the cathedrals at Amiens (1833), Tulle (the 1839 Exhibition organ for which he won first prize), Bayeux (1843), La Rochelle, Rennes, Viviers and Chlons-sur-Marne (the last two survive in their original form), and restored those of the cathedrals at Mende (18359), Reims (c1845), Evreux (destroyed 1944), Moulins and Nevers (later superseded). Other restorations include those at St Etienne-du-Mont, St Philippe-du-Roule (1834) and Notre Dame de lAssomption in Paris and the parish church of Sedan. He established smaller, one- or two-manual gallery or chancel organs in churches, chapels and convents throughout France, notably at Versailles Cathedral (1837, chancel organ), Versailles Hospital chapel, Houdan (chancel organ), Neauphle-le-Chteau (1845), Jouyen-Josas and in Paris at St Nicolas-des-Champs, Ste Elisabeth, St Thomas dAquin and St Mdard (chancel organs). He also developed a trade in chamber-organs and exported small-scale instruments as far as Chile. He was competent as a teacher and many builders were trained by him and followed his principles.After Abbeys death, the business was successfully continued by his two sons, Edwin (184095) and John-Albert (18431930) and his grandson John-Marie (18861931), after whose death after the firm closed down in 1935.BIBLIOGRAPHYBicknellHJ.W.Hinton:Organ Construction(London,1900, 3/1910/R)W.L.Sumner:John Abbey: Organ Builder,The Organ, xxix (194950), 1227W.L.Sumner:The Organ: its Evolution, Principles of Construction and Use(London,1952, rev., enlarged 4/1973/R)J.-A.Villard:John Abbey, facteur dorgues en France,Bulletin de lAssociation Franois-Henri Clicquot, no.13 (1986), 1624; nos.1617 (1989), 1743; Eng. trans. inJBIOS, x (1986), 719; xii (1988), 2030W.H. HUSK/MARC LEROY/STEPHEN BICKNELL