A Brief Account of George Hele (1836 - 1919). Organist, Schoolmaster & Organ Builder, and of the Organ Building Firm of Hele & Co. by Paul Joslin George Hele, the founder of the organ-building firm, was born in 1836 to Thomas Hele, a Master Mason and Honour Hele (nee Cundy) at East Stonehouse, Plymouth. Other members of his family who also became organists were Thomas Hele (junior), born 6th February 1843, and John Hele, born 2nd May 1846. Details of George Hele's early education and musical training are still obscure, but his first organ appointment was at St Aubyn's Proprietary Chapel, Devonport, in February 1855. The terms of his contract with the trustees are significant. It stated:- "I hereby undertake to keep the organ in proper tune during the time I officiate as organist of St Aubyn Chapel and also agree to play the organ during the services on Sundays, twice On Christmas Day and twice on Good Friday, and to take the rent and profit of the pews appointed for the payment of the organist as a remuneration for my services including eight pews used by the troops at £1 per each (sic) year, and I hereby agree to hold the situation of organist only during the pleasure of the Trustees and Proprietors of said chapel and not to make application to the Bishop of the Diocese for a licence as organist of the said chapel." The important fact to emerge from this document is that George Hele was responsible for the maintenance of the chapel organ. There is no mention in the accounts of separate tuner. Some of the trustees, though, were not satisfied with the election of George Hele and by February 1856 he had moved on to St Paul's, Cheltenham, the only appointment he took outside Devon and Cornwall.

In January 1858 he was appointed organist of St Michael's, Stoke. Here again, during the brief tenure of the post till 1860 there is no mention of an organ tuner. When George Hele married Mary Anne Calvert of Berwick-upon-Tweed on 12th June 1859 at Stoke Damerel Registry Office, they were listed as Schoolmaster and Schoolmistress respectively. Their first son George (d. 1919) was born three months later on 6th September, and in 1860 they returned to George Hele's birthplace where he became organist at St Mary's Church, Plympton. Between 1861 and 1863 his career developed as a conductor of choral societies, accompanist and concert organiser, with Brent Choral Society, Plympton Choral Society and the Plympton, Devonport and Stonehouse Choral Association. On 25th February 1863 the latter performed Handel's Messiah and on the 26th Haydn's Creation, both with orchestra and George Hele at the organ. There is no evidence that Hele commenced any independent organ-building activities during his first 27 years in the Plymouth area. In 1863 Hele moved to Truro to become Organist and Choirmaster at St Mary's Church. Initially he set up a private practice teaching organ, piano, harmonium and singing. In the ten years between his appointment and the decease of his predecessor, Dr C W Hemple (1777-1853), choral music had not existed in Truro outside the Church. George Hele had a circular printed for the purpose of establishing an Oratorio Society. This he rehearsed from November 1863 for a performance of Handel's Messiah, which was given on 19th April 1864. George Hele's impact in raising the standard of choral music was soon recognised. it was reported on 26th August 1864 that the "talented and energetic organist of St Mary's Truro, under whose conduct the choral services have undergone such marked improvement, is about to be recognised in a substantial manner by the parishioners, many of whom have already subscribed to an annual fund as an addition to his present inadequate salary".  It is not clear how or why George Hele began to build organs. In a directory for Cornwall in 1862 there are no organ builders listed for Truro. Hele's first business was run from a warehouse in St Nicholas Street selling second-hand pianos, harmoniums and organs. These premises were rented from St Mary's Church. The sale of organs from a general music store was not unique in the 1860's and 1870's. Novello & Co, Poultry, London EC were advertising a CC organ for sale in The Musical Times, May 1866: cash price £100. In 1874 Heard & Sons of Truro (printers and publishers) advertised instruments called "Chancel Organs . . . Organs for churches or private houses" at 45 guineas and 65 guineas, in their own publication, "The Church in Truro" In the edition of The Choir dated October 1913 it is stated that "his (Hele's) first organ was built for St Paul's Church, Truro in 1866". The first organ to have been (so far) attributed authentically to Hele is that in Devoran Wesleyan Methodist Church. This instrument originally consisted of a single manual and a short-compass pedal division of one octave. Hele opened the organ on 12th and 23rd June 1865, "presiding at the instrument" in a concert of choral and organ music with a "choir of Ladies and Gentlemen from Truro" who contributed choruses from Handel's Messiah, Mendelssohn's St. Paul and Haydn's Creation. The organ solos were all arrangements: the Largo from Symphony No 2 (Hadyn) [sic], Cujus Animum from Rossini's Stabat Mater and Grand March - Eli Costa. It was further rebuilt by Hele & Co in 1902 as a 2-manual with 56/30 compass and a new case, retaining almost all the original pipework on the Great. Devoran Wesleyan Methodist Chapel - pre 1900 (from George Hele's notebook) Hele did not restrict his organ playing to opening recitals of his own instruments. In 1866 he gave a recital on the restored and revoiced organ by Fey at Morice Street Wesleyan Chapel, Plymouth, playing works by Mendelssohn, Haydn and Handel. Contracts in 1867 included new organs for St George's Truro and St Paul's Devonport. In 1868 the important post of Organist and Choirmaster at St Andrew's Church Plymouth became vacant. Together with forty other people he applied for the post, but was not short-listed. The person appointed was Graham Clarke, the immediate predecessor to (Dr) Harry Moreton. (The Churchwardens approached S S Wesley to find if he was interested in the post: a curt letter ensued from Palace Gate, Gloucester, to point out that the £80 offered for both organist and choirmaster was much lower than the salary of £200 at Leeds Parish Church for the organist and £120 for the choirmaster's position.)  In 1869 the Truro Oratorio Society presented an 18 carat gold pocket watch "in recognition of his valuable service as their conductor." (The watch is still (in 1995) in perfect working order and owned by a descendant in the Plymouth area who, as a young boy, knew George Hele.)  It is not absolutely certain when Hele returned to Plymouth. Initially in 1872 he lived with his brother Thomas at 5 Constantine Street, later moving to number 14. It was in contemporary advertisements that the business was first called Hele & Co. Their first premises were at Flora Street, Plymouth, "near the railway arch". Hele gained a recommendation from Hill & Son which he was proud to mention in a printed leaflet dated 1872. In the same advertisement he was offering solo stops voiced by English and Continental voicers. By 1875 the business had expanded and moved into larger premises at Central Hall, Union Street.