We had all logically (but wrongly) assumed that our broken pipe-organ was original to our Grade II* chapel , designed by J.F. Bentley, the architect of Westminster Cathedral.

In late 2025 however, we uncovered it's almost unbelievable provenance. The organ, built by the Flemish organ builder Hippolyte Loret, had been installed c.1861 in the vast Chapelle des Saints-Anges in Paris.

This chapel had been built by The Society of the Sacred Heart on their international headquarters site bounded by the Rue de Varenne to the north and Boulevard des Invalides to the West.

An unpublished letter from Hippolyte Loret to a Jesuit father describes various special features he had included in the organ's construction.

In the early 1900s, the bitter hostility to religion of the French government led to the threat that the government would seize the property and assets of 'teaching' congregations. One of the largest teaching congregations at that time was the Society of the Sacred Heart with foundations right across France.

Knowing that their eviction was ultimately inevitable, the sisters hatched an audacious plan to quickly strip their buildings bare and ship as much of their possessions overseas as possible. They wrenched altars from chapel walls to save them, together with chapel stalls, stained glass windows, statues and paintings. The sisters used delaying tactics to avoid granting access to the authorities

Determined to save the Loret organ at their headquarters site, the sisters dismantled it and squirreled it across the Channel in 1904.  Archival records relating to our school include a journal. The entry on 5 February 1904 includes: 'We are being enriched from our persecuted French Houses...a clock and the organ...are received with mingled feelings of gratitude and regret.' We have since discovered other significant items here saved from France.

As the sisters had feared, their headquarters site in Paris was indeed seized by French authorities but by then the organ was safe here. Today their site in Paris is occupied by the Musée Rodin and a secular school. The vast Chapelle des Saints-Anges and two other chapels on the site have been desecrated.

Our organ is lucky to have survived. It is in need of significant restoration and the electrics and pump are also in need of repair. The project requires the organ to be dismantled and removed for a period before reinstallation in the chapel. Following a tender process, the Mander Organ Builders are being appointed to carry out the work.

The organ is likely to be disassembled and removed to Manders workshop in November 2026 and we hope to see it back by late summer 2027.

The school is incredibly excited at the prospect of being able to share the wonder of this very rare instrument with the public, through concerts and recitals. We are also of course also thrilled at the prospect of re-introducing organ lessons and organ music to daily school life.