William Christmas Mack (13 October 1818 - 9 May 1903) was an English pipe organ maker and refurbisher in Great Yarmouth, who established his practice in 1854. Most Mack organs are located in Norfolk, and, to a lesser extent, elsewhere in East Anglia.
Mack was born in Elsing in 1818, [1] the son of Robert Mack and his wife Lydia (née Christmas), and baptised in the Wesleyan Methodist church in Reepham. [2]
He was distantly related to the benefactor Cornelius Harley Christmas, [3] who established the Christmas Charity, which still exists in the form of the Great Yarmouth Relief Needs Trust. [4]
Early in life Mack (who had been baptised in the Wesleyan Methodist church) played the double bass in the small orchestra that led the singing in the chapel at Lyng; [5] this was in the days before widespread use of organs in churches and, before even then, harmoniums. [6]
On reaching adulthood, Mack moved to Yarmouth and briefly entered into business with an organ builder, Samuel Street, before setting up on his own account. [7] [8]
For over 50 years he was the weekly tuner of the great organ at St Nicholas's Church, Great Yarmouth; the church also had a small organ built by Mack. [9] The great organ was destroyed during the extensive wartime damage to the church. [10] The National Pipe Organ Register makes no reference to the Mack instrument.
As late as 1899 he was still listed as an organ builder in the Yarmouth directories. [11] One of his last instruments, at All Saints, Catfield, also dates from 1899. [12]
On his death, Mack's business of organ-building and pianoforte tuning was briefly carried on by his grandson, Samuel Robert St Quintin, at the same premises at 10 Blackfriars' Road. [13] However, this did not appear to thrive, as there is no entry for St Quintin in the NPOR.
Mack's obituary in the Eastern Daily Press refers to him rebuilding the organ in Wymondham Parish Church in 1871; [14] However, the NPOR attributes this rebuild to T.C. Lewis. [15]
Church appointments included organist at St Mary's Church, Southtown, and St Andrew's Church, Gorleston, and choirmaster at Regent Road Free Methodist Church. [16]
The only organs outside East Anglia were one in Kent and one in Australia.
Mack was a volunteer in the 1st Norfolk Artillery Volunteers. [79]
Mack was married twice: first in 1842 to Elizabeth Wright, who died in 1866, and secondly in 1870 to Mary Jane Cole, who died in 1882. There were four children of the first marriage, but none of the second. One of his sons, another William Christmas Mack, was an organ builder and worked with Mack, but he died in 1869 at the age of 19. [80]
Mack died in 1903, aged 85, from senile decay (old age). [81] [82]