Hood of the Month

Fellow of the Royal College of Organists

The Royal College of Organists was founded in 1864, and gained its Royal Charter in 1893. The original FRCO hood, in a sober brown lined with light blue silk, was of the Wales simple shape but with the point of the liripipe rounded off. This design, shared by King’s College, London, obtained until 1971. The current spectacular example of red rose damask lined with triple-shot silk (yellow, orange and pale blue) is well matched to what is frequently acknowledged as one of the most exacting of all performance diplomas. We owe its design to the late Dr Francis Jackson, Hon. FBS, Organist of York Minster, and his wife Priscilla, who, at the centenary of the College, persuaded its Council to ‘try something else’. The shot silk, used for the Music faculty of the University of Wales, has been described as ‘maize’ and ‘oyster’, but it is now generally known as ‘pearl’.

In the late 1990s, the shape of the FRCO was slightly revised by John Birch and Rev. Philip Goff. This increased the visual strength of the liripipe, and resulted in a hybrid between the London full shape [f3] and the Durham BSc [f7].

Andrew Plant, FBS

Photographs by Chris Williams FBS courtesy of Burgon Society Archive.

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