A PIONEER organ builder has been commemorated with a plaque at his former home a year after hopes of English Heritage installing one were dashed by funding cuts.

The green plaque to John Compton was unveiled by his granddaughter Suzy Perkins in Audley Road, Ealing.

It was followed by talks on his life and work by another granddaughter Anita Compton and organ experts as well as a recital on the Compton organ in the nearby Church of the Ascension by renowned musician Richard Hills.

John Compton was the founder of the Compton Organ Company which had a factory in Chase Road, Park Royal, that built the instruments for cinemas, churches and some cathedrals.

His most famous organ is the five keyboard instrument in the Odeon cinema in Leicester Square which rises from the ground.

Kelvin Meredith, of the Acton History Society, said: "He was an amazing, innovative guy. His company was one of the first to use electricity to transfer the message from key to pipe."

One of his prototype electronic organs built in 1947 is still in place in the Church of Ascension in Beaufort Road and is the only one of its type in the world that can still be played.

The John Compton Organ Company was established in 1920 to build, repair and tune traditional church organs but it is perhaps best known for the 270 cinema organs built during the 1920s and 30s. The company closed in 1964 shortly after John Compton’s death.

The ceremony on Monday (20) comes nearly 10 years after Ealing Civic Society applied to English Heritage for a blue plaque at his former home. It had almost reached the top of the list when the organisation suspended the scheme at the beginning of the year.

Robert Gurd and Mike Tiley of the Ealing Civic Society and Mr Meredith of the Acton History Society did not give up. Ealing Council provided the £600 funding and Ealing Civic Society were able to see one of their own green plaques honour John Compton instead.

The ceremony was attended by several members of the Compton family and deputy mayor Tej Bagha.

Dr Gurd said: “It took a long time but we’re really pleased.”

Compton organs in the borough:

Church of All Hallows, Greenford, the only Compton pipe organ in the borough. It started life in 1923 in the Hippodrome, Woolwich.

Church of Ascension, Ealing, an Electrone 347 built in 1947 and the only playable of its kind in the world.

Forum cinema which used to be opposite Ealing Town Hall, Ealing Broadway, the 1934 organ is now in the chapel of Wormwood Scrubs prison, Shepherd’s Bush and played regularly.

The Lido (previously the Kinema, West Ealing, demolished in 2001). It was built in 1928 and now believed to be in private hands.

The Savoy, East Acton (demolished in 1996) built in 1931 and now thought to have been scrapped.

St Benedict’s Priory, Ealing (now Ealing Abbey) built in 1935 and destroyed in the Blitz in 1940.

St Gabriel’s, North Acton, installed in the later 1960s.