Charles Spackman Barker was an English

English people

The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...

 inventor and organ

Organ (music)

The organ , is a keyboard instrument of one or more divisions, each played with its own keyboard operated either with the hands or with the feet. The organ is a relatively old musical instrument in the Western musical tradition, dating from the time of Ctesibius of Alexandria who is credited with...

 builder.

Barker was born in January 1804 in Walcot

Walcot

Walcot may refer to:* Walcot, Shropshire, a small village in the county of Shropshire, England* Walcot, Bath, a suburb of the city of Bath, England* Walcot, North Kesteven in Lincolnshire* Walcot, Lydbury North in Shropshire...

, Somerset

Somerset

The ceremonial and non-metropolitan county of Somerset in South West England borders Bristol and Gloucestershire to the north, Wiltshire to the east, Dorset to the south-east, and Devon to the south-west. It is partly bounded to the north and west by the Bristol Channel and the estuary of the...

. He went to France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 in 1837 where he met Aristide Cavaillé-Coll

Aristide Cavaillé-Coll

Aristide Cavaillé-Coll was a French organ builder. He is considered by many to be the greatest organ builder of the 19th century because he combined both science and art to make his instruments...

 who was working on the organ at the Basilica of St Denis, near Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

.

He exhibited work at Great Exhibition in 1851, and went on to pioneer the use of electricity in organs. Henry Bryceson

Henry Bryceson

Henry Bryceson was a pioneer of electric action in England during the 1860s.Henry was born in PerthHenry Bryceson founded a firm variously known as Bryceson Brothers, Bryceson and Bryceson, and Bryceson and Son in 1796. The firm produced both barrel organs and pipe organs. An example of his work...

 made organs to his patent under license in England.

He received the Legion of Honour in 1855 but was expelled from France in 1870 owing to the expulsion of aliens consequent to the Franco-Prussian War

Franco-Prussian War

The Franco-Prussian War or Franco-German War, often referred to in France as the 1870 War was a conflict between the Second French Empire and the Kingdom of Prussia. Prussia was aided by the North German Confederation, of which it was a member, and the South German states of Baden, Württemberg and...

.
He died in Maidstone

Maidstone

Maidstone is the county town of Kent, England, south-east of London. The River Medway runs through the centre of the town linking Maidstone to Rochester and the Thames Estuary. Historically, the river was a source and route for much of the town's trade. Maidstone was the centre of the agricultural...

, Kent

Kent

Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...

on 26 November 1879.