McDonogh School

Tagart Memorial Chapel

Links to Carillon Inventories
GCNA	Tower Bells	Bok Tower Gardens

German H. Hunt donated a 10-bell McShane chime in memory of his son who died in 1873 at the age of six. The chime was installed in the new Tagart Memorial Chapel in 1898.

William Lyon-Vaiden joined the school in 1971 as a German teacjer and was delighted to find the school's 10-bell chime, as he had learned to play a much larger carillon while a student at the University of the South. In 1976 he spoke with school trustee H. Beale Rollins about bells and mentioned that a carillon would be a valuable addition to the school. Rollins asked what it would cost and Lyon-Vaiden said he would find out. He read a 1975 article in the GCNA Bulletin about a carillon at St. Thomas' School in Whitemarsh, Pennsylvania that had also replaced a 10-bell McShane chime with a carillon. Lyon-Vaiden did a through investigation and gathered support from fellow carillonneurs in addition to selling the donor on the idea.

The result was the installation of a 48-bell Petit & Fritsen carillon that was dedicated on October 20, 1978 with recitals by Frank Della Pena and Lyon-Vaiden.

The carillon was donated by H. Beale Rollins and his wife, Mary E. Rollins, in memory of their parents, Clarence L. and Lillian Dashiel Rollins, and Wilton B. and Bessie Lee Weston.

References
1898 "Tagart Memorial Chapel," The Baltimore Sun, February 19, 1898, Page 12.
In the belfry will be placed a chime of ten bells, a gift of Mr. German H. Hunt to commemorate his only son, who was named for him and died in 1873 at the age of six years. In the language of the donor the gift will be "to a boys' school In memory of a boy." It is the intention of Mr. Hunt to have the bells so arranged that the boys may be taught the use of the chimes, and so receive practical benefit from his gift.

1898 "McDonogh School Chime," The Baltimore Sun, October 24, 1898, Page 7.
The chime of ten bells made for the Tagart Memorial Chapel of the McDonogh School, in Baltimore county, have been placed In position. The bells, which weigh, altogether, 12,000 pounds, were made by the Henry McShane Manufacturing Company, and are the gift of Mr. German H. Hunt.

1978 "McDonogh Carillon Dedicated," The Baltimore Sun, October 21, 1978, Page 20.

1981 "The Carillon at McDonogh School," by William Lyon-Vaiden, Bulletin of the Guild of Carillonneurs in North America 30:21-26 (1981)

2004 "$20 million worth of gratitude to McDonogh," The Baltimore Sun, February 6, 2004.