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The Piano-Industry Workforce in Mid-Victorian England: a Study of the 1881 Census

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2020

Marie Kent*
Affiliation:
Sir John Cass Faculty of Art, Architecture & Design, London Metropolitan University, London, UK

Abstract

The identification of nearly 6,500 members of the piano industry in the 1881 census of England presents the first ‘snapshot’ of the English workforce of any period in its history. Traditionally, research has focused on high-profile makers whose workmanship survives, but many hundreds of workers, and a far greater body of intellect – and more diverse body of labour – were involved in advancing the piano than that which is suggested by a small number of luminaries working in the capital. Yet hitherto, with few exceptions, this wider body of workers has remained anonymous. Without company documents or extant instruments to mark their contribution, the identity of the majority of the workforce might only be known through the census. Nearly 6,500 men, women and children worked in approximately 400 piano-related occupations across 42 English counties, the majority based in London. But these figures tell only part of the story. A more complex interpretation may be drawn from secondary information not immediately apparent from the data. The social standing, entrepreneurial spirit, family history, success and hardship of the workforce may all be appraised via the census, and their individual and collective careers provide a surprising insight into the piano-making industry in mid-Victorian England.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © 2015 The Royal Musical Association

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References

1 Ancestry website: www.ancestry.co.uk [Ancestry hereafter].

2 The next census of England to allow a search by occupation is that of 1911.

3 Cyril Ehrlich, The Piano: A History (London, 1976; rev. edn, 1990; repr. 1996), 157.

4 For a list of those who stated the size of their workforce on their census return, see Appendix 1.

5 See John H. Campell (36), born c.1845, Scotland, living at 68 Lupus Street, St George, Hanover Square (1881 census).

6 Ehrlich, The Piano, 157.

7 St Pancras returned a population of 236,258 residents in 1881. See Andrew August, Poor Women's Lives: Gender, Work and Poverty in Late-Victorian London (Madison, NJ, 1999), 144.

8 Ehrlich, The Piano, 144.

9 ‘An English Piano Factory’ in The Derby Mercury, 9 September 1874.

10 For Brinsmead's assessment of the work's capacity (which was probably exaggerated for the press) see The Pall Mall Gazette (18 March 1876). For Ehrlich's estimation of their output, see Ehrlich, The Piano, 144. In 1898, Thomas James Brinsmead stated that the company kept ‘over 200 hands’ and manufactured ‘50 pianos a week’ (Old Bailey Proceedings online at www.oldbaileyonline.org [OB hereafter] ref: t18980425-335).

11 For output, see Ehrlich, The Piano, 144. The design of the ‘Top Tuner’ was intended to stabilize tuning by using machine-threaded, vertical tuning pins set in the top of the cast-iron frame. Alastair Laurence, Five London Piano Makers (London, 2010), 22–3.

12 Ehrlich, The Piano, 144.

13 For the size of the Chappell workforce, see Thomas J. Mugridge (53), born c.1828, Ashburton, Devon (1881 census). For annual production figures, see Ehrlich, The Piano, 144. With regard to the firm of Muggeridge & Ulph, a timber merchant recalled that: ‘Their factory was in Belmont Street, Chalk Farm, and I understood the whole output was absorbed by Messrs. Chappell of Bond Street. Eventually the business was taken over by Chappell's, and I believe the Muggeridge & Ulph site still forms part of the existing Chappell building.’ Louis Bamberger, ‘Memories of the Past’ in The Pianomaker [PM hereafter] (London: July 1928), 175.

14 Ehrlich, The Piano, 144.

15 For estimated output, see Ibid., 144. For size of workforce, see William S. Collard (38), born c.1843, Tottenham Court Road, Middlesex (1881 census). This figure had not changed in ten years. See evidence of George Griffiths, manager at Collard & Collard, at the trial of George Dawe and Edward Wallace Bishop, 4 April 1870 (OB t18700404-351).

16 Laurence, Five London Piano Makers, 59.

17 Ibid., 61.

18 Elizabeth Brown (63), born c.1818, Devon (1881 census). Jeff Prett, Steinway technician, suggests that ‘back covering’ involved dressing the back of an upright piano with a cloth-covered panel. Private communication, May 2007.

19 For more details of Collard's ‘celeste’ muting strip, see Laurence, Five London Piano Makers, 63.

20 Henry Ward later built an adjoining factory next door ‘to oblige his old friend, Charles Challen, whose factory close to Euston Station had been acquired for street improvements’. The premises were subsequently occupied by George Roger & Son, before their move to Fitzroy Road. Ward was also an ivory cutter, cutting tusks for piano key work. Bamberger in PM (February 1928), 1083.

21 David Wainwright, The Piano Makers (London, 1975), 136.

22 The histories of Allison and Allison (est. 1837), Ralph Allison (est. 1850, renamed Allison Pianos in 1911), and Arthur Allison and Co. (est. 1879?) have yet to be fully researched. In 1865, Robert Allison (founder and sole surviving partner of Allison and Allison) informed the public that he had ‘no connection with “Ralph Allison”, who was only one of his workmen’ (The Leeds Mercury, 10 July 1865). However, both men were born in Alnwick, Northumberland, so it is likely that they were related. Furthermore, The London Gazette [LG hereafter] of 29 August 1882 stated that one John Allison (deceased) had been ‘carrying on business as a Pianoforte Manufacturer under the style or firm of Ralph Allison and Sons, and Allison and Allison’, so clearly there were links between the firms. For known dates and addresses, see Rosamond Harding, The Piano-Forte: Its History Traced to the Great Exhibition of 1851, 2nd edn (first published by the author 1933; rev. edn, Old Woking, 1978), 402–3.

23 They also had works in Hanway Street (in the axis of Tottenham Court Road and Oxford Street). See 1881 Post Office London Directory [POLD hereafter]. They later moved to premises in Arlington Road, adjacent to Henry Ward. See Laurence, Five London Piano Makers, 32.

24 All output figures courtesy of Ehrlich, The Piano, 144.

25 Ibid., 144.

26 Cadby's original factory had been at Liquorpond Street, Holborn, but ‘[t]he Metropolitan Board of Works required his premises for street widening, so he was bought out, and he built his factory at Cadby Hall.’ Bamberger in PM (May 1928), 1407.

27 Peter Bird, ‘J. Lyons & Co., Cadby Hall’: www.kzwp.com/lyons/cadbyhall.htm (consulted 15 June 2011).

28 The factory was under construction by March 1851 and probably came into production towards the end of that year. In 1881 the factory had 127 employees. Hermione Hobhouse, ed., ‘The Edwardes Estate: Pembroke Square, Pembroke Gardens and Pembroke Road Area’, Survey of London: volume 42: Kensington Square to Earl's Court (London, 1986), 268–282, at 280. Available at: www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=50325 (consulted 19 September 2011). The factory was closed in 1890 when ‘the whole of their stock of timber and veneers, together with machinery and the benches, &c., for a hundred workmen [was] sold by auction, at the factory’. Daily News [DN hereafter], 15 August 1890. For estimated output, which was between one half and two-thirds that of the Paris factory, see Ehrlich, The Piano, 111.

29 In 1855, according to its own publicity, Erard produced annually over 1,000 pianos and harps at its Kensington factory and employed some 300 workers (including its showroom staff in Great Marlborough Street). Hobhouse, ‘The Edwardes Estate’, 280. Available at: www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=50325 (consulted 19 September 2011).

30 George Dodd, Days at the Factories; or, The Manufacturing Industry of Great Britain Described, Series 1: London (London, 1843; repr. New York, 1967), 387408.

31 For lease of Horseferry Road, see Michael Cole, Broadwood Square Pianos (Cheltenham, 2005), 108. For 1881 workforce, see Frederick Rose (52), born c.1829, Marylebone (1881 census). For estimated output, see Ehrlich, The Piano, 144.

32 All outputs via Ehrlich, The Piano, 144.

33 For the Broadwood firm, see Frederick Rose (52), born c.1829, Marylebone (1881 census). For Collard & Collard, see William S. Collard (38), born c.1843, Tottenham Court Road, Middlesex (1881 census). For Chappell, see Thomas S. Mugridge (53), born c.1828, Ashburton, Devon (1881 census).

34 Collard's efficiency probably wasn't helped by their manually operated lift which transported pianos between departments. It was ‘very slow, and employees would waste a ridiculous amount of time just standing around waiting for the lift's arrival on their floor’. Laurence, Five London Piano Makers, 61.

35 Michael Cole, The Pianoforte in the Classical Era (Oxford, 1998), 125.

36 For the number of benches in Backers’ workshop, see Cole, The Pianoforte in the Classical Era, 375, and Christopher Clarke, ‘The English Piano’, Musique Ancienne, Instruments et Imagination, Proceedings of the Harmoniques International Congress 2/6 (Lausanne, 2004), 239–70, at 248.

37 Peter Mactaggart and Ann Mactaggart, eds, Musical Instruments in the 1851 Exhibition: A Transcription of the Entries of Musical Interest from the Official Illustrated Catalogue of the Great Exhibition of the Art and Industry of all Nations, with Additional Material from Contemporary Sources (Welwyn, 1986), 16.

38 Ehrlich, The Piano, 38.

39 Ibid., 145.

40 Ibid., 150.

41 Frederick Edwards (31), born c.1850, St John's Wood, Middlesex, key maker, recorded his residential address in the 1881 census as 66 Southampton Street, Pentonville – the same address that he advertised in the POLD that year.

42 Laurence, Five London Piano Makers, 21.

43 Brinsmead's eldest son, John (born c.1841), died of ‘disease of the spinal cord resulting in paraplegia’ on 30 September 1863 at the age of 22 (copy of death certificate via Ancestry). For Thomas Brinsmead's marriage into the Goddard family, and his employment with Messrs Goddard, see Laurence, Five London Piano Makers, 21.

44 Ibid., 13–29.

45 Ibid., 15.

46 See Frederick Rose (59), born c.1829, Marylebone, Middlesex, ‘Pianoforte Manufacturer Partner In Broadwood Employing 629 Men 67 Boys’; George D. Rose (24), born c.1857, Westminster, Middlesex, foreman to piano manufacturer; and Algernon L. Rose (22), born c.1859, Westminster, Middlesex, clerk to piano manufacturer (1881 census). Algernon Rose came to be in charge of export sales. See Alastair Laurence, ‘The Evolution of the Broadwood Grand Piano: 1785–1998’ (PhD thesis, University of York, 1998), 223.

47 See Alfred J. Hipkins (54), born c.1827, Westminster, living at 100 Warwick Gardens (1881 census).

48 See Henry F. Broadwood (69), born c.1812, Kensington, living at Lyne House, Capel Road, Newdigate (1881 census).

49 See James Hopkinson (62), born c.1819, Leeds, Yorkshire; and John Brinsmead (65), born c.1816, Gifford, Devon (1881 census).

50 See Charles Challen (57), born c.1824, London; and Charles Hollis Challen (27), born c.1854, Kilburn, Middlesex (1881 census). Also, William S. Collard (38), born c.1843, Tottenham Court Road; John C. Collard (35), born c.1846, London; and Cecil Collard (33), born c.1848, Kilburn, Middlesex (1881 census).

51 See Edward Pohlman [sic](56), born c.1825, Halifax Yorks; Fred Pohlman (22), born c.1859, Halifax, Yorks; and Edward Pohlman (20), born c.1861, Halifax, Yorks, all living at 7, Parkinson House, Halifax (1881 census).

52 The firm moved from Cross Street to 126 and 128 Deansgate on 1 September 1881. Anon., ‘Forsyth of Manchester’, Music Teacher Magazine (London: January 2008), 30– 31, at 31. For the size of the workforce, see Henry A. Forsyth (50), born c.1831, Westminster (1881 census).

53 Census of England and Wales, 1881: Vol. IV, General Report (London, 1883), 28. Online Historical Population Reports: www.histpop.org (consulted 2 May 2013).

54 See Matthew Woollard and Mark Allen, ‘1881 census for England and Wales, the Channel Isles and the Isle of Man: introductory user guide, v.0.4’ (Distributed by The Data Archive, University of Essex, Colchester, 1999). Online at: http://privatewww.essex.ac.uk/~matthew/ (consulted 7 June 2011).

55 A check was first made with the 1881 POLD and other workers in the census to see whether Martha's address was associated with a piano-making establishment: it was not.

56 Even without this helpful geographic distinction, piano- and gun-action makers tended to specify their particular branch of the trade, e.g. ‘action maker pianos’ and ‘breech loading gun action maker’. Carvers and gilders, for example, did not.

57 The following words were used to search the census: Paineforte, Painfortie, Painofort, Painoforte, Panoforte, Penoforte, Pforte, Piamnoforte, Piana, Pianafort, Pianaforte, Pianforte, Piano, Pianos, Pianof, Pianofofte, Pianofore, Pianoforet, Pianofort, Pianoforte, Pianoforter, Pianofortes, Pianofote, Pianoft, Pianofte, Pinaforte, Pinano, Pinfore, Pinofort and Pinoforte. Other variant spellings produced no results, although piano-related words such as Broadwood, Collard and ‘silker’ produced a small number.

58 A paper written by Francesca Carnevali and Lucy Newton, Pianos for the People: From Producer to Consumer in Britain, 18511914 (University of Birmingham and Henley Business School, University of Reading, April 2012) notes (at p. 14) an estimate of the 1881 workforce based on the census that year, but the figures are not consistent with my findings and their methodology is not explained. Online at: www.henley.reading.ac.uk/web/FILES/international-business-and-strategy/pianos_for_the_people_April_2012_Lucy_Newton.pdf (consulted 27 February 2013). Other piano historians to have made use of census material are Alastair Laurence, who appends a small amount of census data concerning London's musical instrument trade in 1921 (Laurence, Five London Piano Makers, 132), and Cyril Ehrlich, who uses census statistics to calculate the growth in American piano manufacture between 1860 and 1909 (Ehrlich, The Piano, 129). Ehrlich also uses the first Census of Production to prove the total UK output of pianos in 1907. Ibid., 157.

59 Ibid., 129.

60 Information against the headings ‘Ed institution’ or ‘vessel’, ‘Neighbo[u]rs’, ‘Piece’, ‘Folio’ and ‘Page number’ were deemed extraneous and not captured. Unfortunately, the electronic census does not record any details against the heading ‘Education/Employment status’.

61 Census of England and Wales, 1881, 6–13.

62 Census of England and Wales, 1881, 32.

63 ‘Pohlmann & Sons, Piano Manufacturers, etc.’ at: www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/A2A/records.aspx?cat=203-wyc1118&cid=-1&Gsm=2012-06-18#-1 (consulted 16 June 2013). In 1881, Fred and Edward Pohlmann were working as a ‘case maker’ and a ‘case maker finisher’. See Fred Pohlman [sic] (22), born c.1859, Halifax, Yorks; and Edward Pohlman [sic] (20), born c.1861, Halifax, Yorks (1881 census).

64 The Hicks family of cabinet makers in Bristol are credited with making the first street barrel pianos c.1805. See ‘Barrel piano’ in Grove Music Online, available at Oxford Music Online: www.oxfordmusiconline.com (consulted 2 May 2013).

65 See Edward J. Spark (51), born c.1830, Exeter, Devon, musical instrument dealer employing 4 men 1 boy; Cable Guest (29), born c.1852, Wood Gate, Worcestershire, dealer in musical inst; and William H. Waldron (42), born c.1849, Little Malvern, Worcestershire, general dealer in musical instruments (1881 census).

66 Cole, Broadwood Square Pianos, 55.

67 Census of England and Wales, 1881, 14.

68 See Edwin Sargent (18), born c.1863, Marylebone (1881 census).

69 See Luigi Bertorelli (57), born c.1824, Italy (1881 census).

70 Jerry White, London in the 19th Century (London, 2007), 91.

71 See Charles Cable (32), born c.1849, Suffolk, van man, living at Chappell's pianoforte factory; and John Whitehead (72), born c.1809, Wandsworth, Surrey, night watchman, living at Erard's pianoforte manufactory (1881 census).

72 Charles Booth's Inquiry into the Life and Labour of the People in London was undertaken between 1886 and 1903.

73 See Surgical, Scientific and Electrical Instruments and Musical Instruments and Toys: Interviews, Questionnaires, Statistics and Reports (Charles Booth Archives, London School of Economics [CBA hereafter]), ref: Booth A11.

74 Report of Challen & Son (CBA Booth A11), 7–8.

75 Booth's Maps Descriptive of London Poverty are available online: http://booth.lse.ac.uk/static/a/4.html

76 Booth described this sector of society as ‘Class E: Regular standard earnings, 22 s to 30 s per week for regular work, fairly comfortable. As a rule the wives do not work, but the children do: the boys commonly following the father, the girls taking local trades or going out to service’. Charles Booth, Life and Labour of the People in London, Vol. 1 (London, 1902), 33–62.

77 Streets not located on Booth's maps had possibly been renamed between 1881 and 1898 (for which checks were made); demolished in the same period; not named due to insufficient space on the map; or named but illegible due to the poor print quality of some areas of the map.

78 For the history of Campbell Road, known as ‘Campbell Bunk’, see Jerry White, Campbell Bunk: The Worst Street in North London Between the Wars (London, 2013).

79 For a report of the fire see Lloyd's Weekly Newspaper, 8 August 1858. For Squire's insolvency, see LG (10 September 1861), 39; and LG (5 April 1867), 2161.

80 John Collard lived in Addison Road, Kensington, and his brother in Dorset Square, Marylebone. See John C. Collard (35), born c.1846, London; and William S. Collard (38), born c.1843, Tottenham Court Road (1881 census).

81 See George John Bruzand [sic] (67), born c.1814, Marylebone; Sigismund Charles Bruzand [sic] (30), born c.1851, Chelsea; and Sebastian Bruzand [sic] (29), born c.1852, Chelsea (1881 census).

82 See Georgina [sic] Kirkman (53), born c.1828, Notting Hill (1881 census).

83 See Nathaniel F. Peach (43), born c.1838, Bath, Somerset (1881 census).

84 It should be noted that these figures are slightly conflated due to the dual occupation of some workers (e.g. those who worked as ‘maker and tuner’ or ‘tuner and dealer’ and are therefore counted twice). However, since these workers accounted for only 38 members of the study workforce (less than 1%) they do not greatly affect this calculation.

85 Census of England and Wales, 1881, 20.

86 Respectively, George A. Ayling (10), born c.1871, St Pancras, ‘pianoforte (makers)’; and Harry Taylor (10), born c.1871, Kentish Town, ‘pianoforte manufactory’ (1881 census).

87 See Elizabeth Jones (13), born c.1868, Notting Hill, pianoforte maker; and Jane Tarrow (13), born c.1868, Middlesex, pianoforte asst [sic] (1881 census).

88 See Archibald Wilson (14), born c.1867, Hunslet, Yorks (1881 census).

89 See Robert Wason (84), born c.1797, West Indies (1881 census).

90 See William Henry Squire (80), born c.1801, St Pancras; and William Seager (80), born c.1801, Rochester, Kent (1881 census).

91 See Mary A. Layton (75), born c.1806, Witney, Oxon (1881 census).

92 See Henry Plant (25), born c.1856, Cambridgeshire; and Henry C. P. Foster (28), born c.1853, Camden Town, living separately at 4, Lower Lawn Road, Hampstead (1881 census). The classification ‘Middle class. Well-to-do’ was applied to Lower Lawn Terrace, Hampstead in Charles Booth's Maps Descriptive of London Poverty (18989).

93 See Allan Charnock (29), born c.1852, Kidderminster, Worcestershire (1881 census).

94 See Louisa J. Percy (37), born c.1844, Sheerness, Kent; and Sarah Anne Dove (42), born c.1839, London (1881 census).

95 See Marie Kent, ‘Piano Silkers in Eighteenth- and Nineteenth-Century London (1784–1911): a Genealogical Survey’, The Galpin Society Journal LXVI (2013), 71–98.

96 See Georgina [sic] Kirkman (53), born c.1828, Notting Hill (1881 census). Georgiana was head of the Kirkman family enterprise in Hammersmith.

97 Only one man was recorded in the census as a piano silker: Alfred Cook (29), born c.1852, St Pancras (1881 census).

98 One in Lancashire and the other in Yorkshire, who also dealt in tea. See Appendix 2, available online as a supplementary dataset at http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14723808.2014.986259.

99 On this occasion 39,694 to 17,655. Census of England and Wales, 1881, 30.

100 In 1881, the total number of males returned in some definite occupation was 7,783,646 and females 3,403,918. Women therefore comprised 30% of the total working population of 11,187,564. Taking into account the rearing of children and the management of domestic life, however, the numbers of men and women working were considered equal. Census of England and Wales, 1881, 29.

101 Guide to Employment for Boys and Girls in Greater London, A (London: His Majesty's Stationery Office, 1938), 162–63.

102 See Mary Calcutt (42), born c.1849, St Pancras, Middlesex (1881 census). The government census of 1921 recorded 370 male and 143 female piano action makers, fitters and assemblers working in the United Kingdom. Laurence, Five London Piano Makers, Appendix 7.

103 Wainwright, Broadwood: By Appointment, 284.

104 Mactaggart, Musical Instruments in the 1851 Exhibition, 16–17.

105 A hinge dresser removed the flash from castings of hinges.

106 A description of Boardman & Gray's factory in Albany, New York, in January 1854, records that ‘a large machine, driven by the engine, [was] used for rubbing the tops of pianos and other large surfaces’. Godey's Lady's Book (Philadelphia, January 1854), reproduced in Edward Swenson, ‘Boardman and Grey: A Tour Through a Pre-Civil War Piano Factory’ (Edward E. Swenson, 2008). Online at: www.mozartpiano.com/articles/boardmangray.php (consulted 27 May 2011).

107 See Richard T. Corden (19), born c.1862, Stapleford, Nottinghamshire (1881 census).

108 See George Martin (35), born c.1846, Newcastle upon Tyne, Northumberland; Thomas Penman (64), born c.1817, Newcastle upon Tyne, Northumberland; and James Wasley (46), born c.1835, London (1881 census).

109 See Ann Grimes (68), born c.1813, East Coker, Dorset (1881 census).

110 See William Baker (44), born c.1837, St Pancras, Middlesex, pianoforte maker & stationer; John Black (56), born c.1825, Scotland, oilman & pianoforte key maker (employing 9 men & 1 boy); Richard M. Cartwright (69), born c.1812, Bristol, Somerset, pianoforte maker tobacconist; Elizabeth Coates (42), born c.1839, Skipton, Yorks, tea dealer pianoforte silker; George Durrant (56), born c.1825, Lindfield, Sussex, pianoforte finisher & insurance agent; Robert W. Edbrook (26), born c.1855, Bath, Somerset, picture dealer & piano maker; and Thomas James Revill (25), born c.1856, Middlesex, pianofort [sic] finisher & grocer (1881 census).

111 Census of England and Wales, 1881, 62.

112 See John Young (38), born c.1843, Westminster (1881 census).

113 The college was established on 1 March 1872. Website of the Royal National College for the Blind: www.rncb.ac.uk (consulted 15 September 2011).

114 For Broadwood's network of agents, see Cole, Broadwood Square Pianos, 55. For their tuning monopoly and its value see Ehrlich, The Piano, 105 and 147. Steinway, by contrast (in 1923), employed 16 outdoor tuners generating a profit of £1,082 that year. Archives of Steinway & Sons London, ‘Revised List of Allowances for Tuners’ dated 1 June 1923. Information kindly supplied by Allen Wright of Steinway, London.

115 Respectively, George Durrant (56), born c.1825, Lindfield, Sussex; Robert W. Edbrook (26), born c.1855, Bath, Somerset; and Elizabeth Coates (42), born c.1839, Skipton, Yorks (1881 census).

116 Gillian Sheldrick, The Accounts of Thomas Green 1742–1790 (Hertfordshire Record Society, 1992), 40.

117 Modern currency conversion via the National Archives Currency Converter: http://apps.nationalarchives.gov.uk/currency/ consulted 24 September 2014.

118 Ehrlich, The Piano, 44.

119 Les Sherlock, The Piano Tuners’ Association: A History: 1913–2005 (Oxford, 2006), 37.

120 Battling this degradation of their income, the fee proposed by the Piano Tuners’ Association (in 2010) for tuning a rural piano was approximately £37, equating to approximately 15 s 6d in 1881. Pianoforte Tuners’ Association Year Book – 2010/11, 9.

121 Respectively, Mary Ann Gott (24), born c.1857, Plymouth, Devon; and Ellen Field (29), born c.1852, Oldham, Lancashire (1881 census).

122 See Richard Jessop (19), born c.1862, Wisbech, Cambs (1881 census). See also Peter Grundy (65), born c.1816, Astley, Lancs (1881 census), who recorded his occupation as ‘striker and pianoforte tuner’.

123 Gloucestershire's piano-making population would be increased in 1911 with the relocation of Douglas Grover's London firm to the Woodchester Mills near Stroud. The Stroud Piano Company, as it became known, would eventually acquire the manufacturing rights to the last of the London brands. Wainwright, The Piano Makers, 136.

124 Ehrlich, The Piano, 150.

125 Census of England and Wales, 1881, 50.

126 Broadwood's wages sheets for 1840, for example, note weekly payments of between 10 shillings and £1 18 s 6d to each of four employees (or their widows) awarded annuities (Surrey History Centre, ref: 2185/JB/74/1).

127 See Edward Pohlman [sic] (56), born c.1825, Halifax Yorks, ‘retired pianoforte maker’; and James Hopkinson (62), born c.1819, Leeds, Yorkshire, ‘retired pianofte [sic] maker’ (1881 census). For William Frederick Collard, see Laurence Five London Piano Makers, 58. For William Challen, see William Challen (50), born c.1791, [Storrington, Sussex] (1841 census), and Laurence, Five London Piano Makers, 32. For John Brinsmead, see Ibid., 14.

128 For John Broadwood, see Cole, Broadwood Square Pianos, 86 and 161. For Frederick William Collard, see Laurence, Five London Piano Makers, 57.

129 The General Report of the 1881 Census cautions that ‘the tendency of old persons, when uncertain as to their exact age, [is] to exaggeration’ and recommends that ‘very little trust should be put in the quinquennial or even the decennial totals after 85’. Census of England and Wales, 1881, 18.

130 According to Louis Bamberger, the Music Trades’ Benevolent Society was established by the son of a leather merchant who, on ‘passing through the musical section of the [1851] Exhibition […] saw the business possibilities of handling the Swiss pine then on show’ and subsequently became sole importer of the wood into the country. His son became attached to the trade and established the fund upon hearing that the piano maker Edward Burling ‘was in a very bad way in a local infirmary’. Burling died before he could be helped, but the society continued, and by 1928 had funds of £20,000. Bamberger in PM (May 1928), 1407. Wainwright considers the society was established in 1902. Wainwright, Broadwood: By Appointment, 274.

131 See Felix Higgs (40), born c.1841, Clerkenwell, Middlesex (1881 census).

132 See William Theobalds (92), born c.1789, Pentonville, Middlesex (1881 census).

133 In 1881, Easter fell on 17 April, a fortnight after the census was taken.

134 From 1881 to 1913 the average unemployment rate in Britain was 4.8%. Blacks Academy website: www.blacksacademy.net/content/3156.html (consulted 10 August 2011).

135 Census of England and Wales, 1881, 66.

136 See John Cassine [sic] (43), born c.1838, Kilburn, Middlesex (1881 census).

137 See George Day (32), born c.1849, Guernsey, Channel Isles (1881 census).

138 See J. S. [sic] (78), born c.1803, France (1881 census).

139 See Thomas Colman (39), born c.1842, Abbotsham, Devon (1881 census).

140 Census of England and Wales, 1881, 72.

141 Ibid., 51.

142 Ibid., 52.

143 Visitors are removed from this chart because their county of residence (and therefore their pattern of migration, if any) is not known.

144 See William Bustard (76), born c.1805, Brand Cliff, Devon; William Bustard (47), born c.1834, Brand Cliff, Devon; Charles Bustard (30), born c.1851, Devon; James Bustard (38), born c.1843, Devon; and Thomas Bustard (36), born c.1845, Devon (1881 census).

145 For the purpose of this study, foreigners denote all those born outside England, including those born in Scotland, Ireland and Wales. Three foreign nationals recorded their status as ‘visitor’ on their census return, but whether they were visiting from abroad or resident in England and visiting locally cannot be known: they have been included in the figures.

146 For want of a better term (and due to their having a separate census), Scottish, Irish and Welsh nationals are included among the ‘foreigners’ in this study.

147 Census of England and Wales, 1881, 52.

148 Using the words ‘piano’ and ‘pianoforte’ only.

149 Census of England and Wales, 1881, 52.

150 Ehrlich, The Piano, 142.

151 Ibid., 68.

152 The total number of German migrants in the overall census was 37,301. Census of England and Wales, 1881, 56.

153 Ibid., 53.

154 See John Hopkinson (69), born c.1812, Chatham, Kent, living in Criccieth (1881 census of Wales).

155 Namely, Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Cambridgeshire, Cumberland, Devon, Dorset, Herefordshire, Huntingdonshire, Lancashire, Leicestershire, Norfolk, Rutland, Suffolk, Westmorland and Worcestershire.

156 For other examples of five family members participating in the trade, see Frederick Dunhill (46), born c.1835, Lambeth (1881 census); Albert Jones (34), born c.1847, Germany (1881 census); George Schomberg (64), born c.1817, West Indies (1881 census); and John Francis Scipeo (58), born c.1823, Stepney (1881 census). For the family of six, see Charles Eungblut (56), born c.1825, London, and his five sons (1881 census).

157 See Kent, Piano Silkers, 71–98.

158 For Southwell, see George Bozarth and Margaret Debenham, ‘Piano Wars: The Legal Machinations of London Pianoforte Makers, 1795–1806’, Royal Musical Association Research Chronicle 42 (2009), 45–108, at 53. For Broadwood, see Cole, Broadwood Square Pianos, 5–6.

159 Taking into consideration siblings who may have encouraged each other into the trade, the percentage of the study workforce potentially introduced to the piano industry by fellow members of industry is significantly increased.

160 See Esther Ratcliffe (21), born c.1860, St Pancras; and Louisa Ratcliffe (18), born c.1853, St Pancras (1881 census).

161 See William S. Collard, (38), born c.1843, Tottenham Court Road, Middlesex (1881 census).

162 See Thomas P. Chappell (61), born c.1820, St George, London (1881 census).

163 See Albert Richard Shrimpton (33), born c.1848, Long Crendon, Bucks (1881 census).

164 Census of England and Wales, 1881,33.

165 Census of England and Wales, 1881, 32.

166 ‘[The] position [of the accused] was that of a mechanic—he was doing small cabinet work in connection with the cases—he was working by the piece and was earning from £2 to £3 a week—his two sons…were also in our employ as mechanics, earning less than their father—one was what we term bellying, and the other was fitting-up.’ Trial of Thomas Edward Brinsmead, Francis Richard Jordan, Ernest Albert Harrison Ainsworth, Henry Peter Bernard, William Henry Kaye, and Edwin Ballantine, 25 April 1898 (OB t18980425-335).

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Appendix 2 1881 piano census information

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Supplementary material: File

Appendix 2

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