wes williams

I've now completed transcribing all the Wayne sales/production ledgers by date/serial, up to and including C1054 (to 1891), so if anybody has a desperate need for data for ledgers later than the article provides, they can send me a message. Otherwise, they will be available with the completed article, sometime next year. I will also update the search and plot utilities at the same time.

I looked at this thread yesterday, but couldn't find the right words. Gerdy was a unique player, and even if you knew the tune he was playing, there was no telling quite where he might take it. Tony Crehan once told me that you should learn a tune, and then work on it until you had made it your own. Gerdy was such a wonderful example of how this could be done. We can only walk in the footsteps of such giants.

A sad loss. If Reuben Shaw is an unfamiliar name to you, see the contents and links to other articles on this page.

Rather than type a lot again have a look at this thread. The first 'German' concertina was announced in 1835. Wheatstone were warning against these type of instruments in their advertising in 1848. Randy Merris lists 10 key tutors in his bibliography from about the same time. I haven't looked through this list to find out when the last 10 key tutor is dated, but it should give you some idea of when they went out of fashion. Stephen Chambers may be able to provide a more precise answer. Edit: I looked and found the latest was 1886 (Willey & Co.’s Instruction Book for the German Concertina with 10 and 20 Keys) but there could be more. Reprints for 10 keys or more were being made in the 1890s, but perhaps they don't count!

Well, not much more to add. Unfortunately the ledgers are missing between 1891 and 1910, so we can't be more precise on when things changed. But we did find that various c.net members with Wheatstones from this period had different reed types. See this thread. Edward Chidley was also a harmonium maker (as were Wheatstone) and this style of reed is frequently used in harmoniums. He died in 1899, so the C1054 ledger may represent his involvement in Wheatstone from start to finish. It was only after his sons took over that Wheatstone started to produce Anglos and Duets again, and the 8 sided aeola.

Daniel, I wouldn't say 'extremely' early, but this was the style of 'German' concertinas (not Anglos) from the beginning; four-sided and with 10 or 20 buttons. We usually pick up on pictures like The Blind Girl by Millais in threads like this as an example.

Hear, hear! Let's see the insides. I am a'gitting curious - I have a 56-button thing that looks very much like this. Can't find a serial number, though. It has a (Wheatstone, Charing Cross Road adress) paper label glued on the inside of one end, but no other Wheatstone markings anywhere. The reeds are rivetted to the brass plates. I have it marked up for restoration and sale, when I have nothing better to do, he, he. Yes, I can make some photographs. /Henrik Edited to add "Charing Cross Road adress - One thing to clear up - instruments starting from 18000 upward were made under Edward Chidley, who took over Wheatstone in the mid 1860s. These instruments have a new type of rivetted reed, as opposed to the older screwed plate type that Lachenal continued with. This style of instrument lasts until Edward's sons take over the business around 1890/1900. Edit to add: Wheatstone moved to West Street,Charing Cross Road in 1905, so Henrik's instrument probably must have returned to Wheatstone and had the label replaced.

Try searching for "Alexander Prince" at google. I've found quite a few in the past, although they often disapear. One still remaining is at http://www.tinfoil.com/archive.htm, an early 1900s cylinder recording.

I probably know around 20-25 people who at least "tootle" concertinas in Somerset alone. I probably don't know at least another 5 to 10. Somerset is 1% of the population of England, therefore there are probably between 2000 and 3500 concertina 'tootlers' in England alone. What do other people think about their own areas? No darts were thrown during this estimate!

You can find out some more about Bridgman in Stuart Eydmann's "life-and-times" chapter 4.

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I have a small homeless harmonium, currently living in a shed, so the UK is not an option. It is a wonderfully named "W.C. Burden". It shares the shed with a bulky Yamaha electronic organ, also homeless, so its not lonely.

I heard a few rough cuts of Peter and Kitty playing together a good while ago. They certainly did 'sound just lovely', so I think this CD will be a little bit more West Clare musical magic set loose. I'll pick the "Hills of Coore/ The Stack of Oats", two of Junior Crehan's tunes, as the ones I'm most looking forward to hearing. And remember, with Christmas coming, that Peter also sells superb photos ....

Did anybody catch this weeks Antiques Roadshow from Lancaster on BBC1 on Sunday evening? Amoung the collection of Musical Hall postcards was one photo card captioned J.H.Maccann, and I think you can see it 2nd row down, 2nd from left here . I've contacted Bob Gaskins, who doesn't recognise it as the same as the ones he has, so a copy would be very useful. But I'm a bit stuck on how to proceed, apart from trying to contact someone at the Beeb. But sometimes the local press take these things up, so is anybody here from Lancaster? Any suggestions very welcome folks!!

Thanks Henrik, problem solved. I'd hoped to be able to move the earliest known mention of the concertina (although maybe not by name) from Ireland to Scotland, but it wasn't to be . But there was a nice tie in with Regondi playing a guitar piece by Eulenstein, the Jews Harp virtuoso, who performed there a few days earlier.

Thanks Dan. Is it me, or is only the search free? I can't get to any articles There are some Regondi reports as early as 1833 which could be very interesting!

Dan, The photo was taken in 1906. The first edition of the Morris Book was published 1907 (a slim single volume) and dates this photo in the caption. The second edition of the Morris Book, in five volumes (which most of us are familiar with from reprints) was published in 1912, but doesn't date the photo. I have both editions if anybody wants a further scan.

Mark, The descendent is as much in the dark as we are - basically we only know of Robert Carr through two census entries - in 1901 he is listed as a musical instrument maker, and in 1891 as a painter in oils/sculptor (7 Nelldale Road, Rotherhithe, London aged 30, so born c.1861). The descendent has relations in Canada; Edward Carr (1901 - 1999), son of Robert Carr, was put into a children's home at Shirley near Croyden, and eventually emigrated to Canada. He managed to trace 3 of his brothers and a sister. The the descendent who contacted us only found out about Carr fairly recently, although without any more details, and is just starting to try to find more information. Any further info would be very welcome!

Although that perhaps sums up John's ICA public persona, there's a lot more underneath, as his postings here show. And anybody who has managed to keep the ICA subs at the same level year after year deserves a lot of praise! Thanks for all your past efforts and Good Luck in the future, John!

Mark, Its pretty much as Pete says, but the salesmen may try to tell you you need a 'Top Up TV' compatible (or card-slot) set top box. Ignore them, as this will cost you an extra £20 on the basic price, and just gives you the optional to receive a few more channels, but at £7 a month. You may also need a co-ax to co-ax lead, as the box goes in between your TV and the aerial lead.

Al, As you probably now realise, not only did they transfer all accounts, but they adopted a completely new mail interface, so its no surprise that you didn't know about the messages until the whole lot started to overflow. They also kindly increased mailbox sizes, so its taken longer than it would have done before, for the problem to raise its head. I would blame the French owners - Wanadoo is the Citroen of the internet world!

Each tractor is supplied with its own matching giant pian* acc*rdi*n (see below), so it is aimed at concertina players, rather than their spouses, for squeezing things flat.

Possibly, though probably not as, for a start, the two firms were run very differently and tended to have different markets... <{POST_SNAPBACK}> I've been studying the English serial numbers recently, and they don't fit either a linear projection or Wheatstone related production rate. Most notable is that production rate seems to halve for about a decade after the firm left Lachenal family ownership (1873-1885), which could suggest that Lachenal & Co. was initially suffering from cash starved production. I hope to publish details in an update to the 'Dating' article fairly soon.

I'll ask him next time I see him. Chris <{POST_SNAPBACK}> You don't need to - he's already working on a joint 'thesis' with Stephen, Chris Algar, Bob Gaskins, Randy Merris and I, but like anything put together by a committee, its taking time - hence Stephen's ironics . But I promise that an updated Jeffries Section of 'Dating your Concertina' will be released in time, even if the committee effort doesn't. (I'm aiming for 18th March 2006 (see ** edit), the 40th anniversary of the death of Thomas Jeffries, last survivor of 'Jeffries Bros'). Dave has done some splendid detective work, including locating some photos which I hope will be released in time for the centenary too. Now, how many Jeffries players would it take to stretch from Paddington Green police station (site of White Lion Passage) to Queen Marys Hospital (site of 102 Praed St)? Could we also use morris dancers as flying pickets? 3 pubs on route? **Edit: Alan's USA concert will be on the 17th March, but with the time shift between the UK and US, it would be on the 18th (UK time) if its an evening do! Great timing!

It just struck me that Charles Jeffries (senior) died 99 years ago on the 28th of this month, so next year will be the centenary of his death. Any ideas on what we could/should do next year? ..ww