Rock Chidley- The Black Sheep?

[Alan Day]

I was talking to a good friend at the George on Monday and she tells me that she has an English concertina manufactured by

Rock Chidley No 1379

135 High Holborn London

 

She then went on to tell me that Rock Chidley was a Nephew of Wheatstone pinched the tools from his uncle to set up his own concertina manufacturing business at the above address.This information I am told came via an old article

by Niel Wayne ,possibly in Free Reed magazine.

 

I promised that I would ask you all if her instrument is rare/valuable and if the history aspect was true.

Al

[Stephen Chambers]

She ... went on to tell me that Rock Chidley was a Nephew of Wheatstone

Loosely speaking this is correct, but they were only related by marriage.

 

pinched the tools from his uncle to set up his own concertina manufacturing business ... This information I am told came via an old article by Niel Wayne ,possibly in Free Reed magazine.

I think somebody may be confusing him with "concertina folklore" about Louis Lachenal here ? Rock Chidley was a "finisher" for Wheatstone's, who set up his own business when Louis Lachenal started to "mass produce" concertinas for that firm.

 

I promised that I would ask you all if her instrument is rare/valuable

There are many Rock Chidley concertinas in circulation, is there anything unusual about it ?

[wes williams]

She ... went on to tell me that Rock Chidley was a Nephew of Wheatstone

Loosely speaking this is correct, but they were only related by marriage.

 

Al,

You'll find the relationship explained in a diagram in the Wheatstone And Chidley Family Trees thread in this forum.

 

As Stephen says, the "stolen tools" legend related to Lachenal, and did appear in one of the articles in Free Reed. You'll see how it could have come about when Stephen's article on Lachenal for PICA is published.

 

Rock Chidley concertinas were made roughly 1850-1867 and they reflect the concertina technology available at that time. 135 High Holborn London was the address of Rock's parents, which he continued to use for his business.

[rebi-la-volpe]

I have a Rock Chidley for sale on ebay: https://www.ebay.com/itm/284573929390

[Clive Thorne]

Whatever else people think of Rock Chidley concertinas, it must be the "coolest" manufacturer name of them all.

[rebi-la-volpe]

Agreed!

[wes williams]

Its probably worth bringing this thread up to date, so more recent additions on the Chidleys can be found at Chris Flint's  Joseph Scates Concertinas site.

Edited June 27 by wes williams
Scates site location updated

[sadbrewer]

He was a bankrupt at one stage....his Grandson ...also Rock, may well have emigrated to the US around the time of WW1

 

Edited January 30, 2022 by sadbrewer

[4to5to6]

I’m currently doing a vintage restoration on an early 3000s Rock Chidley: tiger striped rosewood, gold buttons, embossed bellows, etc.  It sounds absolutely amazing!  It’s fast, clear and has an interesting resonance that is hard to explain.  I’ve only heard this once before from an 18 guinea Wheatstone.  Correct me if I’m wrong… one could buy a Wheatstone treble for 2 guineas in the 1850s, a very good one for 8 and a concert level one was 12… so 18 was over the edge and this one has the potential of being just as good!  Probably no time to finish it right now, but I will try to keep you posted.  Any idea of a date for serial 30xx?

[BrokenBox]

By comparison, I have the runt of the Rock Chidley litter.  Basic fretwork, no bushes around the basic keys, four fold bellows...

Mine is serial numbers 3631 and 3634.  I found online that people date them by taking the highest and lowest known serial numbers and interpolating between Rock Chidley's factory start date and when he went bust. This can apparently be nuanced by the manufacturing address. (There were two.) On this basis I estimate mine to be 1858 +/- a couple.

Edited July 1 by BrokenBox