Jump to content

Rock Chidley Baritone


SteveS

Recommended Posts

Here are some pictures of the Rock Chidley single action baritone (s/n 1552) I recently acquired.

 

43 buttons.

 

The reeds appear to be made of nickel silver.

 

One reed on the right hand side appears out of place - it looks like it has been professionally moved - but it's a high pitched reed stuck in amongst the baritone reeds. I need to work out the key layout for this instrument to see what's going on here.

 

The hand writing appears to indicate dates of 1850 (or 1860) and 1869 - along with an address - 37 Praed Street, Paddington (is this Jeffries' address?).

 

The bellows are split and will need to be repaired.

 

Ends rosewood. The woodwork is in reasonable condition - the fretwork is broken in places.

 

Given its age, it's reasonably clean inside.

 

There is no maker's mark - but the fretwork and action indicate that it's most likely by Rock Chidley.

post-1950-0-55712200-1398596311_thumb.jpg

post-1950-0-22778000-1398596312_thumb.jpg

post-1950-0-78923800-1398596312_thumb.jpg

post-1950-0-33150800-1398596313_thumb.jpg

post-1950-0-79654100-1398596313_thumb.jpg

post-1950-0-28314900-1398596314_thumb.jpg

post-1950-0-79634900-1398596314_thumb.jpg

post-1950-0-49081600-1398596953_thumb.jpg

Edited by SteveS
Link to comment
Share on other sites

... 37 Praed Street, Paddington (is this Jeffries' address?)

 

No, that was 23, Praed Street, and 30 years later, but the uncommon name Rutterford may be significant.

 

There was a Charles Rutterford who played in Richard Blagrove's quartet and went on to be Harry Minting's concertina teacher. He was also the father of Ernest Rutterford, Harry's friend and dance-band leader, the author of Wheatstone’s Instructions for the Duet Concertina (London: Wheatstone & Co., 1914), who made a number of early recordings on the Maccann duet as well as recording Blagrove's encore piece Recollections of Scotland on the English.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Steve, though I tried to research the family years ago, they proved impossible to trace at the time and the distinctive name Rutterford seemingly didn't exist in the Census indexes (probably confused with "Rutherford"). However, there are a lot more resources available now, and some indexing errors have been corrected, so last night I got a very positive "hit" in the 1911 Census (which was not available last time I looked for them), where Edward Charles Rutterford (60) is listed as a Teacher of Music, English Concertina, and Ernest Charles Rutterford (18) as Apprentice, English Concertina, at 40, Chippenham Road, Marylebone.

 

Edward Charles Rutterford was baptised on 25th May 1851 at St. Marylebone, father Charles Rutterford, Carpenter, mother Eliza Mary Rutterford, at which time they were living at 42, East Street.

 

In 1861 the family was at 36, Norland Road, Hammersmith, where Charles (45) was working as a Carver & Gilder.

 

Eliza Mary Rutterford died in the second quarter of 1867 and Charles (senior) is listed as a widower in 1871, whilst the presence of their daughter, Emma, confirms that it is the same family.

 

On 1st January 1872 Edward Charles Rutterford (20), Carpenter, 38, Moscow Road, married Mary Drusilla Duke (21), 3, Portobello Mews (her father was a Coachman, naturally!), Notting Hill, at St. Mathew's, Bayswater.

 

Charles Rutterford (60) died in the first quarter of 1872 in Kensington.

 

In 1881 Edward C. Rutterford (29), Journeyman Carpenter, is at 4, Ladbroke Grove Rd., Kensington, though his wife, Mary, appears to have been a patient in St Mary's Hospital, Cambridge Place at the time.

 

Mary Drusilla Rutterford died in the third quarter of 1882, in Chelsea.

 

On 26th June 1884 Edward Charles Rutterford (33), Carpenter, Widower, married Ada Turner (27), Widow, at St. Marylebone, at which time they were living at 62, Richmond Street.

 

In 1901 Edward Rutterford (49), Carpenter, is already at 40, Chippenham Road, Marylebone, where he is enumerated as "Teacher of Music, English Concertina" in 1911.

 

Edward C Rutterford (80) died in the fourth quarter of 1931, in Paddington.

 

Ernest Charles Rutterford was born in Paddington, on 22nd January 1894, and died in the second quarter of 1979 at Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire.

Edited by Stephen Chambers
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Stephen

 

Many thanks for your massive contribution re. the Rutterford family - very interesting indeed.

 

I thought that the writing related to repairs too. I too thought it said "Rutterford Tuner June 1869" - looks like Rutterford tuned his own instrument - was he was working for one of the makers at that time I wonder. There appears to have been another repair dated Sept 13, 1860(?) - the initials HBD(?) appear both on the bellows cards and on the right hand reed pan.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Many thanks for your massive contribution re. the Rutterford family - very interesting indeed.

 

It's the "bare bones" of their family history anyway, the raw material from which to build their story.

 

I've been wanting to find out more about Charles and Ernest Rutterford for a long time anyway, but it needed that 1911 Census return to tie down exactly who they were - after that it was relatively "plain sailing" compared with some that I've worked on. :rolleyes:

 

Prior to this I only had what Harry Minting told me and this cutting from "The Hippodrome" for July 1905 (which was in Harry's scrapbook).

 

I thought that the writing related to repairs too. I too thought it said "Rutterford Tuner June 1869" - looks like Rutterford tuned his own instrument - was he was working for one of the makers at that time I wonder.

 

There's nothing at the moment to say that he worked in the concertina trade, though I haven't found his 1891 Census return yet...

Edited by Stephen Chambers
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I thought that the writing related to repairs too. I too thought it said "Rutterford Tuner June 1869" - looks like Rutterford tuned his own instrument - was he was working for one of the makers at that time I wonder.

 

There's nothing at the moment to say that he worked in the concertina trade, though I haven't found his 1891 Census return yet...

 

But I have now (through using a different website) and he is listed as a Carpenter again, and already living at 40, Chippenham Road.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Post Office Directories don't throw up any more on the Rutterfords, but 402 Oxford Street is listed in the 1869 PO Street Dir as John Tritschler & Co; clock makers which I'm sure will ring a few bells with Stephen :rolleyes: (hint if not: Kleyser & Tritschler, 1846 German Tutor by Carlo Minasi [A50 in Merris])

Edited by wes williams
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 year later...

Cnet member Rikki, brought to my attention that this could be a bass.

I have compared the C reed against a reed in a Wheaststone bass from the same era - they sound a very similar pitch.

It does then look as though this concertina is indeed a bass.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 5 years later...
On 4/25/2016 at 5:14 AM, SteveS said:

Cnet member Rikki, brought to my attention that this could be a bass.

I have compared the C reed against a reed in a Wheaststone bass from the same era - they sound a very similar pitch.

It does then look as though this concertina is indeed a bass.

 what is the lowest note. Thanks!

Edited by Bassconcertina.net
Link to comment
Share on other sites

14 hours ago, Bassconcertina.net said:

Come on! Id literally take any bass concertina on the face of the planet at this point. but nobody wants to sell.

I parted with the instrument about 5-6 years or so ago.  I wish I had another available.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...