A HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX 



workshop in High Holborn, 66 and that he 

 made there in 1809 for the 2nd Life Guards 

 the first circular bass tuba with rotary action 

 used in this country. The firm next appears 

 as Rudall and Rose of 15, Piazza, Covent 

 Garden (about i83o), 67 and on 27 November 

 1832 a patent for improvements in construct- 

 ing flutes was granted to George Rudall and 

 John Mitchell Rose (no. 6,338). About 

 1844 their address was i, Tavistock Street, 

 Covent Garden, 68 and in a patent granted to 

 Rose on 6 September 1847 ( no - II |853) 

 they are described as of Southampton Street ; 

 this patent was taken out by Rose on behalf 

 of Boehm for improvements in the ' cylinder 

 flute.' The firm was now joined by Richard 

 Carte, a professor of music residing at 38, 

 Southampton Street, who is so described in a 

 patent for improvements in flutes, clarionets, 

 hautboys and bassoons registered on 7 March 

 i85o. 6 " Carte was an inventor of great skill 

 and enterprise, and in the following year con- 

 structed a flute which became known as 

 Carte's '1851 flute.' This procured him the 

 award of a prize medal at the Exhibition of 

 1851, the object of his invention being to 

 'design a mechanism which should retain the 

 open keys ... of Boehm's flute, and yet 

 secure a greater facility of fingering.' This 

 flute is described and illustrated in Day's 

 Catalogue. The firm now adopted the style 

 of Rudall, Rose, Carte & Co., and in a patent 

 (no. 245) taken out by Carte on 9 February 

 1858 for his well-known improvements in 

 clarionets 71 their address is given as 2O, 

 Charing Cross. Other important inventions 

 by members of this firm were secured by 

 patents on 4 October 1859 (no. 2,248), 

 3 December 1860 (no. 2,967)," 5 December 

 1866 (no. 3,208), and 5 June 1875 (no. 

 2,071). Their latest style is Rudall, Carte & 

 Co., and the final removal of their premises 

 was to 23, Berners Street. 73 



The Violin. The violin in its present form 

 is about three centuries old. In the second 

 half of the i6th century Cremona was the 

 chief centre of manufacture and owed its 

 reputation to the Amati family, and especially 

 to the brothers Antonio and Girolamo Amati. 

 This reputation was carried well into the 

 1 8th century by Antonio Stradivari, who 

 brought the Cremona violin to its utmost 

 perfection. London also has for some cen- 

 turies been famous for the manufacture of 



" Rose, loc. cit. 67 Day, op. cit. 40. 



"Ibid. 42. No. 12,996. 



70 Day, op. cit. 46, 47. 



" Ibid. 104-5. " Ibid. 195. 



71 Whitaker's Red Bk. of Commerce (1906), 34.6. 



stringed instruments. The makers of the 

 viol were very numerous, as that instrument 

 was universally popular, and the names of 

 many in the 1 6th and I7th centuries are given 

 by Sir George Grove. 74 



The violin proper, although known in 

 England as early as the reign of Elizabeth, 

 was generally associated for many years after 

 with popular merry-making, but became more 

 highly esteemed amongst musicians when 

 Charles II introduced his band of twenty-four 

 violins, and thus gave a lead to fashion. The 

 information, 76 however, which has come down 

 to us with reference to the early London and 

 Middlesex makers is very meagre, and it is 

 difficult to determine whether they belong to 

 Middlesex, the City, or Southwark. Three 

 1 7th century makers who are traditionally 

 associated as partners were Thomas Urquhart, 

 Edward Pamphilon, and one Pemberton, 

 whose Christian name is uncertain. Indeed, 

 it has even been suggested that the late date 

 of 1680 assigned to Pemberton may be in- 

 correct, and that he was in fact the J.P. of 

 1578 who made the instrument presented to 

 the Earl of Leicester by Queen Elizabeth. 

 Urquhart was probably an immigrant from 

 beyond the Border, and his violins are said to 

 be of unusual merit for the period at which 

 he worked. From Urquhart Pamphilon may 

 have learnt his craft, though his instruments, 

 which are strong in wood, with a clear and 

 penetrating tone, hardly reached the high 

 standard of his supposed master. 



Daniel Parker, who was still working in 

 1714-15, may be regarded as the last of the 

 primitive school of English makers. Both in 

 outline and model his instruments show an 

 advance, and their tone is clear and strong. 

 He seems, however, to have used a spirit 

 varnish of a brickdust red colour, and very 

 thickly laid on, which is in strong contrast to 

 the pleasant oil varnish of Urquhart. 



During the first half of the i8th century 

 the London and Middlesex makers were 

 largely under the influence of Stainer or 

 Steiner, the well-known German maker. 



John Barrett, contemporary with the Lon- 

 don maker Nathaniel Crosse, was a strictly 

 Middlesex maker, whose place of business lay 

 at the ' Harp and Crown,' in Piccadilly. His 

 violins are of a long and high model, tending 

 to the Amati pattern, but with distinct traces 

 of the influence of Steiner. 



In the work of Peter Wamsley some modi- 

 fication of the outline and model of John 



74 Diet, of Music, ii, 163. 



" See Sandys & Forster, Hilt, of the Violin, 

 253 etseq. 



