Books › John Askew, the Stanhope violin maker, 1914 › scan 50
Scan 50
John Askew, the Stanhope violin maker, 1914
10 lines. Read by computer on 3 September 2026. Printed page 32. See the scan on archive.org.
1(1885) with which he won first prize for Great Britain and third prize for the world, being only beaten by an Italian and a Frenchman."
3We must consider that the subject of this memoir had only a village school education, and he had no training except at his own trade that of a shoemaker, yet we find that everything he touched with his master hand shewed the best of workmanship.
5No one but a born genius could have done this. His boots and shoes were of the best workmanship. His angling tackle were works of art, and his results as a local volunteer shewed in his record of bull's eyes the accuracy of his eye. Then he was a good musician as one of the old Saxhorn band. One of the writer's correspondents, an expert violinist who knew Askew and has one of his instruments, put the matter probably in a true light in saying:—
7"Anyhow John Askew was naturally gifted and had he been put in Hill's workshop when he was young he would perhaps have become the finest English maker."*
9* The name Hill refers to the well known Messrs. Wm. E. Hill and Sons, Bond Street, London.
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