Books › the history of the violin, 1864 › scan 372
Scan 372
the history of the violin, 1864
9 lines. Read by computer on 28 September 2026. Printed page 350. See the scan on archive.org.
1minster, near to the Green Coat School, and was apprenticed to Samuel Gilkes, in May 1820, and his term of servitude had not long expired when his master died. From that time he could not obtain much employment in the vocation he had learned, consequently he accepted an engagement at Lang's Shooting Gallery, next door to the Haymarket Theatre, and in time the house he now resides in was opened as a dépôt for guns and pistols, with a few violins interspersed. At length the Joe Manton's, the Purday's, and the guns of other makers, had to give place to violins, violas, and violoncellos, with Italian names, he having become a dealer in them, and no person in a similar business—if report can be relied on—has had greater success in their journey through life. He has sons, but whether they have been taught to make violins is not known. Dealing in this class of property being far more remunerative than making it, we may infer the former claims the preference. The label used by him:—
3"John Hart
4Maker
514 Princess Street, Leicester Square
6London. Anno 18—"
8Before concluding with the Forster school it will be requisite to give one other name, although he was not a pupil, but at first only an amateur maker, and ultimately partly obtained a living by working at the business, and adopted the style of the Forster family, probably from the half-brother of William Forster (2) being his acquaintance. His name was Joseph Rook, late of Ricker-gate, Carlisle, who was born 7th June, 1777, at Calbeck, Cumberland. As a youth, he sorted copper ore, and in 1795 worked as a farm-servant to a Mr. Scott, of Halt-
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