Books › the history of the violin, 1864 › scan 375
Scan 375
the history of the violin, 1864
8 lines. Read by computer on 3 September 2026. Printed page 353. See the scan on archive.org.
1and lastly, in Long Alley, Sun Street, Moorfields, where he died in adverse circumstances about 1816, aged eighty-six years, and was buried at Shoreditch Church. The age is doubtful, as he was considered an older person by those who had been intimate with him. Violins and tenors were the only instruments he made, and all were of the high model or Steiner pattern.
3At one period he was in full employ, having two or three assistants, and chiefly made instruments for the music publishers, and written labels were used. The present Thomas Kennedy (the son) states that no violoncellos were made by his father, and it is very doubtful if any were made by his workmen.
5Thomas Kennedy was born in Houghton Street, Clare Market, on the 21st January, 1784, and was the eldest son of the previous John Kennedy by the third wife. He was apprenticed to Thomas Powell, the violin-maker, 17th June, 1795; but he is more indebted to his father for the knowledge of the business, and became a neat and good workman. In making the common class instruments he was exceedingly quick and rapid in every department. At the commencement of the present century he occasionally worked for William Forster (3), but soon entered business on his own account in Princes Street, Westminster, and at length located at 364, Oxford Street, at which place he lived for thirty-three years.
7In June 1849 he was enabled to give up business, and retired to Cummin's Place, Pentonville, where his active mind and good health still enable him to reap amusement from his previous vocation. He was much employed by Messrs. Goulding, D'Almaine, and Co., and other music-houses. The exact number of instruments that were made by him is not known, but he says
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