C. Wheatstone & Co.
Directory
Resources in the Concertina Library for C. Wheatstone & Co.
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The House of Wheatstone 1750-1950
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by Henry Minting
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Brief overview of Wheatstone & Co. business history by its last manager,
perhaps a draft with a view to use in a catalogue or similar publication.
Unpublished manuscript (2 pp.), Horniman Museum Library,
Wayne Archives, item no. C1065.
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Posted 15 November 2001
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» read full article in pdf
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Improvements in Concertinas, &c. (1861)
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by William Wheatstone
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British Patent No. 2289 of 1861, Provisional Specification (14 September 1861) and
Specification (14 March 1862) with thirty-three figures. 38 pages.
"Improvements in Concertinas, &c.".
Improvements on the preceding concertina patents,
including a duet arrangement which reappears eighty years later
in one of the "Wheatstone Edeophones".
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Posted 15 November 2001
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» read full document in pdf
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Wheatstone English Concertina Pricelists
- collected by Chris Algar
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Most of these pricelists were found in old concertina cases. From internal evidence it is
possible to date the lists c. 1915 to c. 1965 (plus one very early pricelist dated 1848,
from the collection of the Horniman Museum, and a list published as an advertisement
in a trade directory in 1859). These lists contain information about Wheatstone
model numbers and descriptions which are useful to interpret the Wheatstone Concertina Ledgers.
See also Duet pricelists from Wheatstone.
See also Anglo pricelists from Wheatstone.
- Posted 15 May 2003
- » go to directory
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Wheatstone Duet Concertina Pricelists
- collected by Chris Algar
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Most of these pricelists were found in old concertina cases. From internal evidence it is
possible to date the lists c. 1910 to c. 1965 (plus one very early pricelist for Double duets c. 1850).
These lists contain information about Wheatstone
model numbers and descriptions which are useful to interpret the Wheatstone Concertina Ledgers.
See also English pricelists from Wheatstone.
See also Anglo pricelists from Wheatstone.
- Posted 15 February 2003
- » go to directory
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Wheatstone Anglo Concertina Pricelists
- collected by Chris Algar
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Most of these pricelists were found in old concertina cases. From internal evidence it is
possible to date the lists c. 1910 to c. 1965. These lists contain information about Wheatstone
model numbers and descriptions which are useful to interpret the Wheatstone Concertina Ledgers.
See also English pricelists from Wheatstone.
See also Duet pricelists from Wheatstone.
- Posted 15 February 2003
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Wheatstone Concertina Ledgers
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Directory
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Historical business records of C. Wheatstone & Co. from
the Horniman Museum in London. Earlier ledgers from the Wayne Archives
contain company sales records from the late 1830s to the 1860s
along with production records from the 1860s to the 1890s and some
early records of wages and other payments. Later ledgers from the Dickinson Archives
contain production records from 1910 to 1974. All surviving ledgers
have been digitized (some 2,300 pages in total) and made available free on the web for
private research.
The same material is also available to buy on an inexpensive CD.
Includes an introduction to the project by Margaret Birley, Keeper of Musical Instruments at
the Horniman Museum, and an article by Robert Gaskins describing in detail how the ledgers
were digitized.
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Posted 15 June 2003; Updated 15 June 2005
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» go to directory
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Serial Number and Date Indexes to the Wheatstone Ledgers
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Directory
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Indexes listed on this page contain serial numbers and dates from
the Wheatstone Ledgers at the Horniman Museum, London.
Each item listed is a single index (either serial numbers or dates) to a single ledger.
Indexes lead to the ledger identification and page number as
a live link: click on it to see the colour photograph of the page from which the
information was taken. There is also an
automated lookup which finds all records for any single serial number
throughout all the indexed ledgers.
(Only indexes to nineteenth-century ledgers are yet completed. Additional indexes
to the twentieth-century ledgers will be listed here as they are published.)
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Posted 15 December 2005; updated 01 February 2006
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» go to directory
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Serial Number Muddle in Early Wheatstone Ledgers
- by Wes Williams
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A major contribution to the muddling of serial numbers in the early ledgers is that
multiple ranges of serial numbers are in use at any one date, and this is further
complicated by instrument exchanges and hires. The multiple ranges begin as a feature of sales
before 1850, but after that the multiple range-lines dominate the structure of sales,
with many simultaneous ranges extended over longer periods. Scatter-plots of
serial numbers and dates transcribed from the Wheatstone Ledgers reveal the pattern.
This is a preliminary version dealing only with the
first four ledgers (to early 1854); the completed article will appear soon.
- Posted 15 December 2005
- » read full article
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Ladies in the Wheatstone Ledgers: the Gendered Concertina in Victorian England, 1835–1870
- by Allan W. Atlas
- This study looks at the 978 women for whom there are 1,769 transactions—about 12% of the
total—recorded in nine extant Wheatstone & Co. sales ledgers that list the firm’s day-to-day sales
from April 1835 to May 1870. It is in two parts: (1) an Introduction, which analyses the data presented
in the Inventory from a demographic-sociological point of view and places Wheatstone’s commerce
with women into the context of its business activity as a whole; and (2) the Inventory (with
three appendices), which lists every transaction for each of the 978 women, identifies as many of them
as possible, and offers a miscellany of comments about both the women and the transactions.
Royal Musical Association Research Chronicle v. 39 (2006). 239 pages.
Briefly,
the roster of Wheatstone’s female customers reads like a list of Victorian England’s rich-and-famous:
the Duchess of Wellington and 146 other members of the titled aristocracy (more than twice as many
as their male counterparts), the fabulously wealthy philanthropist Angela Burdett Coutts, members
of the landed gentry, and such mainstays of London’s musical life as the guitarist Madame R. Sidney
Pratten, the organist Elizabeth Mounsey, and the contralto Helen Charlotte Dolby, as well as a large
number of Professors of Concertina.
- Posted 21 March 2007
- » read full article
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Wheatstone Promotional Calendar for 1923
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by Wheatstone & Co.
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An advertising card issued by Wheatstone & Co. with
a calendar for 1923, West Street address, size 2 inches by 3 1/4 inches.
Single image in GIF format, size 305 pixels wide by 483 pixels high.
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Posted 01 January 2005
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» view picture
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Wheatstone “Æola” Trademark 1923
- from Robert Gaskins
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Trade Marks Journal showing the “Æola” image registered as a trademark by
“C. Wheatstone & Co., 15, West Street, London, W.C.2; Manufacturers.”
Registration No. 440,676; application received 12th September 1923,
publication date Oct. 31, 1923 (No. 2379). No statement made about prior use.
Class of goods: 9, Concertinas.
- Posted 07 March 2005
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» read full document in pdf
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Wheatstone “Wheatstone” Trademark 1923
- from Robert Gaskins
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Trade Marks Journal showing the “Wheatstone” image registered as a trademark by
“C. Wheatstone & Co., 15, West Street, London, W.C.2; Manufacturers.”
Registration No. 440,677; application received 12th September 1923,
publication date Dec. 12, 1923 (No. 2385). Stated to be “Advertised before
acceptance, the Applicants alleging distinctiveness.”
Class of goods: 9, Concertinas.
- Posted 07 March 2005
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» read full document in pdf
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Fingering Systems of the “Wheatstone” Concertina
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by C. Wheatstone & Co.
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A leaflet showing the four concertina systems made by Wheatstone in the
late 1950s: English, Anglo, Chidley duet, and Crane/Triumph duet.
As was Wheatstone’s invariable practise, the Chidley system is
called simply the “Wheatstone Duet” (as the Maccann system had
also been styled previously), and there is no mention of the fact that
the keyboard layout has been changed—apart from the evidence of the keyboard diagram.
The printing is apparently before 1956,
but this copy was issued with overstamping dating from at least 1959.
Collected by Chris Algar.
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Posted 15 February 2003
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» read full document in pdf
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The Wheatstone English Concertina
- by Neil Wayne
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Survey article covering the Wheatstone English Concertina, the only
published source for much of Neil Wayne's path-breaking research.
As published in The Galpin Society Journal 44 (1991), 117-149. (The
online version does not yet perfectly match the printed version.)
- Posted 01 January 2005
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» go to website
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A Wheatstone Twelve-Sided 'Edeophone' Concertina with Pre-Maccann Chromatic Duet Fingering
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by Neil Wayne, Margaret Birley, and Robert Gaskins
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A duet concertina (serial no. 35074) with a unique fingering arrangement, made by Wheatstone
in 1938, turns out to be a realization of a design from Wm. Wheatstone's patent of 1861.
The instrument is twelve-sided, a Registered Design feature of Lachenal & Co., and it
turns out to be one of at least sixteen twelve-sided instruments made by Wheatstone between
1934 and 1941. The instrument is now in the collection of the Horniman Museum, London.
As published in The Free-Reed Journal 3 (2001): 3-17.
This HTML version of the article adds a number of additional photographs and
active links to many of the sources cited in the published article.
Updated 15 August 2003: Footnote 11 updated to record that Randall C. Merris has
located instrument serial #33301, another of the set of three twelve-sided 40-key Anglos.
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Posted 15 November 2001; last updated 15 August 2003
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»
read full article
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»
read original article (without updates or additions) in pdf
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The Wheatstone Factory in Islington, 1961
- by British Pathe Newsreels
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Concertinas are made and played at a
factory in Islington, 03 April 1961.
From newsreel "Colour Pictorial 327", 1961, Pathe Film ID 137.02.
Available for free preview at reduced quality at the British Pathe website.
Original title: "Concertina Factory
(aka Concert in a Factory)".
- Posted 01 January 2005
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» go to website
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Dates of Concertinas
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by Henry Minting
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One sheet of blurred manual typing with dim hand-written additions, and another sheet
(in two copies) possibly re-typed later from the first on an electric typewriter,
with "Dates of Concertinas" relating Wheatstone serial numbers to dates of
manufacture. These were discussed and an attempt made to arrive at a reliable
partial transcription, in Robert Gaskins,
Wheatstone Anglos with Serial Numbers 50,000+,
2001.
Unpublished manuscripts, Horniman Museum Library.
Neither sheet has yet been catalogued at the Horniman, but these
appear to constitute item number C1045 in Neil Wayne's finding list to
his archives, which is described as "C1045. A copy of a complete
dating list for Wheatstone Concertinas, compiled by Henry Minting.
All numbers from 1 - 58485 are covered, with approximate dates of
manufacture." ("The Concertina Museum, Archives", page 40.)
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Posted 01 February 2005
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» read full document in pdf
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Dates for Wheatstone Concertinas
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by Nigel Pickles
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A mysterious listing sent to Concertina Magazine by "Nigel Pickles from the U.K."
giving dates of manufacture for Wheatstone Concertinas up to 1957. There is no
hint of its source, but for the period up to 1938 it closely resembles a
list attributed by Neil Wayne
to Henry Minting.
As published in Concertina Magazine (Australia), No. 12 (Autumn 1985), pp 10-11.
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Posted 01 February 2005
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» read full document in pdf
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Wheatstone Anglos with Serial Numbers 50,000+
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by Robert Gaskins
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Between 1938 and 1974 Wheatstone & Co.
manufactured concertinas in two parallel series of serial numbers;
Englishes and Duets were given numbers #3XXXX, and Anglos were given
numbers #5XXXX. During these 37 years Wheatstone manufactured about
2,129 Englishes and Duets, with serial numbers from about #34955
through #37083, and some 9,498 Anglos, with serial numbers from #50001
through #59498. Yet, for unknown reasons, this vast population of
late Wheatstone Anglos with #50000+ numbers are not seen nearly as
often as one would expect.
The original version of this article appeared on the net at
concertina.net,
and at
Concertina FAQ.
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Posted 23 June 2001
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» read full article
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An Annotated Catalogue of Historic European Free-Reed Instruments from my Private Collection
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by Stephen Chambers
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A very important paper describing nineteen instruments which illustrate key points in the development of
European free-reed instruments, with large color photographs.
This paper was presented at the 20th Musikinstrumentenbau-Symposium at Stiftung Kloster Michaelstein, held
19–21 November 1999, to coincide with an exhibition of the instruments.
As Published in Harmonium und Handharmonika (Michaelsteiner Konferenzberichte 62), edited by Monika Lustig,
Michaelstein, 2002, pp. 181-194.
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Posted 15 January 2004
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» read full article
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The Concertina History Resource
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by Wes Williams
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This site (still early in its development) contains historical
information about concertinas and concertina makers. A timeline
helps to organize information about the changes of name and address
among the major makers as bits of data are discovered. One
use for this information is to help in answering the question “when
was my concertina made?” which is very difficult to answer
for most makers.
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Posted 15 February 2003
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» go to website
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Wheatstone, His Sighing Reed, and The Great Regondi
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Presented by Bernard Richardson
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BBC programme on the history and music of the English concertina,
focusing on its inventor Sir Charles Wheatstone and the first concertina virtuoso Giulio Regondi.
In addition to the presenter, Bernard Richardson, the program features (in order of appearance)
Allan Atlas, Neil Wayne, Brian Bowers, Alistair Anderson, Douglas Rogers, Jenny Cox, and Dave Townsend.
BBC Radio4 programme broadcast 27 November 2007.
Includes links to audio files of the entire programme in WMA format and MP3 format.
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Posted 27 November 2007
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» read full article
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The Concertina Man
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Presented by Peter Day,
Produced by Neil Koenig
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BBC programme on the history and music of the concertina,
focusing on its inventor Sir Charles Wheatstone as a somewhat belated
recognition of his bicentenary in 2002. In addition to the presenter, Peter Day,
the program features (in order of appearance)
Bob Gaskins, Brian Bowers, Margaret Birley, Stephen Chambers,
Frank James, Douglas Rogers, Sean Minnie, and Steve Dickinson. The program
was produced by Neil Koenig.
BBC World Service programme broadcast 07 September 2004.
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Posted 22 November 2004
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» read full article
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C. Wheatstone & Co.
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by Steve Dickinson
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Professor Sir Charles Wheatstone’s original
patent concertina manufactory, still in business and on the web.
After many difficulties following World War II, the business was bought
in 1975 by Steve Dickinson, who succeeded in
restoring its pre-war reputation for making the finest-quality instruments.
The site lists the current prices for Duets, Englishes, and Anglos, but potential purchasers
also need to inquire about the waiting list—recently several years long.
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Posted 15 February 2003
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» go to website
Do you know another resource that we should include?
Tell us about it.
Reprinted from the Concertina Library
http://www.concertina.com
© Copyright 2000– by Robert Gaskins
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C. Wheatstone & Co. premises,
15 West Street, Charing Cross,
to which they moved in 1905.
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