Early dulcimers: John Robinson’s 1846 dulcimer
This has been a long hunt for a maker from Huntingdonshire (now Cambridgeshire)!
David Kettlewell mentioned a dulcimer “In the Victoria and Albert [Museum] (not on display) bearing an inscription “Old Weston, Huntingdonshire, 1846”. He does not seem to have seen this one, as there is no description given. It seems to have belonged to the collector and musicologist Carl Engel and appears in a list of his instruments (published in ‘Musical Myths and Facts’ Volume 1, 1876), including other dulcimers donated to the South Kensington Museum (subsequently the Victoria & Albert Museum, now known as the V&A):
“Dulcimer; English , with movable bridges . Inscribed : “ Old Weston, Huntingdonshire, 1846.” (Musical Myths and Facts” Volume 1, 1876)
Engel started collecting in 1868 and had had donated this instrument to the South Kensington Museum before this book was published in 1876. Some of Engel’s more exotic dulcimers can be seen in the V&A online archive – a Sar Mandal and a santoor (along with the prices paid for them – santoor £2.15s; Sar Mandal £4.0s.0d; Italian £3.0s.0d).
I corresponded with curatorial staff V&A in 2020 who told me that the instrument was in poor condition and had been deaccessioned and passed on to the Horniman Museum. They also supplied the following information from their records:
“With brass and steel wire strings, movable bridges, and two hammers. Inscribed inside as made by John Robinson, 1846.”
This instrument can be seen in the Horniman online archive, where it is identified as being made by John Robinson and associated with Huntingdonshire. The instrument is said to have a label inside with the name John Robinson and the date 1846. It is highly decorated and has individual chessman bridges, 11 treble and just 2 basses. Given that it was said to be in poor condition when owned by the V&A, I suspect it has been restored and the bridges may not be in the original positions. There are two beaters made from corks which are thought to be contemporary with the instrument.
At present I think this is the earliest dateable dulcimer with individual bridges, making it significant and worth further inspection in the future.
Who was John Robinson, the maker?
After revisiting this genealogical search a number of times, I have finally unearthed the maker of this interesting instrument!
John Robinson was born in 1814 and baptised on 6 December that year in Old Weston, near Alconbury in present day Cambridgeshire. He was the oldest child of William and Elizabeth Robinson. His father was a farm labourer, but John learned the trade of coopering (barrel-making) and later worked as a grocer and a carrier. After his first wife died, he remarried and on that marriage record his occupation is given as ‘mechanic’ – a term which covered a multitude of manufacturing and repairing activities. However in 1881, both he and his then 21 year old son, Cornelius, were listed in the census as musicians – a pivotal finding in the identification of this John Robinson as the maker of the dulcimer. In the 1891 census John and Cornelius are downgraded to higglers and hawkers – i.e. they were making their living on the streets – peddling small goods and possibly still performing music. John lived his entire life in Old Weston and died in March 1899.
John Robinson would have been 32 when he made the dulcimer, and unmarried. It was sold onto the collector Carl Engel about 20 years after its manufacture, and Robinson was still alive at the time of its sale.
All images courtesy of the Horniman Museum.
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