C F Allen < Back C F Allen ...of 193 Great Brinswick Street, Dublin was a successful teacher of the banjo and a promoter of local concerts from about 1890 to the turn of the century. He sold banjos bearing his name as maker but it is thought they were made for him by Barnes & Mullins. Previous Next

Item List Thomas William Bacon 1841 to 1918 Read More

Item List Riley - Baker Read More

Item List John G Abbott 1878 to 1938 Read More

Baldwin < Back Baldwin In October 1966 it was announced that the Baldwin Piano and Organ Company of Cincinnati, OH, had bought the Ode Banjo Company of Boulder, Colorado. The Ode Factory at Boulder, With Mel Placke as Plant Manager and Charles Ogsbury as consultant continue to make the banjos in three styles sold under the name of Baldwin through the companies guitar division. Pictures courtesy of Intermountain Guitar & Banjo Previous Next

Item List Ball, Beavon & Co Read More

Barnes & Mullins < Back Barnes & Mullins 1872-1932 and 1873-1954 ....Samuel Bowley Barnes (b 1872 in Wimborne, Dorset) and Albert Edward Mullins (b 1873 in Bristol) were boyhood friends in their home town of Wimborne where they worked together at the local grocers shop. As young men they decide to join forces to become dealers in musical instruments; mainly selling banjos and mandolins in which they were particularly interested. Being players of no mean ability their public appearances helped them to sell their goods and soon they were despatching instruments all over the country, also because of their advertising and the launching (in February 1894) of their monthly fretted Instrument magazine called “The 'Jo." ("The 'Jo" title was changed to “The Troubadour" after a couple of years.) Both their sets of parents had died during the 1880's and while Mullins was living with his brother in law in 1891 neither appear on the 1901 census. They started to sell their "own" make of banjo but these were made for them by J. G. Abbott , W. E. Temlett . Windsor , Matthew , etc. - the usual makers "to the trade" at that time. It was in 1897 they patented their “mute attachment" which was fitted to B. & M. zither-banjos and worked from under the vellum. At the end of 1900 they moved to London and established themselves at Rathbone Place, off London's Oxford Street, as a wholesale house in all musical instruments and merchandise and, soon after, started their own workshops at Harrow, Middlesex. which at first were under the supervision of John G Abbott. During the dance-band boom they marketed- their "Lyratone" banjos, plectrum banjos and tenor-banjo which enjoyed considerable popularity. A feature of these instruments was the all-metal construction of the hoops. In 1924 Barnes was granted a patent simplifying the tensioning of the skin on a zither banjo through a redesigned tension ring. They ceased making banjos soon after the outbreak of World War II. the instruments branded "B. & M." sold from about 1965, have been made for them in Germany. Previous Next

Robert H Benary < Back Robert H Benary .. was a instrument retailer/maker in New York in the last decade of the 19th C, who's banjo's were probably made by Buckbee. He was issued a patent for a tail piece and around 1895 the company changed its name to the Metropolitan Musical Instrument Co. They marketed both 5, 6 & 7 string banjo's fretted or flush fret under the "Celebrated Benary" name engraved on a plate on the heel. Previous Next

George Jordan ( b 1807-c1854), a musical instrument maker came to Liverpool from Ireland where he married Alice Walmsley. Employing several relatives they manufactured musical instruments out of 42 Manchester Street, Liverpool. On the death of his father, George Jordan jnr. ( b 1832) set up business at 67 Dale Street ( see RJ Ward) making and selling instruments while his mother Alice Jordan (1810–c1872) continued out of Manchester Street with her daughter Alice running the shop and nephew William Jordan making instruments. By 1910 the premises at 42 Manchester Street had ceased trading and George Jordan jnr had moved out of Dale Street but was still in the music industry. Alice Jordan 1810 - c1872 next maker

... a teacher, player and composer for fretted instruments, established a workshop and studio at 84 High Street, Clapham, London, in 1880. His extremely well-made banjos and (after 1888 - Ed.) zither-banjos soon gained a name with professionals and amateurs alike in and around London. He employed a number of workmen and made a great number of instruments each week for a number of years. As a professional player of the banjo he used the nom de plume of Dick Spence. By 1883 he was making banjos with an insert strip of ebony through the centre of the two-piece neck .and in 1897 he was advertising the "Spencer. & Watkins' Patent Banjo," although no details of Watkins or the features of the "patent" banjo have been discovered. In addition to his prolific output of instruments bearing his own name, Spencer also made-banjos and zither banjos for others which were branded with the seller's name. He made extensively for Essex & Cammeyer in the early days of their partnership and for Clifford Essex for a number of years. When Richard Spencer died on April 2nd, 1915, Clifford Essex bought his plant and stocks of material from his son who had no interest in banjo making. It is interesting to note that Alfred Dare (who had started work in the Spencer workshops at the age of 14 took charge of the Clifford Essex workshops on the death of Spencer. Will Mitchell (who succeeded Dare as foreman of the Clifford Essex workshops) was also employed by Spencer for some years. In 1910 Spencer moved from Clapham High Street to 364 Clapham Road. Images courtesy of Skip Sail. Richard "Dick" Spencer 1863 to 1915 next maker

... was born in Clerkenwell London, of Scottish parents and trained as a jeweler. He subsequently moved to Birmingham as a Schools Inspectior where he married and then established his Reliance Works in Heaton Street, Birmingham in 1888. The range of banjos and zither-banjos he made were branded "Reliance." His well made inexpensive range of instruments quickly found favour with dealers and players alike and before long his factory was extended, his staff increased and the name changed to G. Houghton & Sons. Production was almost wholly devoted to making instruments for other firms to be branded with the vendor's name and/or trademark. By 1901 his business had expanded and, now resident in Staffordhsire, he was also making the cardboard and leather cases for his instruments, which were also branded "Reliance." Houghton's maintained a stock catalogue of instruments (usually marked with a gold-embossed lion with the initials G. H. & S. underneath) with which many retailers and most of the wholesale houses made up their own catalogues. One of the most popular selling lines of their banjos was the inexpensive instruments labelled "Melody Jo." Besides making, their own stock instruments they would also copy other firms' prototypes for them, to be branded with the latter's name as "makers". In 1962, town-planning development in Birmingham plus staff difficulties finally decided George Houghton (son of the founder) to close down and he moved to London to become associated with John E. Dallas & Sons Ltd. The plant and materials and a few of his key workers he brought from Birmingham was established in a factory at 12 Gravel Hill, Bexleyheath, Kent, and from that time until he retired in 1965 he made the inexpensive banjos sold under the Dallas label. George Houghton 1849 to 1913 next maker

.. of 60 Colombo Road, llford, and then 100 Felbrigge Road, Goodmayes, was a successful teacher of the fretted instruments in the llford Forest Gate and Romford areas 0f Essex who flourished from soon after 1900 up to 1936. He sold a high- class well-made banjo which bore his name and address as "maker" but the characteristics of these instruments seem to indicate they were made for him by J. G. Abbott . He moved from Felbrigge Road in April 1930 and no banjos appear to have been sold by him after this date. W G Davis Do you have a banjo by this maker? can you supply us some images? next maker