History - Broadwood & Sons

Broadwood & Sons

Piano - Drawing Room

In the Drawing Room, amongst the splendour of the most opulently decorated room in the House, sits an upright, walnut piano. It might not be the first object to catch your eye, with the gilded pelmets, yellow walls, grandiose candle chandelier, and numerous portraits, but it sits in the corner, dignified and understated.

It is a traditional lady’s piano, which is smaller than a full-size piano by an octave. Lady’s pianos were smaller in design so that the lady didn’t have to stretch whilst playing – a most undignified and unlady-like event.

The intricate fretwork front with floral material behind, belies a storied past. Opening up the lid reveals a plaque which reads – “Patent W. H. Wilkie (From Messrs. Broadwoods & Sons) 48 Great Russell St. Bloomsbury. London.”

For those of us that are not aware of the finer points of piano-related history – Boardwood & Sons were the pioneers of iron framed pianos. The iron frame prevented a piano going out of tune as a result of warping and shifting of the previously wooden parts, and allowed for an expanded range of octaves, as required by performers and composers at the time.  

Prior to the early 1800’s, harpsichords were all the rage. A young Burkat Shudi apprenticed with the greatest harpsichord makers of the 17th century in Antwerp with Hermann Tabel. In 1728 Shudi started his own workshop, becoming the foundation of Broadwood & Sons, and proceeded to make harpsichords for the Royal Family – Frederick, the Prince of Wales, and his father King George II. This commenced almost 300 years of making instruments for every British monarch since.

In 1761, John Broadwood came from his native Scotland to seek his fortune. Being the eldest son of the village carpenter of Oldhamstocks in Lothian Hills, John was a fine craftsman in his own right. John married Barbara, the youngest daughter of Shudi, and took over Shudi’s harpsichord business in 1771.

It wasn’t until 1763 when the first “piano” appeared in London, designed by Johannes Zumpe. After seeing this, John started to design a piano in a harpsichord case – the origin of the grand piano. This was achieved in 1777. John continued to experiment with pianos, whilst continuing his role as a leading maker of harpsichords.

By 1784, John was making more pianos than harpsichords, selling 38 harpsichords in a year, compared to 133 pianos. He continued to evolve his instruments, commissioning scientific research through the Royal Society and British Museum into improving the bass tone on the grand piano, and adding additional keys increasing the keyboard size to six octaves. Pianos eventually made harpsichords obsolete by 1793, with the last known maker going out of business in that year.

As the years went by, John was joined by his sons James & Thomas, rebranding the company as Broadwood & Sons, and increasing production to over 2,500 pianos annually. The Broadwoods were one of the largest employers of labour in London, with all parts made in-house at the London factory.

Many of the greats used Broadwood & Sons pianos in their performances including Chopin in 1848. And in 1910, a Broadwood & Sons piano was played on the ice in Antarctica at the first base-camp.

These days, the Broadwood & Sons company has begun to manufacture clavichords. Five models are currently in construction, and once complete, will be taken on a National Clavichord Tour through Britain.

Now, I hear you asking – how does this circle back to the little upright piano in Entally’s Drawing Room? Well, this little beauty is one of the first upright pianos produced by Broadwood & Sons, dating back to 1798 – a mere 21 years older than Entally House itself.