James Gisborne. Birmingham Uk 1839-1864

[mgcsoptom]

I have two 8 keyed flutes stamped Gisborne, 37 Suffolk Street, Birmingham. I have these about 15-20 years and have had lots of fun with them. They are an odd pairing. The first came from a fiddle playing friend who collected any kind of instrument. It is a Prattens design, nickel silver key work and after re-padding, is in good order. I spotted it's stable mate on Ebay in a bit of a sorry state, cracked head and barrel and bought it because of the Birmingham connection. This is a Rudall style instrument. Suffolk street Birmingham is a stones throw away from the Digbeth area where numerous pubs were home to Irish music sessions. I lived in Birmingham throughout the 1980's and played in these sessions with many great musicians including flute players Patsy Moloney, a very young Kevin Crawford, John McMannus and more. Its always tickled me that these flutes were made round the corner and have been played on home ground over the last number of years.
To my knowledge, Gisborne was an instrument maker to the armed forces, especially brass instruments. the Pratten's designed flute has the head stamp Gisborne, but I think this may be an over stamp of another name. The keys are stamped Wylde. the rural style flute is unambiguous with all it's stamps clear and Gisborne, 37 Suffolk Street, Birmingham.
As Gisborne appears to have specialised in brass, I wonder who made these flutes and whether Gisborne business was as a supplier. If anyone can shed any light on how these businesses operated, I'd be very interested to know.

[Terry McGee]

Back in the day, some makers made and sold under their own name, but many more "made for the trade". These flutes were not stamped by the maker, but by the local dealer, so as to attract return business.

I guess back in their day, the flute itself was a better advertisement than an advertisement! Just like today. "I just played one of your flutes at a session and I need one."

You mention "Gisborne, 37 Suffolk Street, Birmingham". That suggests it was sold (and stamped!) between 1864 and 1867.

Birmingham had at least 16 makers or dealers listed back in the day (including Gisborne), but it's probably more likely that the flute was made in London or some other large centre. London had about 450 makers or dealers listed!