John Broadwood (6 October 1732 – 17 July 1812) was the Scottish founder of the

piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

manufacturer Broadwood and Sons.

Life

Broadwood was born 6 October 1732 and christened 15 Oct 1732 at St Helens,

Cockburnspath Cockburnspath ( ) is a village in Berwickshire in the Scottish Borders. It lies near the North Sea coast between Berwick-upon-Tweed and Dunbar. Cockburnspath is the eastern terminus of the Southern Upland Way as well as the northern terminus of ...

in Berwickshire, and grew up in Oldhamstocks,

East Lothian East Lothian (; ; ) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland, as well as a Counties of Scotland, historic county, registration county and Lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area. The county was called Haddingtonshire until 1921. In ...

. He inherited his father James Broadwood's (b1697 Oldhamstocks) profession, that of a wright or carpenter/ joiner, and as a young man walked from Oldhamstocks to

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, a distance of almost , where he worked for the

harpsichord A harpsichord is a musical instrument played by means of a musical keyboard, keyboard. Depressing a key raises its back end within the instrument, which in turn raises a mechanism with a small plectrum made from quill or plastic that plucks one ...

maker Burkat Shudi. Burkat Shudi died in 1773, and John Broadwood took control of the company from his brother-in-law in 1783. Broadwood is credited, together with Robert Stodart, founder of another famous firm of piano makers, with helping Americus Backers to perfect the English Grand Action, which remained in use by many makers virtually unchanged for 70 years and, in Broadwoods' case over 100 years, and continued in use in various improved forms until the early years of the 20th century. In time his sales of pianos exceeded those of harpsichords, to the point that he ceased to manufacture harpsichords in 1793. He died in

. Broadwood's other technical innovations in piano manufacture include: adding a separate bridge for the bass notes,

patent A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an sufficiency of disclosure, enabling discl ...

ing the piano pedal in 1783 and expanding the then-standard five

octave In music, an octave (: eighth) or perfect octave (sometimes called the diapason) is an interval between two notes, one having twice the frequency of vibration of the other. The octave relationship is a natural phenomenon that has been referr ...

range upwards by half an

, in response to a request of Dussek, and then by half an octave downwards. As a company, Broadwood and Sons prospered, and was passed into the hands of his sons, James Shudi Broadwood and Thomas Broadwood.

Family

John married Shudi's daughter Barbara in 1769. They had four children, then Barbara died. He then married Mary Kitson in 1781 and had a further six children. Many of his descendants were involved in pianoforte manufacturing in England and some were involved in the

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

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during the reign of

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in January 1901. Her reign of 63 year ...

. Others emigrated to

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

, where Broadwood descendants still live. The Broadwood

family tree A family tree, also called a genealogy or a pedigree chart, is a chart representing family relationships in a conventional tree structure. More detailed family trees, used in medicine and social work, are known as genograms. Representations of ...

can be traced back to circa 1580. The British general Robert Broadwood (1862–1917) was a grandson by his son Thomas (son by John's second wife Mary Kitson) and Mary Athlea Matthews.

References

* ''Piano: An Encyclopedia'', page 57 * ''Pianos and Their Makers'' by Alfred Dolge, page 244 * ''Broadwood by Appointment'' by David Wainwright, Quiller Press, London 1982

External links

John Broadwood and Sons
official website
John Broadwood and Sons Piano Manufacturers
by Sally Jenkinson, Surrey County Council
John Broadwood & Sons (Grand Piano 16000) - ''The Piano in Polish Collections''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Broadwood, John 1732 births 1812 deaths Broadwood family People from Berwickshire People from East Lothian Scottish company founders Harpsichord makers Piano makers Scottish inventors Scottish musical instrument makers 18th-century Scottish businesspeople 19th-century Scottish businesspeople