(Published in The Strad, July 2004)
Alan Coggins and Michael Lea examine the lives and work of two Australian violin making pioneers
"There is no town in the world where so much music is consumed as London." So wrote Hector Berlioz after his visit there to assist in the judging of musical instruments at the Great Exhibition in 1851. All over England, music could be found in churches, clubs and taverns as well as on the street, and large audiences would regularly flock to hear orchestras and ensembles. Domestic playing was also popular, spurred on by individuals wanting to emulate the skills of the virtuosos or at least to enjoy at home the tunes they had heard in the early music halls. For musical instrument makers and repairers, business must have been booming.
On the other side of the globe, Australia in the 1850s was a very different place. The discomforts of heat and flies (not to mention the snakes and spiders) were being overshadowed by a much more powerful attraction - gold. Its discovery in various locations in New South Wales and Victoria led to a dramatic increase in population. In Victoria for example, the population jumped from just 67,000 in 1851 to more than half a million over the next decade. Melbourne, the closest city to the gold rush towns of Ballarat and Bendigo, was rapidly being 'built with gold'.
Even for those immigrants not actively involved in the search for gold, there was always the prospect of making a healthy living in providing for the needs of the increasing population. Could this be what motivated a 44-year-old trained violin maker to leave a potentially lucrative working environment in London and risk a hazardous three-month voyage to the other side of the world? Whether it was the pull of a new life in Australia or the push of the old life in England is open to speculation. However, we do know that John Devereux arrived in Melbourne in 1854 and by 1860 had established himself as a proficient maker with a growing reputation.
Devereux is considered to be the first trained violin maker to work successfully in Australia. Prior to this there are only sporadic references, such as a record of a label in a violin stating: 'Repaired by Patrick Murphy, Harp, Serpent and Violin Maker, Clarence St, Sydney, 1817', or the mention of an early free settler, Daniel Dering Mathew, who made a violin entirely from native timbers and sent it to the colonial secretary in 1823. William Henry Dow might also be thought to have some claim, as he too arrived in Melbourne in 1854, but he is not known to have been a trained maker and his occupation was recorded as pattern maker at various times throughout his life.
Devereux is said to have trained in the workshop of Bernhard Simon Fendt, who had learnt initially with his father in John Betts's workshop and later worked in partnership with Charles Joseph Farn and then George Purdy. Both Fendt and his 19-year-old son, who was working with him as an assistant, died in 1852. By all accounts Devereux would have had a good teacher, as Fendt's workmanship is highly rated, although his ethics may not have been quite up to a similar standard.
According to W. Meredith Morris in British Violin Makers (1920), Fendt was 'as clever and ingenious a workman as ever handled gouge and callipers in this country, and, in my opinion, as unscrupulous as he was clever'. This must have been a family trait, as Morris adds, 'All the Fendts were counterfeiters, more or less - generally more, not less - and in so far as they departed from the paths of "righteous dealing", they deserve nothing but the execration of posterity and the contempt of the historian, their cleverness notwithstanding. Cleverness does not atone for fraud.'
What Devereux thought of the Fendts' counterfeiting activities is not known, but it is evident that he did not follow in their footsteps and stray from the 'path of righteous dealing' - there is no chance that his instruments would be mistaken for the works of the classical masters. Devereux included his own innovations, most notably a tension bar that connected the top and bottom blocks internally, supposedly to help the instruments cope with the rigorous conditions they would encounter in the colonies.
Devereux is best regarded today for his basses, though he also made violins, violas and cellos. He was an accomplished bass player and perhaps felt more comfortable with building the larger instruments as his violins were made with what Henley's Universal Dictionary calls 'rather excessive proportions'. One example in the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney, dated 1869, has a back length of 376mm, while another 1871 violin is a more modest but still large 361mm. However, both instruments show a control and harmony that indicates a trained and highly competent maker.
All the features of the 1869 violin combine to give it a larger-than-life appearance. The purfling is set well in at 4.5mm and with the stout corners it gives an overall impression of boldness and strength. The edge thickness is also generous, and the overhangs range from 3.5 to 4.5mm. Only the rib heights (29 to 31mm) could be considered standard. The belly is one piece, probably not surprising considering the supply of bass wood that Devereux must have had on hand. The front arching is gracefully executed with a wide channel that narrows through the C-bouts, and a flat section that extends across the middle third of the arch. The arching on the one-piece back appears to be flatter, though there is some sinking in the upper half that makes it difficult to assess.
The f-holes are perhaps the only incongruity. In an attempt to make them work on the long body, Devereux not only elongated them but also had to resort to reversing the nicks - even so, the body stop is 199mm. This lengthening combined with the small upper eye gives them a slender elegance that is not quite in keeping with the rest of the instrument. The scroll echoes the body's solid appearance with strong fluting and wide chamfers. On the back of the pegbox the fluting has flat-bottomed curves to give a sharply defined central spine. The tension bar remains inside the violin. It is oval in cross section and connects the top and bottom blocks, staying well clear of the plates. The varnish on this instrument is a golden yellow-brown and although thinly applied it is showing considerable durability. Some other Devereux instruments have a thicker, much more strongly coloured red varnish.
The trade fairs and exhibitions of today had their antecedents during the second half of the 19th century, when international exhibitions of trade and industry were an important way for both nations and individuals to showcase their achievements. Australia followed England's lead in staging regular 'grand exhibitions', and Devereux obviously recognised their value in raising his profile as a maker. He exhibited in at least three in Melbourne: the 1861 Intercolonial Exhibition, the 1866-7 Intercolonial Exhibition of Australasia and the 1872-3 Victorian Exhibition. The entry for the 1861 exhibition indicates that he had already begun to experiment with 'colonial timbers':
Devereux, John, 18 Marion St., Fitzroy - Musical Instruments of Colonial Wood - 1 3/4 Double Bass copy of Palo [sic] Maggini with Improved Tension-Bar. One Bass-Viol, copy of Gaspar de Cavero, with ditto. One violin, copy of Joseph Grarnarious [sic]. One violin with Improved Pegs. One Violin, copy of Joseph Grarnarious [sic] (English wood).
Devereux was awarded a certificate at the 1861 exhibition and improved his result in the 1866 exhibition by gaining a gold medal. In the jurors' report they 'congratulate the colonies on possessing so talented a stringed instrument maker, his specimens being admirable in every respect'. By this time he already had an emulator in H.B. Grover, who was also exhibiting 'violins, viola & violoncello with improved tension bars'.
But Devereux was soon to gain a much more prestigious accolade. In 1867 Australia had its first royal visitor in Prince Alfred the Duke of Edinburgh, who arrived on board the warship H.M.S. Galatea. Prince Alfred, himself a violinist, attended various musical engagements staged in his honour and it was probably at one of these that he met Devereux, who was said to have played the bass in Melbourne's Government House.
A Melbourne newspaper, The Argus, reported on 15 January 1868 that, 'Mr John Devereux of Fitzroy had an interview with His Royal Highness the Duke of Edinburgh, before his departure from the colony, and presented him with a beautiful violin of his own manufacture... His Royal Highness was pleased to appoint Mr Devereux as his instrument maker in the colony and promised that the necessary appointment should be forwarded from home.' This royal appointment was almost cut short in dramatic circumstances a short time later: in March 1868 the duke was shot and badly wounded in Sydney by Henry James O'Farrell, who was later hanged for the crime. Fortunately the duke survived and so did Devereux's royal endorsement, which he used on subsequent making and repairing labels.
Devereux died in 1883 at the age of 73, predeceased by his wife and without children to take over his business. He is known to have had at least one apprentice, Richard Gilmore, who continued to gain mileage from the royal accreditation by stating on his label, 'pupil of John Devereux, Violin Maker to H.R.H. The Duke of Edinburgh'. Gilmore appears to have also used Devereux's varnish. Another maker, Henry Francis Lewis, was also reported to have worked with Devereux in Melbourne for a time before moving to Sydney and he too used a similar varnish.
The musical scene in Sydney was also active and growing, but the musicians there had to show more patience. It was not until the 1870s that a maker and repairer of Devereux's calibre, A.W. Heaps, arrived and began a long successful career in that city.
Alfred Walter Heaps was born in 1853, the fifth son of John Knowles Heaps, a semi-professional maker working in Leeds. John Heaps had been awarded a medal for a cello in the 1851 Great Exhibition at the Crystal Palace and was reputedly also a friend of the British prime minister, W.E. Gladstone. According to family sources he presented Gladstone with one of his violins and in return the prime minister gave Heaps some wood cut from his own estate.
Alfred Heaps had studied the violin from an early age, but he also showed considerable aptitude for violin making. In 1869 he was apprenticed to Handel Pickard in Leeds and remained there until 1874, when he went to work with his father. In 1875, along with his father, Heaps exhibited a quartet of instruments at the Yorkshire Exhibition for which they gained an award.
Unlike Devereux, Heaps's reasons for migrating to Australia are clear. He had been offered a position as manager of a musical department for the wholesale house Hamburger Brothers in George Street, Sydney, and he already had family connections in Australia. Heaps's elder brother, Christopher Spencer Heaps, had migrated in 1871 and it is likely that he arranged the job for his younger sibling. It is not known whether Christopher also trained as a violin maker, but he did enter some instruments under the name St Heaps into the Sydney International Exhibition in 1879 and was highly commended. However, these instruments could well have been made by his father or brother, as they are not specifically listed as having been produced by Christopher or of 'colonial manufacture'.
Alfred Heaps joined his brother in Australia in 1876, bringing with him much of the family wood, supposedly dating back to 1828 and including some of the Gladstone timber. He quickly gained a considerable reputation as a violin maker and repairer and increasing demands led him to set up his own business at 466 Oxford Street, Paddington, where he worked until his death in 1906. An 1884 violin by A.W. Heaps in the Powerhouse Museum has the name and year handwritten on the inside of the back, suggesting it was made before he had established himself as an independent maker. There is also another inscription, 'A.W.H. 1885', so Heaps must have opened the violin again the following year - presumably for a modification or repair.
The violin shows a more refined and moderate style when compared to the expansive approach taken by Devereux. It has a fuller arching that rises from just inside the purfling and the channels are very shallow, almost disappearing through the C-bouts. There is a short flat section in the long arch, restricted to the region of the f-holes. The purfling has thin blacks and is set in at a bare 3mm, giving the edgework a delicate appearance.
The f-holes are more open with a generous upper eye and restrained nicks. The delicacy of style is carried through to the scroll, which is accurately laid out and neatly cut with open turns and a wide throat. The varnish is a mid-reddish-brown over a lighter golden-brown base. Unlike Devereux, Heaps used no pins in his construction. Heaps trained his eldest son, Christopher Knowles Heaps, in the business and after his father's death Christopher continued trading under his own name in Randwick.
It is not known whether he made any instruments, but some bridges bearing his stamp exist in the Powerhouse Museum's collection. He must also have been a competent violinist because in 1916, in a reversal of his father's own career choice, he gave up working on instruments to become a professional player. This was the same year that his uncle Christopher died; and coincidentally, it also marks the start of the next significant era in Australian violin making. By 1916 A.E. Smith - arguably Australia's most important maker - had not only established himself in Sydney but was starting to employ additional workers such as William Paszek, Charles Clarke and William Dolphin. These makers were all able to build successful careers on the strong foundations laid by the 19th-century pioneers of Australian violin making. In coming to Australia as trained and experienced makers, Devereux and Heaps transferred knowledge and skills from a country with a strong musical heritage to an emergent nation still finding its musical feet. But perhaps more importantly, they raised the standards of the craft in Australia and helped to foster a new sense of professionalism in the business of making and repairing stringed instruments.