<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3c.org/TR/1999/REC-html401-19991224/loose.dtd">
<HTML><HEAD>
<META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><!-- Network content -->
<META content="MSHTML 6.00.2900.2995" name=GENERATOR>
<STYLE></STYLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff" bgColor=#ffffff>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>As I started this one running, can I just thank all
who contributed. We now have the answers at 56-3-22 and 40-1-11</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Sympathies to those who missed RCO's little joke
(not bad for him) about Gillett and Bland!</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>To change the subject, it's worth mentioning that
the dates for Gillett & Bland suggested by Howard need some qualification. I
did a bit of work a couple of years ago on the "signatures" used by the Croydon
firm, as I had become aware that the official dates for versions of the company
name (as in Elphick's Sussex) didn't quite correspond with the names found on
their bells. I wanted to know which name to assign to bells found in the firm's
records at different dates.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN lang=EN-GB>An initial
listing – based on the firm’s title as given in inscriptions on some 260 bells –
indicates that the following names were used:</SPAN></P>
<UL style="MARGIN-TOP: 0in" type=disc>
<LI class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in"><SPAN
lang=EN-GB>Gillett and Bland, 1878-1881</SPAN></LI>
<LI class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in"><SPAN
lang=EN-GB>Gillett, Bland & Co, 1878-1884</SPAN></LI>
<LI class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in"><SPAN
lang=EN-GB>Gillett & Co, 1883-1892</SPAN></LI>
<LI class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in"><SPAN
lang=EN-GB>Gillett & Johnston [1891 – uncertain] 1893-1950s</SPAN></LI></UL>
<DIV class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in"><SPAN
lang=EN-GB>The key thing to note is that there is an overlap - so we can't be
sure whether a bell dated 1880, for instance, would have been signed by Gillett
& Bland or by Gillett, Bland & Co; or if one of 1883 would have had the
name worded as Gillett, Bland & Co or Gillett & Co.</SPAN></DIV>
<DIV class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in"><SPAN
lang=EN-GB></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in"><SPAN
lang=EN-GB><FONT face=Arial size=2>CP</FONT></SPAN></DIV></BODY></HTML>