Coventry (was William Wooding Starmer)

[Bill Hibbert]

To respond to the various messages:

I do have a copy of CP's book on Coventry, it is very well thumbed, 
I have read it many times. A good book.

As regards the relative merits of 1774 Whitechapel and 1926 
Gilletts, the account of the debate in Young's book make interesting 
reading. There was a good deal of anti-Simpson feeling (Simpson howl 
and all that) but there was a clear view from several protagonists 
that the Coventry bells should be preserved because they were the 
very best example of their time, even if nowadays one could do 
better. For example, one proposal from EAY himself was to buy the 
bells and keep them safe in the hope they could be rehung somewhere 
else in future, while allowing Coventry to have their Gillett chime. 
This proposal foundered because Coventry wanted to reuse the actual 
metal for reasons of sentiment - 'Our bells are not for sale'.

Since reading Young's book, I have done a detailed comparison of the 
Coventry nominals against the figures I measured at Mancroft the 
other day. It is quite clear from this comparison that Whitechapel 
in the 1770s knew exactly what they were trying to do and pretty 
much achieved it. When I get a bit of time I'll put up a webpage.

One interesting aspect of the argument in court was the disagreement 
about the tuning of the bells. It is clear from A. A. Hughes' 
figures that he was judging the bells against Just tuning - by this 
standard they are almost all very close. The argument was made in 
court that many of the bells were up to a quarter of a tone flat. 
The most likely explanation is that they were being judged against 
equal temperament (though it is just possible that the listener was 
hearing the primes).

I felt very much for A. A. Hughes during the court hearing. He 
states very robustly, in writing, that the bells were of high 
quality for their date, but at the same time must have been beset by 
Taylors and Gilletts taking his market by producing true-harmonic 
bells. He eventually admitted in court that were he to cast such 
bells now he would cast them with octave hums.

As I said, I now have the nominals of the bells. I don't suppose 
Gilletts measured the partials before consigning them to 'their 
fiery ordeal'? Is there any way of finding out?

Bill H