[Bell Historians] Gillett & Bland

[Carl S Zimmerman]

Many thanks for this detailed information.  I will revise the 
historical sketch on my G&J index page to fit, as what I had there 
must have been based on a more limited range of information (perhaps 
Chris's own list of big bells, as of a couple of years ago, though 
that also suggests that G&B should start from 1877).

Perhaps we can be reasonably sure that this list provides "not later 
than" dates for the changes of name in the firm.  I understand that 
it was Arthur A. Johnston's joining the firm in 1877 which enabled 
them to expand from clockmaking into bellfounding.  It would appear 
that he became a junior partner in 1878 (hence the "& Co.").  The 
next change would appear to have resulted from the departure of 
partner Charles Bland c.1883 (whether through death or other cause I 
do not know).  From some undocumented source, I have that the G&J 
name had taken effect by 1889.  The inconsistency in labelling of 
bells is indeed surprising; I wonder whether we shall ever find any 
explanation for it.

Meanwhile, can anyone provide clarification on when the 
organizational name changes actually occurred?

Carl

_____
At 08:51 +0800 06/11/21, Chris Pickford wrote:
>An initial listing - based on the firm's title as given in 
>inscriptions on some 260 bells - indicates that the following names 
>were used:
>
>Gillett and Bland, 1878-1881
>Gillett, Bland & Co, 1878-1884
>Gillett & Co, 1883-1892
>Gillett & Johnston [1891 - uncertain] 1893-1950s
>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.
_____

           
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.ringingworld.co.uk/pipermail/bell-historians/attachments/20061121/066e994e/attachment.html>