G.A. DIENER London

[zaks410]

hi lads and lasses im new to the forum, my name is zak.

i have a piano which has been in my family for many many years now and i would like to find out some info on it.

it has the name G.A. DIENER London written on it

any info would be much appreciated,

thanks and atb Zak

[Bill Kibby]

1899 - not listed.

G.A. Diener was awarded a Diploma & Prize medal at the Franco-British Exhibition in 1908.

The 1914 Music Trades Directory lists G.A.Diener, Manufacturers of Vertical & Overstrung Pianos & Player Pianos. Little Camden Street, Camden Town, London NW. Agents for Manthey.

He seems to one of the many who disappeared after the first world war.

[MarkGoodwinPianos]

G.A. Diener was awarded a Diploma & Prize medal at the Franco-British Exhibition in 1908.

Good knowledge! How do you know this? What's your source?

[Bill Kibby]

Dead clever really, I read it on a Diener piano!

[MarkGoodwinPianos]

Which piano?
Where?
When?

[Bill Kibby]

Is this a trick question? The information appeared on two Diener pianos that I used to tune in the seventies and eighties. Sadly, although almost every dealer in old postcards seems to have some from the Franco-British Exhibition, I have yet to find any details about pianos there, except...

1908 Rudall, Carte & Co. received the "Grand Prix" (Highest Award) at the Franco-British Exhibition.

1908 Mozart Pianos received a medal at the Franco-British Exhibition.

1914 Ad in the Music Trades Directory says G.A.Diener, Manufacturers of Vertical & Overstrung Pianos & Player Pianos. Awarded Diploma & Prize medal Franco-British Exhibition 1908. Little Camden Street, Camden Town, London NW. (Agent for Manthey.)

[MarkGoodwinPianos]

No trick question.
So you've logged details of all pianos you've tuned in all those decades?
Is it stored on paper or digitally?
How many entries are in your records?
How much info do you have that isn't in the pierce atlas?
Have you ever published anything officially?

Just wondering

[Bill Kibby]

I'd send you some details, but your website doesn't allow me any way of emailing you.

[MarkGoodwinPianos]

There is an email address listed in my site header: markgoodwinpianos@gmail.com
I was hoping you'd reply here. Surely this info is of great interest to all forum members. I'm astounded by the depth of knowledge and can't help but wonder how it was collected and where it was stored.

[Bill Kibby]

Every day, the Piano History Centre deals with enquiries from around the world, supplying information that is not available from any other source. Our aim is, as far as possible, to deal with ALL historical and practical issues relating to pianos, although not musical ones. Bill Kibby began collecting piano information in 1963, and dealing with historical enquires from 1972. The Pianohistory.info website was originally set up in 2001 in conjunction with UK Piano, Britain’s largest piano website. Since then, Bill has dealt with over two thousand postings on this piano history forum, in addition to our own extensive clientele. A recent Google search now reveals 53,900 internet entries connecting “Kibby” with “piano”, while “piano history centre” shows 12,000 entries. We supply information to many museums, archives and specialists around the world who only deal with specific aspects of pianos, and we also receive information from them, we don’t just quote from books, we add to the existing knowledge. Because we have so far been unable to locate funding or sponsorship, our active research is aimed at antique British pianos, but with growing worldwide demand, we never discard any kind of piano information, and the Piano History Centre works together with the specialists in researching, filing and storing all kinds of piano information. Income from donations is not directly related to the amount of information we supply, many people do not expect to pay for information on the internet (however unique) and we have devised a system which enables a typical enquiry to be processed within two minutes. Some people request printed information by post, and a charge is made for this, but the project remains non-profit-making over-all. Other clients may donate any amount, sometimes £30 or more, quite simply because they cannot find help anywhere else.

The Piano History Centre collection comprises
• over 5,000 index cards;
• thousands of printed pages;
• over 12,000 computer images;
• 22 pianos dating from 1796 to 1934;
• general reference books on the pianoforte;
• a uniquely-detailed visual time-line of piano history;
• a growing archive, thousands of old sheet music copies;
• hundreds of piano directory lists, totalling over a million entries;
• thousands of computer text pages, listing over twenty thousand names;
• a selection of Victorian books from 1844 onwards, purchased for their piano content.

[packrat]

Hi to all.
Firstly I am not in the piano industry, even though I did learn my way around the piano many years ago but have not played since.
I am a genealogy researcher and have been chasing information on one of my more distant cousins (in time and space). I have discovered in the WW I Service records for George Edward Thatcher that he was employed as a French polisher for Dieners, 14 Little Camden Street, Camden Town, in 1914 before enlisting in the British Army.
I have tried to find out a little about "Dieners" and this forum is the only successful hit.
I cannot add much other than the actual address, but forum item has been very useful in search, so I thought I might contribute a little back to it.
All of George's male siblings were French polishers and worked in the piano forte trade from about 1875 onward. One of his brothers, Thomas Robert Fletcher, married Mary Fitzgibbons, the daughter of one WIlliam Fitzgibbon who is described in several Census documents from 1861, 1871 & 1881, as a "pianoforte maker", William died in 1885.
Whether he was operator of a piano manufacturing company, or a "pianoforte maker" working for wages, I have yet to find out.

[Bill Kibby]

Thanks for the information.

DIENER (G.A.) London
1860 No pianoforte makers listed with the name Fitzgibbon, or Fletcher, or Diener.
1861 Census lists William Fitzgibbon as a "pianoforte maker" a term which (in the censuses) implies that he was an employee, rather than a "pianoforte manufacturer" in his own name.
1871 Census lists William Fitzgibbon as a pianoforte maker.
1875 All of George's male siblings were French polishers and worked in the piano forte trade from about 1875 onwards.
1875 No pianoforte makers listed with the name Fitzgibbon, or Fletcher, or Diener.
1881 Census lists William Fitzgibbon as a pianoforte maker.
1899 Diener not listed as a pianoforte maker.
1908 G.A. Diener was awarded a Diploma & Prize medal at the Franco-British Exhibition. See
http://pianohistory.info/exhibition.html
1911 Not listed.
1913 Piano & Organ firms include G.A.Diener, 14 & 15, Little Camden Street N.W.
1914 G.A.Diener, Manufacturers of Vertical & Overstrung Pianos & Player Pianos. Little Camden Street, Camden Town, London NW. Agents for Manthey.
1914 World War I Service records for George Edward Thatcher show that he was employed as a French polisher for Dieners, 14 Little Camden Street, Camden Town before enlisting in the British Army.
1928 G.A.Diener, London.
1936 Not listed. For sources, see
http://pianohistory.info/our.html
For more general thoughts on ancestors in the trade, see
http://pianohistory.info/genealogy.html