Whitelock & Son Ltd, Leeds

[OUFCmad]

I have just bought a Whitelock & Son Ltd, Leeds piano. It is in a pretty poor state and needs some love and attention but seems a good piano with very good tone. I am trying to find out if anyone knows the history of this make? It also has a plaque attached to it which reads 'The Apollo Piano, registered'. Does this mean anything?

Cheers
Sian

[Bill Kibby]

Whitelocks seem to have become a limited company around the twenties, and disappeared after the 1939 war. Their paperwork doesn't describe them as makers, they were dealers, and probably put their name to pianos bought in from anonymous wholesalers, so any clues to origin will be hidden inside. Have a look at the Piano Names page at www.pianogen.org and also the Datemarks page.

[whitelock4321]

Hi,
I have a ` Whitelock & Son Ltd, Leeds' Upright Piano,number 13630, with candle stick holders,with flower pattern inlaid wood design and `fold in' music holder. Mahogany Veneer. The piano is in good working order. After owing the piano for over 30 years, We have just discovered a key for the piano was screwed to the inside of the piano, so it is lockable. This piano is a very decorative piece of wood furniture, but we know nothing about this piano history. Does any one know how old this piano is?

Mike.

[Colin Nicholson]

I suspect the name Whitelock is just a wholesaler's name (like Harrods) - and not the manufacturer's name. May be further clues inside if you remove your decorative panel completely - very easy to do. Remove candlesticks first (sconces) - then just turn the wooden turnbuckles to one side inside the top fron panel.

Sounds very typically a piano from around 1900 - 1910. Serial number will probably be of no use, unless you can find the makers name inside - however many pianos are un-named and have no references to serial numbers/ dates/ history.

Best thing would be to send a couple of photos to confirm.
If the name Whitelocks appears as a gold decal (not inlaid brass) - it will probably be a stencil piano, joining the other many millions of pianos. See "Rubinstein/Yamaha" post in Piano Advice as an example. Although they are listed, some are stencil pianos - type "Stencil Pianos" into google for more info.

Bill may have some dates when Whitelocks were in operation?

[Bill Kibby]

Whitelocks were in business by the 1880s, and appear in my lists of 1928 as Whitelock & Son, but a receipt of the same year describes them as Whitelock & Son Ltd., the earliest reference I have to this name. If it originally had sconces, it is unlikely to be much later than the twenties. Without photos, I can't say anything about the individual piano.

[whitelock4321]

Hi Bill and Colin,
I have tried to attach a photo of my piano to show you, but so far cannot upload the photo to this webpage/email.
Mike

[Bill Kibby]

Colin had more success than me in doing this, so he wrote instructions, which are at the top of this list. If you prefer, you can email to me, and I will put them up.

[Colin Nicholson]

Check to see what format your photos are saved under.
For some reason, this web page doesnt like TIFF format - and may say "invalid" - so if possible, change it to JPG and it should work.
See below >>>

TIFF to JPG