Family Search - Ansell & Skerratt

[Norm Ansell]

I have been researching my family history and find that my ancestors were pianoforte manufactures and/or tuners in the mid 1800 domiciled in St Pancras area of London. The information that I have is:
William Charles Ansell born 1810 Married Sarah Biddle in 1830
Occupation of William variously described as Cabinet Maker, Wire worker, Pianoforte maker
Sarah's occupation was described as Master wire worker.
Son Reuben Charles also described his occupation as Pianoforte Maker.
Son Edwin describes his occupation as Wire worker
Son in law George Skerratt described his occupation as Pianoforte Maker
In 1841 the family resided at Platt Tce
In 1851 the family resided at No 2 St Francis Place
In 1861 the family resided at No 39 Great London RD.
I am interested to know if they were in fact manufacturers of Pianos and if so where their factory was located. If anyone knows if they had a brand name and if anyone knows if any of their pianos exists today.
Any other relevent information.
Thanks
Norm Ansell
Norm AnsellNew Member
Posts: 2Joined: 30 Nov 2013, 01:39

[Bill Kibby]

I have very little on the Ansell family, but rather more on Skerratt and Skerrett, too much to put it all here, so perhaps you could email me, and also confirm if I may pass on your email address to other descendants of those names?

You might like to look at my own page at

http://pianohistory.info/genealogy.html

You will read there that in the census records, "Pianoforte Maker" usually implies an employee, not in business in his own name. There have been pianos with the name Skerratt on them, but they were probably made by wholesalers. If you search Google Images for skerratt piano you can see some of them.

[Lauren295]

Your history is quite interesting. well, I'm completely amazed that you have found so much information about your ancestors.

[bevince2811]

Hi Norm,

I also am tracing the Skerratt family of piano manufacturers. Henry George Skerratt married Agnes Annette Ansell in 1869. One of their sons was William Herbert Charles Skerratt. William married Ada Annie Coombes in 1900 in Hackney, Middlesex, England. Their children were Herbert Henry George Skerratt, Born 25 October 1900, Annetta Ada Agnes Skerratt, Born 25 April 1903, Nellie Skerratt, Born 1904, Ruby Florence Skerratt born 21 June 1908, and Dennis Lionel skerratt, born 1910.

They were all piano manufacturers/Piano tuners. I am doing the family tree starting with Dennis Lionel Skerratt. Herbert Henry George Skerratt married Ethel Elizabeth Curtis 2nd Sept 1922 in Christchurch, Dorset, England. He and his family emigrated to Australia and settled in Launceston, Tasmania, Australia. He opened his own Piano business there called 'Skerratt Pianos'. Dennis Lionel Skerratt married Hilda Florence Hatchman in 1932 in Bournmouth, Dorset, England. They had a son Peter Dennis Skerratt born in 1938 in Edmonton, Herefordshire, England. On 25 May 1951, Dennis Hilda & their son departed England & emigrated also to Australia. they too went to Launceston, Tasmania, where the 'Skerratt Pianos' business then became known as 'Skerratt Brothers Pianos'.

It would seem that the business eventually closed down about the mid 1960s, probably when Herbert Henry George Skerratt retired. Dennis then moved to live and work in Hobart, Tasmania, Australia. He worked as a Piano tuner with a large Music store called Allans Music(Australia) P/l and later for a family owned Piano/music business in Hobart, McCann Brothers Music shop. Dennis later retired about 1978 and move with his wife Hilda to live in Margate, a seaside town in Queensland not far from the capital Brisbane.

I would be interested to access any information you may have on this Skerratt line.

I look forward to your reply. Kind regards, Vince Downey

[Bill Kibby]

To save you receiving junk mail, I have removed your email address from that posting. People can email you by pressing the button.

Have you seen
http://pianohistory.info/genealogy.html