Benjamin Banks (1727 – 1795) was an English violin-maker.

Life

Banks was originally apprenticed to his uncle William Hutoft. Banks seems to have occupied Hutoft's premises on Catherine Street in

Salisbury Salisbury ( ) is a cathedral city in Wiltshire, England with a population of 41,820, at the confluence of the rivers Avon, Nadder and Bourne. The city is approximately from Southampton and from Bath. Salisbury is in the southeast of Wil ...

upon Hutoft's demise in 1747 until Banks' own in 1795. From 1757 until the late 1760s, Banks was primarily interested in the

keyboard instrument A keyboard instrument is a musical instrument played using a keyboard, a row of levers which are pressed by the fingers. The most common of these are the piano, organ, and various electronic keyboards, including synthesizers and digital piano ...

construction. He had a close association with Longman and Broderip in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, who seemed to have been an outlet for his violins (these examples are stamped with the Longman name). The instruments were based on the Amati and Stainer form, the

cello The cello ( ; plural ''celli'' or ''cellos'') or violoncello ( ; ) is a Bow (music), bowed (sometimes pizzicato, plucked and occasionally col legno, hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually intonation (music), t ...

s being particularly sought after. Such instruments were often branded 'Banks' - externally and on the inner linings. Banks's business was carried on after his death by his two sons, James and Henry, who subsequently moved to

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

Notes

References

* 1727 births 1795 deaths British luthiers English musical instrument makers {{UK-music-bio-stub