Frederick William Collard (baptised 1772, died 1860) was a British piano manufacturer.

Life

Family vault of Frederick William Collard in Highgate Cemetery

Collard, son of William and Thamosin Collard, was baptised at

Wiveliscombe Wiveliscombe (, ) is a small town and civil parish in Somerset, England, situated west of Taunton in the Somerset West and Taunton district. The town has a population of 2,893. The Square, fronted by several listed structures, held the former ...

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lord_ ...

, on 21 June 1772, and coming to London at the age of fourteen, obtained a situation in the house of Longman, Lukey, & Broderip, music publishers and pianoforte makers at 26

Cheapside Cheapside is a street in the City of London, the historic and modern financial centre of London, which forms part of the A40 London to Fishguard road. It links St. Martin's Le Grand with Poultry. Near its eastern end at Bank junction, where ...

. In 1799 Longman & Co. fell into commercial difficulties, and a new company, consisting of John Longman,

Muzio Clementi Muzio Filippo Vincenzo Francesco Saverio Clementi (23 January 1752 – 10 March 1832) was an Italian composer, virtuoso pianist, pedagogue, conductor, music publisher, editor, and piano manufacturer, who was mostly active in England. Encourag ...

, Frederick Augustus Hyde, F. W. Collard, Josiah Banger, and David Davis, took over the business, but on 28 June 1800 Longman and Hyde retired, and the firm henceforth was known as Muzio Clementi & Co. After some time William Frederick Collard was admitted a partner, and on 24 June 1817 Banger went out. On 24 June 1831 the partnership between F. W. Collard, W. F. Collard, and Clementi expired, and the two brothers continued the business until 24 June 1842, when W. F. Collard retired, and F. W. Collard, then sole proprietor, took into partnership his two nephews, Frederick William Collard, jun., and Charles Lukey Collard. After 1832 the pianos which had long borne the name of Clementi began to be called ''Collard & Collard'', and many patents were in course of time taken out for improvements both in the action and the frame of the instruments. The firm soon gave up the business of music publishing, and confined themselves to pianoforte making, except that they had also the contract for supplying bugles, fifes, and drums to the regiments of the

East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Southea ...

until 1858, when the government of India was transferred to the queen. About this time a novelty was brought out, which was suggested by an article in ''Chambers's Journal,'' a piano of the cottage class styled pianoforte for the people, which was sold in considerable numbers. To the

Great Exhibition The Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations, also known as the Great Exhibition or the Crystal Palace Exhibition (in reference to the temporary The Crystal Palace, structure in which it was held), was an International Exhib ...

of 1851 Collard sent a grand, for which the musical jury awarded the council medal, but this award was not confirmed, owing to some feeling of jealousy. The firm suffered twice from large fires; on 20 March 1807 the manufactory in

Tottenham Court Road Tottenham Court Road (occasionally abbreviated as TCR) is a major road in Central London, almost entirely within the London Borough of Camden. The road runs from Euston Road in the north to St Giles Circus in the south; Tottenham Court Road tub ...

was burnt to the ground, and on 10 Dec. 1851 a new manufactory in Oval Road, Camden Town, was entirely destroyed. F. W. Collard died at 26 Cheapside on 31 Jan. 1860, aged 88, having always lived in the same house since his arrival in London in 1786. He was buried in a family vault on the western side of

Highgate Cemetery Highgate Cemetery is a place of burial in north London, England. There are approximately 170,000 people buried in around 53,000 graves across the West and East Cemeteries. Highgate Cemetery is notable both for some of the people buried there as ...

. William Frederick Collard, the brother and partner of the above, was baptised at Wiveliscombe on 25 Aug. 1776, and, in addition to an inventive genius respecting improvements in pianos, also developed a taste for lyric poetry. William retired from business in 1842, died at

Folkestone Folkestone ( ) is a port town on the English Channel, in Kent, south-east England. The town lies on the southern edge of the North Downs at a valley between two cliffs. It was an important harbour and shipping port for most of the 19th and 20t ...

on 11 Oct. 1866 and was buried a week later in the Collard family vault in

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Collard, Frederick William 1772 births 1860 deaths Burials at Highgate Cemetery People from Wiveliscombe Piano makers