Paxman Musical Instruments
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Paxman Musical Instruments Ltd is a British manufacturer of
horns Horns or The Horns may refer to: * Plural of Horn (instrument), a group of musical instruments all with a horn-shaped bells * The Horns (Colorado), a summit on Cheyenne Mountain * ''Horns'' (novel), a dark fantasy novel written in 2010 by Joe Hill ...
. Paxman is the instrument of choice of a number of leading British players, including Michael Thompson. Paxman was established at the turn of the twentieth century by Harry Paxman, but did not start production of horns until 1945, when no more than twelve instruments a year were made. Robert Paxman was honoured with an
Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established ...
for his services to music. 1950 saw the arrival in England of Richard Merewether, a professional horn player whose career had started with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra. As his career in this country progressed, he found himself specialising more and more in the high register of the instrument. He had been working on ideas of horn design for a number of years and had researched areas of physics which he thought to be fundamental to the successful design and manufacture of such instruments. He approached Robert Paxman with these ideas, and persuaded him to build horns in f-alto and F/f-alto. These instruments were so successful that Merewether and Paxman continued their association and went on to develop a range of over 50 models. Paxman are also notable for having repaired
Dennis Brain Dennis Brain (17 May 19211 September 1957) was a British horn player. From a musical family – his father and grandfather were horn players – he attended the Royal Academy of Music in London. During the Second World War he served in the Roya ...
's
Alexander Alexander is a male given name. The most prominent bearer of the name is Alexander the Great, the king of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia who created one of the largest empires in ancient history. Variants listed here are Aleksandar, Al ...
horn, damaged in his fatal car crash.


History


In 1919, Harry, Bertram and William Paxman together started a company supplying brass, woodwind and percussion instruments from an address in Southwark, South London. Over the following one hundred years, that company would come to specialise in the supply and manufacture of the horns which are today a mainstay of the global horn playing community. In 1944 Paxman restructured and moved to Gerrard Street. Harry acquired the services of three retired craftsmen , some instrument assembly started and in March 1945, Harry’s eldest son, Robert joined the company as an apprentice. His innovative designs were first introduced in 1959, and over a number of years the whole product range was revised and expanded, to include for the first-time, horns in Bb/f-alto, and triple horns in F/Bb/f-alto. In 1961 Harry retired and the management team of Bob Paxman, Fred Leach, Ted Adams, Jim Paxman and Dick Merewether became directors. The company name changed from Paxman Brothers to Paxman Musical Instruments Limited and in 1972 moved to a larger site in Long Acre and acquired a small factory unit in Kent. Around this time, Paxman introduced a number of important changes to their instruments, including the dual-bore system for full double horns and double descant horns along with triple-bore for triple horns. In 1993 Robert Paxman was awarded the MBE by Her Majesty the Queen in recognition of fifty years’ service to the Musical Instrument Industry and in 1996, he retired, with Chris Huning becoming Managing Director. Since then the line has grown to include ¾ size single horns in F and Bb, a compensating double similar to the old Paxman Studenti and the detachable bell Series 4 and Series 5. This ensures that there is a high quality, well designed and affordable horn for every player at every stage of their development. Having outgrown the Union Street premises, the company is now located at 197 Long Lane, SE1. Paxman horns are still built to the principles established during the early years of the company and whilst modern technology is used where appropriate to ensure that Paxman instruments are amongst the best engineered in the world today, the professional models are still assembled by hand in the workshop at the new premises, not far from where it all started 100 years ago.


Paxman Bros Ltd / Paxman Musical Instruments Ltd: Historical Timeline


; 1919 – Founding of Paxman Bros Ltd by Henry C, William & Bertram Paxman : “Grove Music” : “The Brass Bulletin 108”, Jeremy Mathez 1999 ; 1920 -1925 - Paxman Bros Ltd listed at 16 Southwark Street SE1 and 26 Borough High Street SE1 : “The New Langwill Index”, William Waterhouse 1960 : “British Telecom’s Directory”, 1925 ; 1926 – 1943 Paxman Bros Ltd moves to 156 Shaftsbury Avenue WC2 : “British Telecom’s Directory”, 1926 : “Post Office Ltd Trades Directory”, 1927 : “British Telecom’s Directory”, 1927 : “Paxman Bros Ltd Advert”, Musicians Union, 1936 ; 1944 - 1960 Paxman Bros Ltd moves to 36 Gerrard Street : “Paxman Bros Ltd Advert”, The Musical Times, 1960 ; 1961 – Robert Paxman becomes Director of Paxman Bros Ltd ; 1963 – Robert Paxman changes Paxman Bros Ltd to Paxman Musical Instruments Ltd : “Incorporation Certificate”, Companies House, 1963 ; 1965 – Henry Charles Paxman passes away ; 1976 – Paxman Bros Ltd officially struck off company register : “The London Gazette”, 1976


External links


Manufacturing website

Store website
Musical instrument manufacturing companies based in London Brass instrument manufacturing companies {{musical-instrument-company-stub