Busselton Historical Society > Records

Cornet

« Prev Item Next Item »

Boosey & Co

1919

Subcollections

Musical Instruments

Overview

Silver plated brass B Flat cornet with 3 valves, a conical bore and 4 ½ foot of tubing made by Boosey & Company

Historical information

Boosey & Company traces its roots back to John Boosey, a bookseller of Franco-Flemish origins who traded in Old Bond St London in the 1760s–1770s. His grandson Thomas (1794/1795–1871) set up a musical publishing company known as T. Boosey & Co. which became known as Boosey & Company in latter part of the 19th century.

In 1851 Boosey & Company diversified into the manufacture of woodwind instruments . In 1868 it began making brass instruments and in 1874 is credited with the widely acclaimed design for compensating valves, after which they began production of string instruments.

In 1874 Boosey & Company moved into offices at 295 Regent Street, where the business was to stay for the next 131 years. In 1892, Boosey & Company opened an office in New York which still exists today.

The business eventually owned half of Regent Street and in 1930 it was still managed by a Boosey, in the person of Leslie Boosey (1887–1979), when it merged with Hawkes & Son to form Boosey and Hawkes .

Details

Registration number

cwa-org-124-2020.954

Item type

Objects

Themes

Music

Material

Brass

Metal (silver-plated)

Contextual Information

This cornet was bought from Nicholson's Ltd Perth W.A. and was used in the Busselton Brass Band until the instrument was "retired" in 1980 when it was given to the band's longest serving band member John Piper. John, who is a Busselton Historical Society member and a long-term resident of Busselton then donated the cornet to the Museum.

John Piper was born in Collie in 1937 and started playing with the Busselton Brass band in 1950 when he was just 12 years old and is still playing in 2024. John is an accomplished musician who plays the clarinet, saxophone and all brass instruments excepting the trombone. During his time with the Busselton Brass Band John played the tenor horn and cornet and also served as conductor for 10 years from 1960. John’s fondest memories of his time with Busselton Brass were trips to Melbourne and Hobart for the national championships and a trip to Sydney for the Australia Pacific Music Festival

Busselton Brass was established in 1871 and has served the Busselton community continuously excepting for short breaks during WW1 and WW2. The Band has competed (and won on many occasions) at the Queen’s Cup, which is a local South-West Band Competition, as well as at State and National Championships and the International Music Festival in Sydney.

Keywords

BANDS, Music

Musical Instrument

Place made

Regent St
London
United Kingdom

Year

1919

Primary significance criteria

Historic significance

Social or spiritual significance

Comparative significance criteria

Well provenanced