From The Dominion 14th June 1924
British pianos after WW1
The Poverty Bay Herald of 1st May 1919 has an article about the annual dinner of the Piano Manufacturers’ Association. By 1914 the British piano industry was ‘fast coming under the control of the German monopoly, which was prepared to restrict output and force up prices’. A scientist was working to perfect the tone and touch of the British piano. It ends by saying ‘if labour troubles can be settled satisfactorily the future prospect of British piano industry for a good share of the world’s trade is brighter than at any time in its history’.
On the 12th May 1919 The Press has the following article ‘at the Pianoforte Manufacturers’ Association “Victory Dinner” in London recently, the first “All British” piano was used. It was stated before the war 90 per cent of piano actions were made in Germany. The new instrument is the embodiment of a new industry ready to absorb demolished soldiers’.
By Yousuf Karsh - https://karsh.org/sir-thomas-beecham/, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=106944785
In the Southern Cross dated the 3rd July 1920 the conductor Sir Thomas Beecham spoke at the dinner of the London Pianoforte Manufacturers’ Association. He stated that although he had been bought up on German pianos, when he found a British piano he hadn’t used any other type of piano since. The article says ‘he had cast out the foreign devil from his opera house and had not permitted any institution or concert hall under his control to use any but an English piano’. He believed that there was no reason that the British piano trade should not be a world leader.
By Crown Studios - https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Joseph_Cook_-_Crown_Studios_03.jpg#mw-jump-to-license, CC BY 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=92505331
The Poverty Bay Herald on the 12th March 1926 has an article concerning a speech given by Sir Joseph Cook (an Australian politician and Prime Minister from 1913 – 1914) at the Pianoforte Manufacturers’ Association. He revealed that in the previous nine months Australia bought 15,000 pianos of which 6426 were German, 5604 were American and 882 were British. The article states that ‘Cook urged British manufacturers to beat the big drum in order to advertise the value of their pianos’.