Display of pianos for Charles Begg & Co, at an industral exhibition. Head, Samuel Heath, 1868-1948 :Negatives. Ref: 1/1-007552-G. Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand. /records/22318447
Charles Begg and Co., New Zealand
Charles Begg was a piano-maker and publisher who came to Dunedin, New Zealand from Aberdeenshire, Scotland in 1861.
Soon after arriving in Dunedin he opened a music shop and subsequently built his first piano in 1865. He didn’t build pianos for very long, as he considered the wood available in the country for piano cases not dry enough for use. He imported pianos as well as supplying all the necessary instruments, music and accessories required for music making in his shop in Dunedin.
Evening Star 17th August 1908
These three postcards are in a collection that is held at the Alexander Turnbull Library in Wellington, NZ.
After Charles Begg died in 1974, the business imported and sold phonographs and radios and published music, some from overseas but also music written in New Zealand too. The shops stocked thousands of pieces of sheet music that was imported from the UK, USA and Australia.
This is from a collection that is held in the Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, NZ.
After the outbreak of WW1 in 1914, Beggs acquired the right to publish and promote God Defend New Zealand and in 1925 purchased the copyright, which it sold to the NZ Government in 1941.
The Begg shops, many of which were situated throughout the country, were individually sold off in the 1970s.
From personal ephemera collection.
Evening Post 14th December 1935
References -
Funeral notice from Otago Daily Times Issue 4010 23rd December 1874, PapersPast and advertisement from the Cromwell Argus Volume XXV, Issue 1250 4th April 1893 PapersPast.
Notice of death from the Cromwell Argus, Volume V Issue 267 22nd December 1874, PapersPast.
www.audioculture.co.nz and www,rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/standingroomonly
Retailers barrow parade, Hardy Street, Nelson. Jones, Frederick Nelson, 1881-1962 :Negatives of the Nelson district. Ref: 1/2-025710-G. Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand. /records/22853859
Interior, music shop showing pianos and organs, first floor. Head, Samuel Heath, 1868-1948 :Negatives. Ref: 1/1-011122-G. Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand. /records/23185583
From personal ephemera collection.