William Tarr

TARR, William Born 1808, died 1891 Manchester UK. Double bass player and maker; first instruments dated 1829. Produced over 200 basses, with the later assistance of his sons Thomas, Joseph, and Shelley which have acquired a very high reputation. Some violins and cellos also recorded. Also trained and assisted by James Cole and J. W. Briggs. Basses are flat backed, large violin form, and smaller viol pattern. Scrolls neatly cut with small but prominent eye. Took out several patents for organs and also worked as a photographer. [Hill Archive]

A maker in Manchester, said to have made very good double-basses about 1829-55, “when he gave up violin making to become a photographer.”

He was born at Manchester, Feb. 21, 1808, and baptized a few days later at St. Mary’s Church, of the same city. He was apprenticed by his father (a fustian cutter, who had himself made several instruments, including violins, ‘cellos, and basses) to a cabinet carver, and he became so expert a workman that at the age of eighteen he purchased his indentures from his master for £100, and he at once commenced work as a journeyman. At this age his parents became dependent upon him, and he maintained them for the rest of their lives. Having studied music, and desiring to play the double-bass, he set about making one for his own use. Two of his friends becoming aware of the fact persuaded him to make one for each of them also. So soon as these were completed, the one which he had made for himself was so eagerly coveted by another friend that he must needs let it go. And so it happened with nine others — all made in sets of three, with corners like a violin — he was not able to keep one of them for himself. Thus, although he had made twelve basses, he was still without a bass for his own use. Previous to the time when Tarr took up the gouge, there was not a single privately owned bass in Manchester, the only ones in use being the property of churches and theatres. A curious circumstance illustrating this fact is that a man who played the bass in the Old Theatre Royal for forty-nine years never had a bass in his own house. The instrument he played upon is now the property of Mr. W. H. Stewart, principal bass of the Crystal Palace. This instrument it was that created in Tarr a first longing to make and play one, and he was often seen in the gallery listening to its tones. His business, subsequently, gradually resolved itself into that of violin- and bass-making, chiefly the latter, with that of repairing. He worked till he was about eighty years of age, and turned out two hundred and six basses, besides a number of violins, violas, and ‘cellos. His eldest son was with him in the business till his eighteenth year, when he left home. Another son, Joseph, was also a violin-maker, and is now, I believe, in America. His youngest son, Shelley, is in business in Manchester. Tarr also built a number of organs and pianofortes, and took out several patents for his inventions in this line. At this time he had James Cole as pupil and assistant. On the occasion of a great festival in Dublin, where Tarr was playing, each of the nine basses used were of his make. He was an excellent musician, and was for twelve years one of the bassists of the Gentlemen’s Concerts orchestra, which was the nucleus from which Sir Charles Halle formed his. He was twice married, and had eleven children of each wife, in all eleven sons and eleven daughters, and in 1884 there were eleven of them living. He travelled a great deal in his lifetime, principally in the United States. Whilst in New Orleans he played in the theatre orchestra along with one of the sons of William Foster. He was also for some time organist of one of the churches there. Tarr was during the latter and greater part of his life a prominent secularist, socialist, and anti-vaccinator. Still he numbered amongst his friends many priests and ministers, who alike valued his friendship and upright character. He was a fair Latin scholar, and was proud to speak of his father as one of the best Latin scholars in the city in his day. It may be cited here as an instance of the esteem in which he was held that a gentleman for whom he had done work, gave him a small annuity for the last ten or twelve years of his life. He adhered faithfully to his principles in the face of many difficulties. At the age of sixty he went seven days to prison rather than have his youngest child vaccinated, and would not allow any one to pay the fine, although many of his friends were anxious to do so. He was a conscientious and a diligent worker. For the long stretch of sixty years he handled his gouge and turned out some really fine basses. These instruments are scattered all over the country ; some are abroad, and not a few now bear forged labels and pass as Italian instruments. Writers on the violin have done him scant justice, or no justice at all, and he felt it very keenly. Writing under date of Sept. II, 1884, to his pupil and friend Mr. J. W. Briggs, of Glasgow, he says : ” Hart has published another edition of his work, but my name is still not to be seen in it. And yet Cole my pupil has a line ! It is somewhat strange.” Towards the end of 1886 he began to feel the weight of the heavy hand of adversity. He writes : ” There will be a change very soon, as I cannot pay the rent … are still on my hands, and they keep me very poor . . . says he will enlist if something does not turn up in a day or two. I wish he would, much as I despise the army.” On laying down his tools he writes : ” I have had a desperate struggle to give up the idea of working [May 1886], but it is all over now. I am totally incapable, and am more reconciled (necessitas non habet legem) ; so farewell work, my greatest joy ! Farewell, my valued tools — we have cut our way together so long, but now we must part — a severe parting ! ” How simple and pathetic ! The following, written shortly after the above, shows his continued passion for his beloved art, “To-morrow I shall have another double-bass here, made out of the same wood (back and ribs) as yours. I made it for Father O’Toole, a Roman Catholic priest, in 1854, who has presented it to another priest. Father Callagham. Father Callagham says the bass is worth £40. The instrument will remain here till Saturday morning, and I should like you [i.e. Briggs) to see it. . . . Joe is making another violin for the Exhibition, and Shelley has bought wood for a ‘cello ! Joe feels determined —–shall not filch away the gold medal as he did at —— for work which was not his own.” When at death’s door, leaning on the arm of his first love — the fiddle — he says : ” My dear friend Briggs, I shall not be able to visit you again, I am so feeble. … I am sorry to say my daughter Eleanor died on the 23rd, and was buried on the 27th, of last month. My eldest daughter became a widow on the 1st of May last. . . . Leaving these sorrows, let us come back to the tenor. I have sufficient confidence in your knowledge of construction to leave it entirely in your hands. When finished, send your bill and I shall be glad to pay.” Sorrows were to him but passing clouds on the bright firmament of violin-making. He possessed a remarkable memory for fiddles. It was as infallible as that of William Ebsworth Hill. On one occasion his friend Briggs took him to see another friend of theirs in Wakefield, who, unknown to either, possessed a Tarr bass, and as soon as they entered the room Tarr exclaimed, “I remember that bass well. There is a flash in the base of the neck, and I had a devil of a job to keep it from springing out.” He had not seen that bass for forty years ! He died on July 10, 1891, and was buried with secular rights in the Southern Cemetery, Manchester, on St. Swithin’s day.

Er machte recht gute Geigen, doch erwarb er sich hauptsächlich durch seine Contrabässe einen gewissen Ruf. Ende der fünfziger Jahre gab er eine Zeit lang das Geigenmachen auf und war Photograph geworden, kehrte später aber wieder zu seinem eigentlichen Berufe zurück Ein J. Tarr lebte in Sheffield und ein James T. ist noch jetzt in Brooklyn ansässig.

London XVIIIth century. Fine workmanship. His ‘cellos are sought after.