William Heaton

HEATON, William Worked circa. 1872-1906 Gomersal, Leeds, Yorkshire UK. Made about 200 violins and a few cellos. Personal models derived from Amati, Stradivari, and Guarneri; some of eccentric character. Fine workmanship and especially well-made scrolls. Various shades of amber oil varnish of his own recipe. Branded internally. Willian Heaton / Maker / Hill Top, Gomersal / Nr. Leeds.

He was born October 6, 1827, at Hill Top, Gomersal. He is the son of James and Hannah Heaton, of Gomersal, and was brought up by his grandparents, Joseph and Sarah Lister, till he was about nine years of age, at a little out-wing of his native village called humorously the World’s End, on account of its outlandishness. He received elementary education till he was about eleven, at which early age he commenced work with his father as a joiner and cabinet-maker. Both his father and grandfather were excellent workmen, and especially the latter, who was very deft at turning out small and curious articles of cabinet work. Joseph Lister also made one ‘cello, of the Stainer model, and a very fair instrument it is. This instrument it was that first fired the imagination of young Heaton, and induced him to make his first instrument in his fifteenth year : it was a fiddle of no particular outline or model, but a pardonable effort. Shortly after he made a ‘cello, which was a greater success. His next instrument was not made till he was forty-five years of age. This was a fiddle having its back, ribs, neck, and scroll carved out of a solid piece of sycamore. Since 1892 Heaton has been constantly at work as a regular maker. Up to the present he has made 156 violins, two violas, and eight ‘cellos. He is a slow, patient worker, and turns out only about six instruments in the year. These — more especially those of his later period — are of the highest artistic merit, and for tonal qualities not easily surpassed.

He works on various lines, but chiefly on those of Strad. The work is not, however, a slavish imitation : it has unmistakable marks of originality about it. He has breathed Strad’s breath of life into the copies, but the body is not exactly that of Antonio. The measurements of the violins of his best period are as follows : —

Length … 14 1/8ins,
Width across upper bouts . . . 6 13/16ins,
Width across middle bouts . . . 4 7/6ins,
Width across lower bouts … 8 15/16ins,
Depth of ribs at bottom … 1 1/4ins,
Depth of ribs at top … 1 5/32ins,
Length of sound-holes … 3ins,
Distance between sound-holes at top 1 9/16ins,
Highest elevation above symmetrical plane-back … 17/32ins,
Highest elevation above symmetrical plane-belly … 15/32ins,

The outline is pure, bold, and of masculine rather than feminine qualities. It is grand and awe-inspiring rather than pretty and captivating. The arching is of extended equality, after the style of Maggini. The scroll is a fine piece of work, and is fairly large and well-proportioned. The distance between boss-edge and boss-edge is 1 11/16in. The grooving at the last turn of the volute is more protracted and terminates nearer the centre of the axis than is usual in copies of Italian work. This is a very noticeable and picturesque feature of the side of many of Heaton’s scrolls. The peg-box is wide and strong in wood — a very wise provision. The button is of full proportions, and could never be better made. The sound-holes are after Stradivari, except that the curve describing the upper and lower wings is not so pronounced as in those of Strad’s golden period. The inlaying of the purfle is perfection. The margin is of medium width, and the edges strong, rounded, and raised. In his early work Heaton raised the edges nearly an eighth, but in his best work there is no exaggeration. In a specimen now before me the edges are raised a sixteenth, nicely rounded, thawing with a smile into the gentle bed of the purfling. The wood is of excellent quality. The pine of a specimen recently examined by me was equal to the best I have seen. The curl of the maple in all the Heaton fiddles which I have seen was of medium width and very regular. It would appear as though all these backs had been cut from the same piece of maple — some on the quarter, and some whole. The backs of the last six fiddles have been taken from a maple plank which was seasoned in the Gomersal Church Bell tower, and the instruments have been ” christened ” the “Tower” fiddles. Mr. Heaton has made one fiddle which he calls the “Gouge.” It derives its name from the fact that it has been finished entirely, both inside and outside, with the gouge ; neither sand-paper nor the file having touched the wood. Another, on the Guarnerius model, is called the ” Patchwork,” and is made of various kinds of violin wood. All the Heaton instruments are well stocked with wood. The last fiddle, made a short time since, turned the scales at eighteen ounces and a half in the ” white.”

Mr. Heaton’s violoncellos are spoken of very highly. No less an authority than Mr. Arthur Broadley considers them to be among the very best work of modern times. A violoncello made to his order, and named the ” Chats ” in compliment to the popular work on ‘cello playing, is said to possess a remarkable tone. The following rather lengthy quotation is from a letter of Mr. Broadley’s to me anent this instrument. ” The instrument is of original model, and although one looks to the great Italian masters for perfection of outline and model, yet the ‘cello under notice does not suffer through comparison with classical instruments.

“Perhaps the maker more than any which the model suggests is Banks, the great English maker, and I think I am right in asserting that the earlier ‘cello of Mr. Heaton’s make were copies of this maker, but the ‘ Chats ‘ ‘cello is no copy of any instrument or any maker, but the child of Mr. Heaton’s own fancy. The outline is bold yet artistic, and the model is what one would describe as compact ; there does not seem to be any waste places — everything has been nicely calculated and the whole effect is very fine. The purfling, which is placed rather further away from the edge than usual, assists in giving a boldness to the outline which is very satisfying ; but if one must look for originality, pray look at the curves of the inner bouts, the relative width of the waist, and the cut and placing of the F holes. Of the latter, the straight-cut, broad wings are a feature — Guarnerius magnified. So beautifully balanced are the F’s that this extreme width of the wings is not at the first glance observable, but one looks and wonders how an old man long past the prime of life has had the skill to cut such clearly defined lines. Purpose — that should have been the name of the ‘cello, not ‘ Chats.’

” The whole design of the instrument is characteristic of a man who has lived his life among the breezy freshness of the Yorkshire hills.

” The wood is very fine, well chosen, old, and well-seasoned. The belly is made of rather open-grained pine, of fine tone-producing qualities ; the back and ribs are of extremely beautifully-figured sycamore. The back is in the whole piece and is made from wood cut on the slab. In this case the effect is very beautiful. The figure is best described as being like moire silk. The grain, which is very peculiar, shows up like the ‘ water-marks ‘ in the said material, and the flames seem to ‘ shimmer ‘ from every part of the surface.

“The tone of the instrument is exceedingly fine, very brilliant and plentiful. One great feature of the instrument is the fine quality of the A string, which to a soloist is of the utmost importance, and the higher up the string one plays, the more brilliant does the tone become. This is so different from the usual run of modern ‘cellos, which are generally thin in the higher positions of the A string. The tone of the instrument at every part of its register is very even, and it is the opinion of several professional friends who have seen and heard the ‘ Chats ‘ ‘cello, that a finer instrument could not be produced. It is varnished a brilliant orange brown.”

The value of the ‘cello as it stands is placed by Mr. Broadley at £50, although Mr. Heaton generally charges from £20 to £30 for ‘cellos.

The ‘cello, besides bearing the maker’s label, has the following inscription : —

Built to the order of Mr. Arthur Broadley by Wm. HEATON, Gomersal 1900.

The dimensions are as follows : —
Width across top … 13 5/8ins,
Width across middle … 9 3/8ins,
Width across bottom … 17 1/2ins,
Width of ribs, top … 4 3/8ins,
Width of ribs, bottom … 4 3/4ins,
Length of f’s … 5 7/8ins,
Width between f’s at top … 4 1/2ins,
Length of body … 29 1/2ins,
Length of vibrating string … 26 3/4ins,

WILLIAM HEATON, MAKER, HILL TOP, GOMERSAL. Nr. Leeds.

Englischer Geigenmacher aus der zweiten Hälfte des 19. Jahrhunderts.