William Southwell

Biography

William Southwell of London introduced his "Cabinet" upright piano in 1807, an instrument with a compass of six octaves from F to F. The design is presented as part of the early sequence of upright piano development in London, preceding Robert Wornum's first diagonally-strung upright of 1811. An illustration of Southwell's upright piano from 1807 accompanies the text. No further biographical information is given. From Spillane (1890): William Southwell, of Dublin, is credited by Spillane as the true inventor of the upright pianoforte. In 1794 he placed a grand piano on end and fitted it with an experimental upright action, patenting the design on October 18, 1794, and extending its compass to six octaves, F to F -- though the instrument could not withstand the resulting string tension. In 1807 Southwell moved from Great Marlborough Street, Dublin, to London, where he lived for many years and produced his 'cabinet' upright (patented April 8, 1807), the first genuinely successful, workable upright piano, from which Spillane says all subsequent uprights descended; it introduced the first workable upright action and the first comparatively successful 'scale.' Southwell's earlier 1794 upright grand, exhibited in London, had drawn the visiting composer Haydn to Southwell's shop in Lad Lane, where he praised the instrument. In 1798 Southwell produced a more convenient upright by placing a square on its side, patented November 8 of that year, and in 1811 he took out a further patent covering additional improvements to the action and other components of his instrument. Spillane calls Southwell's persistence over fourteen-plus years of experimentation the most significant innovation in the instrument's development for over forty years. William Southwell, formerly of Dublin, was, according to Spillane, the true inventor of the harp double-action mechanism generally credited to Sebastian Erard. Southwell took out a patent for the device in London in 1798 after relocating there, and sold the invention to Erard in 1808 along with other matters. Erard, acting under a private understanding with Southwell, registered the invention with certain modifications as his own, thereby securing the credit and profit that later made the Erard name famous for its harp action.

Highlights

• Introduced his "Cabinet" upright piano in London in 1807, with a compass of six octaves, F to F.
• Credited with inventing the 'cabinet' piano design.
• Took out several further patents after 1811 for pianoforte improvements.
• Died in the 1840s at an advanced age in Rathmines, a Dublin suburb, and is buried in Glasnevin Cemetery.
• Maker of a piano dated A.D. 1798, illustrated in the text as an example instrument then in the possession of A. Simpson, Esq., of Dundee, Scotland.
• Formerly of Dublin; the true inventor of the double-action harp mechanism later patented in Erard's name in 1808.
• Took out his own patent for the invention in London in 1798 before selling it to Sebastian Erard in 1808.
• Placed a grand piano on end in 1794 with an experimental upright action (patented Oct 18, 1794), extending the piano's compass to six octaves (F to F)
• Produced the 'cabinet' upright piano in 1807 (patented Apr 8), which Spillane calls the first truly successful upright, declaring Southwell 'the real inventor of the upright pianoforte'
• His 1794 upright grand drew the visiting composer Haydn to his Lad Lane shop in London, and Southwell took a further patent in 1811 for additional improvements

Sources

Alfred Dolge, Pianos and Their Makers, Vol. I (1911), p. 54.

Daniel Spillane, History of the American Pianoforte (1890), pp. 25, 35, 36.

Public domain.