John Simcock and the English harp
Galpin (1908), from Dalyell (1849), an English harp made by John Simcock.
The label on this illustration is impossible to decipher, but according to J.G. Dalyell in his Musical Memoirs of Scotland (1849), it included the following information, 'John Simcock makes, mends and sells the English harp'. It must have been made c1755-60 (see later) and its own label identifies it as an English harp.
Dalyell (right) was the first to use this illustration. F.W. Galpin also included it in his Old English Instruments of Music (1908) but upside down. The lids are not shown. There are seven triple courses on the left-hand side and nine triple courses on the right-hand side. The actual notes are specified in the playing position. (See Tunings for more details).
The strange, left-right then right-left, ascending scale principle can be seen but, as noted in the Introduction, there are sometimes even stranger deviations from that underlying principle. There is one here; the lowest course is on the right-hand side. (See Tunings for more detail).
The whereabouts of this instrument and its label (if it still exists) is unknown. There is a very similar instrument in the Horniman Museum.
John Simcock, Horniman 29.212 (Simcock)
(Thanks to the Museum for allowing me to take this photograph). Although this Horniman instrument is very similar to the illustration above, it is not quite the same. It has the same seven triple courses on the left-hand side and nine on the right. But the anomalous, longest course, on the outer right-hand side is fastened differently. It is difficult to see in this photograph but it is fastened to a mini hitch pin bridge under the upper transverse bar.
There is another English harp made by Simcock in the V&A, London. It has 24 courses.
Simcock English harp in the V&A.
'Bath. John Simcock. Maker & Inventor' V&A.
See Tunings for more discussion of this instrument and its stringing arrangement and chromatic tuning. Although it is a very different instrument from the examples above, with many more courses and more deviations from the underlying left-right then right-left ascending scale principle, the overall design is similar. The lids fit in the same way and there is an interesting and puzzling design feature. The upper transverse bar for supporting the lids, on the evidence of the Horniman instrument, is designed to be loose-fitting. It is not glued to the sides and fits through an oversized hole in the septum (see below for more details).
There is also this instrument (below) already shown in the Introduction.
John Simcock?
According to A.J. Hipkins in Musical Instruments, Historic Rare and Unique (1888), this too was made by John Simcock. And it had a label with the same information as the instrument in the illustrations above, including, 'John Simcock makes, mends and sells the English harp'.
The whereabouts of this instrument, if it still exists, is unknown but there is an instrument in the MET Museum in New York that looks exactly like it. According to the MET Museum there is no evidence of any connection with their instrument and this one.
Surprisingly, and unlike Simcock's other instruments shown above, this 14 quadruple-course instrument has a separate, raised soundboard with four roses. Only two can be seen because this illustration shows the instrument with the lids on.
Is it possible that Hipkins was mistaken and this is not an instrument made by Simcock? Or is it possible that Hipkins chose an anonymous instrument that would make an impressive coloured image?
The English harp appears to have been in vogue for a fairly short time, from about 1760 to the early 1770s. Here is a very brief outline of some references to it.
c.1755-60 label, 'John Simcock makes, mends and sells the English harp'.
1760 Bath Journal: Simcock ‘has invented a new English harp’. (announcement))
1761 Bath Journal: ‘Mr.Simcock (The Inventor and Maker of the English Harp)’.
c1762 Thompson’s Compleat Collection hpschd,violin, Ger flute or English harp (see Players and Music)
1763 Bath Journal: ‘John Simcock inventor and maker of the English Harp’ (advertisement)
1763 Leeds Intelligencer: a Mr Crompton teaches instruments and also sells English Harps.
1764 Manchester Mercury: Simcock ‘inventor and maker of the English Harp’. (advert)
1765 Leeds Intelligencer: English-Harps for sale alongside other instruments.
1767 Chester Courant: a Mr Saxallen offers to teach the English Harp.
1769 Leeds Intelligencer Joseph Ogle of York includes English-Harps for sale.
1770 Leeds Intelligencer Joseph Ogle of York (same as 1769)
1772 Longman,Lukey, and Co, catalogue includes dulcimers, Aeolian and English harps
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1785 Manchester Mercury: Simcock ‘inventor and maker of the English Harp’. (advert)
1787 Derby Mercury Simcock, Leek resident, ‘inventor and maker of the English harp’
Sometimes in the past, instruments have had different names; different names but all referring to the same instrument. In the second half of the 18th century , for example, the (wire-strung) guittar was also known as the 'cetra', or 'cittra' (and other names too).
An article on the bell harp by Eric Halfpenny in the Galpin Society Journal (1978) (see References) seems to have given rise to the idea that the English harp is merely another name for the bell harp. The precise relationship between the bell harp and the English harp is currently unknown but it cannot be simple synonymy.
No instrument like the bell harp is known from before the 18th century and the first references to it are from 1730 (here) so it must have appeared at some time in the early 18th century. But John Simcock announced that he had invented his English harp in a Bath newspaper in 1760 and from 1761 until 1787 he claimed to be, and was acknowledged by others to be, 'the Inventor and Maker of the English harp'.
His very first advertisement seems to have been in the Bath Journal in 1763. Here is his advertisement from 1764 and most of the text is the same, but he is now in Leek, not Bath.
Manchester Mercury 1764.
And here, from 1785, is a similar advertisement but now with a Manchester address. In the 1764 advertisement he is 'JOHN SIMCOCK ,Late of Bath' and in 1785 he is 'JOHN SIMCOCK, from Bath'. But he is not living in Bath.
Manchester Mercury 1785.
There may have been other advertisements in other newspapers that have not survived. Perhaps this 1785 advertisement was a late attempt to revive interest in the instrument.
Simcock claimed to have 'much improved and brought to great Perfection the said Instrument'. The 'said Instrument' must mean the English harp. As mentioned above, a label on an instrument declares that 'John Simcock 'makes, mends and sells the English harp'. Thanks to research by Eric Halfpenny, this instrument can be dated to somewhere 1755 and 1760. On this label from before 1760 Simcock is claiming to make English harps, he is not claiming to have invented the instrument. After 1760, Simcock claimed to be its inventor. Perhaps he had his reasons. For example, before 1760 he was a drummer in a regiment of Dragoons.
There is simply not enough information yet to understand the exact situation but Simcock very publicly claimed to have 'much improved and brought to great Perfection' an instrument that he called the English harp. It seems improbable that Simcock could have got away with simply re-naming bell harps as English harps and even more audaciously, claiming to have invented the instrument. In 1787, as an old bell-ringer, Simcock was still acknowledged in a newspaper as the 'Inventor and Maker of the English harp'.
See The bell harp in the 18th century for more details but it is obvious from descriptions of the bell harp from 1740 that Simcock's instrument was indeed some kind of bell harp. In the Introduction I suggested the term swung zither as a family or class name. The bell harp and the English harp are different members of the same family and, in this case, very close members.
The obvious question is: how does Simcock's English harp, c1760, differ from the bell harp that existed from the 1730s or earlier? What did Simcock do to 'improve and bring to great perfection' his instrument? Unfortunately there are no answers.
All the surviving 18th century swung zither instruments are either Simcock's or are anonymous. See The bell harp in the 18th century part 2 for more discussion. We know what some of Simcock's instruments are like (as shown above) but the anonymous ones could be modelled on Simcock' instruments or they could simply be bell harps. However , as discussed on the 'bell harp in the 18th century' pages, these anonymous instruments don't fully match 18th century descriptions of the bell harp.
For a fuller discussion of Simcock, the English harp and the bell harp see my article in FoMRHI April 2023. Here.