William Joseph Ennever was born in Hornchurch, Essex in about 1802, having been christened on the 2nd January 1803 and was the eldest son of Robert Ennever and Mary (nee Knight).  He married for the first time in 1824 to Jane King and after her death in 1838, due to childbirth, he married Margaret Juana Hederman in 1840.  There were seven children from the first marriage and six from the second. No record has been found of a child born to Jane after 1834 and it is therefore assumed that she died before their child was born or that the child's birth was not registered. Stillbirth registration did not begin until 1927 and this is also a possible reason.

William Joseph is first recorded as a pianoforte maker in 1838 at the age of 35 although nothing is known of how this became his chosen profession.  One family member believes the pianoforte manufacturing business to have begun in France although there is nothing currently to substantiate this.  William Joseph's father Robert appears to have been a successful farmer, being recorded as a "dairy man" and a "gentleman", while Robert's wife is described as "of independent means" in 1841.  Several members of the Ennever family of this period were sawyers and this occupation (someone who sawed timber) could possibly have been a forerunner of the pianoforte manufacturing business.  There is also a suggestion that the Wade family may have been the source of these woodworking skills.

In the 1841 census William Joseph is living at William Street, Regents Park, Middlesex.  From the census it would appear that a William Cooper and his son, also William, together with another son, Henry, who is working as an apprentice are pianoforte makers in William Street and a number of other residents apart from William Joseph Ennever are employed in the industry.  These include a John Ramanis, Miles Stravely, James Mills, Daniel Tryne(?), Charles Batchelor, Henry Matt, William Askell and James Stanton (or Stonton). There are also two Professors of Music, William Day and John Clarke, suggesting that a music school could also have been in the street.  The Post Office London Directory for 1846 confirms that a Wm. Cooper at 24 William Street was a pianoforte key maker. It also records a John Clarke, professor of music at 59 Bayham Street, Pancras Road, a very short distance away.  There is no Ennever listed, however.

W J Ennever (1829/30-1917), c1880 son of the founder

At the beginning of the 19th century it was estimated there were only about a dozen pianoforte manufacturers in England whereas by the time of the Exhibition there were between two and three hundred in London alone.  This dramatic change was brought about largely by the availability of steam power to cut the timber and the increasing network of railways which quickly replaced the sea as a faster and cheaper method of distribution.

At the Great Exhibition in 1851, Ennever and Steedman exhibited two walnut marqueterie cottage pianos, having been listed in the Post Office London Directory a year earlier.  Their address was 3 Little Crescent Street, London.  In the 1851 census he is living at 5 Robert Street, Regents Park and is recorded as having 40 (or possibly 60) men working for him, suggesting an output of 5-10 pianos a week.  Although the family have a young servant they are sharing the house with three other families, one of which is headed by Thomas Moor, a pianoforte furnisher.  Next door, at number 6, is a George Thomas also a pianoforte maker, with four men and two apprentices working for him, James Stevenson and John England.  Also next door, at number 4, is a professional singer and a teacher of music.  William Joseph's eldest son, also William Joseph and who was born in 1829/30, has now joined his father as a pianoforte maker.

William Joseph's niece, Frances Ann Ennever, married Daniel Lynch (later Lensh) in 1850 and Daniel is recorded as a pianoforte tuner on the marriage certificate. In the 1851 census he is a journeyman pianoforte maker and it is assumed he is working with, or for, his wife's uncle, William Joseph.

In 1851 Ennever and Steedman, of 31 George Street, Euston Square, advertised an elegant walnut marquetry semi-cottage pianoforte, being a new design with double-action as well as a single action plain walnut square-fall piccolo, or microchordian pianoforte.

London Gazette October 1852

In 1852 Ennever & Steedman were listed in the Post Office London directory at 3 Little Crescent Street and 31 George Street, Euston Square.  In October 1852, however, William Joseph Ennever and James Steedman announced the dissolution of their partnership in the London Gazette (see left). They have several addresses including 4 Werrington Street, Oakley Square, St Pancras and 21 Percy Street, Tottenham Court Road.  It is likely that the financial difficulties that followed so quickly would have been a factor in the dissolution of the partnership.

London Gazette October 1854

In October 1854 William Joseph Ennever assigned all the assets of the business and his personal estate and effects to two main creditors, a timber merchant and a pianoforte-action maker, Henry Brooks, suggesting that he had been buying in the mechanical parts of pianos, manufacturing the cabinets and then assembling them.  I understand this was the norm for the industry at the time and confirmation of this arrangement can be found in the picture of a H Brooks & Co piano key from 1877 (see right).

In December 1854 the London Gazette records Marsh and Steedman as pianoforte manufacturers at 42 New Bond Street, London and James Steedman is recorded as having been granted a patent in 1856 for the invention of "improvement in pianofortes".  He, too, appears to get into financial difficulty and assigned his assets to his creditors, including the same timber merchant in 1857 (see right).

The Times 23rd June 1859

The business continued as W J Ennever & Co or W J Ennever & Son because on 23rd June 1859 an Ennever "brilliant toned 6 7/8 octavo Piccolo Pianoforte" was advertised for sale in The Times (see left).

In the 1861 census William Joseph is recorded at 18 Soho Square, Westminster with his son, both being pianoforte manufacturers.  In 1871 William Joseph senior is recorded as a "Pianoforte Maker Master" employing 14 men and 3 boys.  This is a dramatic reduction from the workforce of twenty years earlier and may have been due to increased automation and/or reduced demand.  Various trade and other directories list Ennever & Son during the 1870s and 1880s and they can be found in Kelly's Directory of the Cabinet & Furnishing Trades in the 1880s and 1890s.

The Choir and Musical Record July 18 1863

An 1863 advert in The Choir and Musical Record confirms the link with Ralph Allison & Sons or Allison and Allison suggested by the fact that Allisons were also located at 1 Werrington Street in the mid-1860s.  It indicates that apart from manufacturing their own-brand pianofortes W J Ennever & Co were also manufacturers for Allisons.

The Times 18th May 1864

In 1864 the business was advertising for a clerk and bookkeeper at their "manufactory" in Soho Square. 

Now in the writer's possession!

The manufacturer's label.

The serial number (top) and the signature and date on the right-most key (below).
Edwin J Nutt is recorded in the 1871 census as being aged 25 and a "Pianoforte Maker" but his employer is not known.

In 1872 two Ennever & Co pianos were advertised for sale in The Times, one being a 7 octave cottage pianoforte in a walnut case and the other a 6 3/4 octave rosewood pianoforte and in 1875 a "brilliant-toned full compass pianoforte in handsome inlaid walnut case" was advertised as well as a full-compass trichord pianoforte. Other advertisements for similar pianofortes are also shown below. nb I understand "full compass" to mean a keyboard of 7 or 7 1/4 octaves.

The Times 3rd June 1872

The Times 20th July 1872

The Times 24th April 1877

The Times 6th April 1875

 
Manufacturer's label

The dated piano key (1877) made by H Brooks & Co.

London Gazette 7th April 1868

Although it is not known for certain that Daniel Lynch (see above) worked for the Ennever pianoforte makers he too was made bankrupt in 1868 and promised to pay his creditors 6/- in the £. He is, however, known to have continued in the business of making piano strings and tuning pianos.

There is one later connection between the Ennever family and pianoforte manufacturing in that Augustus Ennever, grandson of the founding W J Ennever, married Marie (May) Hill in 1904, May having shared a house in 1901 with William Clarke, also a pianoforte manufacturer in the St Pancras area.

Further adverts can be found in The Times for Ennever pianofortes during the 1870s, 80s and 90s and up to 1913 but no details of the instrument itself were given and so have not been included. All the adverts were private sales or sales by auction and not adverts by W J Ennever themselves.

In 1919 Murdoch's of Oxford Street advertised an Ennever Upright Grand piano in "second-hand - slightly used" condition for 32 guineas (the equivalent of approx. £1000 today).

In 1883 George Vincent, a son of William Joseph senior by his second marriage, is recorded as a pianoforte maker but later becomes a piano repairer and tuner.  In 1890, he proposed a piano tuner's association, and issued a circular to tuners aiming to form a representative body to bring some respect to the trade which was being damaged by untrained or incompetent tuners.  He proposed:

• The entrance fee to be paid on joining the Association is 2/6, Annual subscription 5/-.  AIMS: to form a representative body of the profession to speak with authority on behalf of same.
• To take such measures as shall lead to the registration of duly qualified tuners and promote the thorough training of apprentices and others.
• To endeavour by all lawful means to get rid of the class of incompetents who having received a form of lessons without any practice, are going about doing serious injury to the profession and to the public, who before engaging them have no means of distinguishing them from practical men.
• To establish an employment registry whereby employers and tuners can be brought together according to their requirements without publicity.
• To do all such other lawful things as may conduce to the welfare of the profession and the benefit of the public

Source: Music Trades Review (15th March 1890) p12

Historical phone directories are a particularly useful source for family historians and date from 1880, the year after the public telephone service was introduced into Great Britain. The Post Office London Directory lists Ennever & Son as below from 1901-6 but there is no entry in 1907 onwards nor are they to be found in Alfred Dolge's "Pianos and Their Makers" or Kelly's Directory, in 1911.

However, in approximately 1913 an Ennever & Steedman piano number 11,504 was sold by Peake's of Sunderland and believed to be new or nearly new.  It appears that they had continued to use the Ennever & Steedman name long after the dissolution of the partnership.

Possibly following on from Ennever & Steedman or Marsh & Steedman, Sandon & Steedman began in the business around 1883 and seem to have been listed in directories for about a decade.

If anyone has any further information, photographs or documentation etc about any of these pianoforte businesses, or the life and career of William Joseph Ennever or his son or indeed an Ennever piano, I would be delighted to hear from you.

I would like to thank Patricia Hill and Bill Kibby for their help in providing information for this history.