So he played the Banjo …

Posted on by Dr Karen E McAulay

I researched flautist James Simpson, the father of Dundonian music publisher and seller Alexander Simpson, for some months  before starting my PhD.   In the mid-1800s, Alexander Simpson became a partner in Methven Simpson, which had stores in Dundee, St Andrews, Forfar and Edinburgh.

I was unaware of any links with musicsellers or publishers in Glasgow, but you can’t blame me for getting excited when I found out about Frank Simpson’s shop in Sauchiehall Street, a couple of years ago.  Indeed, there was another Frank Simpson selling music elsewhere in Glasgow at the start of the twentieth century.

Let me save you a long story.  The Sauchiehall Street Simpson established his shop in 1860 – not much later than Alexander Simpson’s early career in Dundee – and I wasn’t aware of Alexander having any brothers, or of the family having a Glasgow connection at all.  The low premises on the left-hand side of the postcard foreground (above) are the shop the older Frank Simpson later settled in, with the shop remaining there for well over a half-century.  Frank Simpson junior eventually joined him, importing banjos from S S Stewart in the USA, and teaching the instrument from the premises from the mid 1880s onwards.  The other Simpson was a competitor, no connection with the Sauchiehall Simpsons (as their adverts make amply clear!), and it seems there was no connection with Methven Simpson.

However, this apparent dead end may not be a complete cul-de-sac, since the Sauchiehall Street shop was demolished to make way for British Home Stores circa 1964, and the owner by that time was a famous singer of Scottish repertoire.  I believe the shop was subsequently combined with a couple of others, ultimately to form the Glasgow Music Centre, so … taking the links back in time again … it all forms part of my present research interest in late Victorian and Edwardian Glasgow music publishers.  It just doesn’t connect with the Methven Simpson story.  So many Simpsons!

During my perigrinations through the British Newspaper Archive (a present to myself, half-subsidised by Mum’s Christmas gift!), I caught Frank Simpson junior playing his banjo at a “minstrel concert” in Milton of Campsie, and twice at a Sabbath School Soiree in Kilbarchan.  Frank Simpson cheap novel soldI discovered that Frank Simpson also published cheap novels, and (from an advertisement whose provenance was uncited) -that the shop sold books, jokes and greasepaint as well as the thousands of pieces of sheet-music that Glasgow Herald adverts boasted of.  Sadly, the British Library only seems to have five songs – but this material was not high art music, so there’s the possibility that it didn’t get logged in sufficient detail for me to be able to trace Frank Simpson’s imprint.

To date, the genealogical database Scotland’s People has not yielded the significant dates of   Sauchiehall Street Frank Simpson senior – I could still look harder –  but I do know that Simpson junior was born in Airdrie on 24th May 1866, and  died in East Kilbride on 14 August 1936 at the age of 70.  For now, I’m leaving them in limbo, since this is an intriguing but time-wasting detour away from the bigger questions about what the other, more active publishers were actually publishing!

 

 

12 thoughts on “So he played the Banjo …”

    2. I have just come across your site whilst looking for information on John Cameron of 47 York Street, Glasgow.
      I have just acquired a well-worn and fragile copy of his “New Collection of Reels and Strathspeys for the Violin, Containing the celebrated Scotch dance tunes of Neil (sic) Gow &c., expressly arranged by a professional violinist. Glasgow: Published by John Cameron, 47 York Street, and sold by all Musicsellers”.
      I’d be happy to send you a scan of the cover and contents pages if you would like.

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  4. John Cameron, music publisher, was based in Glasgow at 47 York Street, corner of Argyle Street. He produced beautifully bound books in cloth with gilt, or calf bound with marble. My copy of ‘ The Lyric Gems of Scotland’ is unfortunately detached from its cover and there is no date of its publication.

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  5. I have unearthed a box of sheet music and song books which belonged to my father. Looking through them, one had a Frank Simpson Music Shop stamp on it. One of the of the manuscripts “Land of Hope and Glory” was sung by Madame Clara Butt so they are all quite old.
    I don’t know what to do with these but putting them in the skip seems sacrilege. I Googled Frank Simpson and found your site and wondered if anyone could give me some advice.

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    1. My own interest is primarily (at the moment) in things published in late Victorian Scotland and the first part of the 20th century, so that’s how I chanced upon Frank Simpson’s music shop in Glasgow. He sold music (like the piece you’ve found) but he did also publish music to a limited extent. This one doesn’t sound as though he actually published it, just sold it – though I could be wrong. If the music is old but in good condition AND published in Scotland, then I myself would be quite interested! (depending how much there is and where it is) – but otherwise, you need either a good secondhand music shop, or you could try sellling pieces on eBay. That could be quite time-consuming but you could make some useful pocket money for yourself if you felt so-inclined. If you do sell them yourself, be careful to take a good photo or scan of the cover, and the info musicians will need will include composer, title and publisher. (The publisher’s name is usually at the bottom of the front cover or front page.) Hope this is some help.

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  6. Hi there, I don’t know if this is what you might be looking for, re John Cameron publisher. I have a hardback copy of. National melodies with symphonic and accompaniments. John Cameron wholesale and export manufacturing, stationer and publisher. 83 Dunlop St Glasgow. Regards janice

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