John Broadwood

John Broadwood (6 October 1732, Cockburnspath, Berwickshire, Scotland — 17 July 1812, London, England) was a Scottish entrepreneur, inventor, notable maker of harpsichords and pianos, and founder of John Broadwood & Sons, the world's oldest continuously operating piano manufacturer. Born in a tiny Oldhamstocks village in East Lothian, south of Edinburgh, John was the eldest son of the local carpenter. In 1761, twenty-nine-year-old Broadwood traveled to London, covering over 640 kilometers by foot, to pursue his dream of making musical instruments; John began apprenticing with renowned Swiss harpsichord-maker Burkhard Shudi (1702—1773). In 1769, he married Shudi's youngest daughter, Barbara (1748—1776), becoming his father-in-law's partner by the end of the same year; the renewed nameplates now read "Burkat Shudi et Johannes Broadwood." In 1771, Shudi retired at 69, bequeathing the business to his son, Burkat Shudi, the Younger (1737—1803), nephew Joshua Shudi (1739—1774), and son-in-law John Broadwood, who was the oldest and de-facto leader. Broadwood began making square pianos around 1774 — following Johannes Zumpe's model brought to England by the so-called "twelve Apostles," a group of prolific German-speaking builders who settled in London running from the Seven Years' War. John collaborated with Americus Backers (ca.1740 — post-1778), one of the "apostles," and Robert Stodart, a fellow Scot who recently joined the Shudi et Broadwood workshop. They experimented with the "English" action, scaling and adapting it to fit in a full-size harpsichord case. By 1778, Broadwood's firm began offering other types of keyboard instruments, with the earliest extant grand pianos dated circa 1782; within just two years, "Johannes Broadwood" was selling three times more pianos than harpsichords. These original grand pianos still only had a five-octave compass. After virtuoso pianist and composer Jan Ladislav Dusík (1760—1812) ordered custom builds with 5½ and 6 octaves, Broadwood gradually began lowering the compass until the full six-octave CC–c4 grand came out in 1794. The company's name changed to "John Broadwood & Son" after John invited his son, James Shudi Broadwood (1772—1851), to become a partner in 1795. After his brother, Thomas Broadwood (1786—1861), also joined the firm in 1808, they adopted the current name, "John Broadwood & Sons." James and Thomas took over the company after John died in 1812, left in charge of the proliferating business and immense personal estate. In 1836, John's grandson and James Shudi's son, Henry Fowler Broadwood (1811—1893), took over the family business.