| Description
| Floral engraved cornet, inscribed
‘PRESENTED TO GEORGE HARRIS BY THE PUBLIC OF LARKHALL WITH A SUM OF MONEY AS A TOKEN OF ESTEEM, 23 JUNE 1917'
and
‘CLASS A/NEW CREATION/50 MEDALS OF HONOUR/BESSON & CO/”PROTOTYPE”/198 EUSTON ROAD/LONDON/ENGLAND
Number 1005004
Complete
Leather case with worn handle containing a booklet of sheet music “The Universal Band Primer” Boosey & Hawkes Ltd, 35 pages
Object of the month for March 2010 text:
Presentation cornet and case
This handsome cornet is engraved: “Presented to George Harris by the people of Larkhall 23 June 1917” The musical instrument was made by Besson and Company of London, which is still making cornets today.
George Harris (1884-1957) was an outstanding Larkhall personality in the first half of the last century.
In 1912, at the age of 28, he was blinded in an explosion at Dykehead Colliery, but he continued to develop his two main interests: music and politics.
He was a musician and bandleader, and a prominent member of the Larkhall Independent Labour Party (ILP) and a founder of the Larkhall Labour Party. As a leading campaigner for the blind, The Hamilton Advertiser recalled that he “took part in the famous ‘blind march’ to London to put the case for State-aid for the blind” and founded the Larkhall Branch of the National League of the Blind.
At George’s funeral in June 1957 at Larkhall Cemetery, his son James and two grandsons played ‘Crimond’ as a cornet trio.
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This cornet will be cleaned by members of the Collections Team on Friday 17 March, 2010 in the afternoon. |
