George Wilkinson

Who was George Wilkinson?

George Wilkinson was an English music publisher, and piano and candle manufacturer.

Wilkinson was the youngest son of Charles Wilkinson. In 1797 he apprenticed to London music seller and publisher Francis Broderip, former partner in Longman & Broderip piano manufacturing business which had gone bankrupt in 1795. In 1805 Wilkinson took over his oldest brother Charles' half partnership in the company, which reorganized doing business as Broderip & Wilkinson until Broderip's death in 1807, after which Wilkinson purchased his partner's shares to form Wilkinson & Co. at 3 Great Windmill Street.

By 1808 Wilkinson had arranged for Astor and Leukenfeld to manufacture upright, cabinet pianos licensed from William Southwell's patent. These instruments were conceived to support the strain of the strings with strong, continuous frames in order to keep better in tune than competing arrangements. Wilkinson & Co. confidently offered a twelve month guarantee for workmanship and tuning, and consequently they were obliged to furnish better replacements when the pianos were found not to "stand well."