Hi, I’m trying to find out about Fentum flutes. If you have any PHOTOS of flutes stamped with the name Fentum, would you mind showing them?
I notice the 78 Strand address in London where Fentum worked is not the one it was in the 1850s: in the late 19th century, that address was swallosed up by a huge building taking up a block which include the Cecil hotel, so the 78 of today is no the same building as it was, but it’s in the right spot.
Thanks, Shane
I think you’ll already have seen what I have…
Jon C has a few Fentum piccies on his FB Albums if not in old posts here.
I have, thanks Jem. I’ve looked through the forum and the older photos of Fentums are no longer posted (you just get the word “Image”).
Yeah, that’s usually due to the demise of a web hosting service, or the closure of a person’s account due to inactivity, rather than to deliberate removal by the poster - it has happened to some of mine.
demise of hosting 
yer gonna figure this stuff out, ain’t ya 
I will see what I can do for you. I currently have three Fentums in the shop at the moment…
The current Fentum I am working on, was made in Goodlad’s shop, quite a unusual flute!
There was a whole family of Fentums, John, Francis, Mary Ann, Jonathan, and Henry.
I found the following on Henry Fentum and 78 Strand, for anyone interested:
Fentum advertisement, from The Lancet, 1844:
“Flutes, 78, Strand – Eight keyed Cocoa Flutes, with patent head, silver keys (double springs), tips, & c., with rosewood case, cleaner, and instruction book, 5l. 5s., or German Silver, including case, & c., 2l. 12s. 6d., manufactured by HENRY FENTUM, Professor of the Flute, 78, Strand, London. Flutes repaired and taken in exchange.”
And from Music Publishers: Printers and Engravers, Frank Kidson: “In 1853, Mr. Henry Fentum was at 78, Strand, and Mr. A. J. Hipkins, who has very pleasant memories of him, favours me with the information that he was a flute player of ability who occasionally performed at the opera. Fentum’s shop is now gone, and its site absorbed into the Hotel Cecil.”
So, what we see today is the Hotel Cecil at 78 Strand. I wonder did these guys think that their flutes would far outlive the buildings they made them in? Shane
the dayton miller collection has one but you have to enlarge the photos which the webpage has a facility to do. [removed bad link]
and checkout the wylde flute from the same collection, [removed bad link]
Thanks for the photos. In the advertisement above, from Fentum, it mentions having patent head, silver keys, and “tips”: anyone know what “tips” are?
I reckon “tips” will be the metal end caps we’ve seen on some of them, though it could also refer to normal ferrule rings. The more intriguing usage is “Patent Head” - I wonder what that was? Not Rudall & Rose’s one!
You’re right, it’s “tips” is silver tips, as in the ad they seem to have copied from Clementi (which I copy and paste from Terry’s website):
Clementi ad: “Elegant Cocoa or Ebony (Nicholson’s Improved) Flutes, with Patent Tube head, Silver Tips, Elastic Plugs, and Double Springs to the Keys, &c.”
My Fentum does indeed have “silver tips”, which looks very like your Rudall tip without of course the bells and whistles; maybe also that’s what he means by Patent Head.
And it has double springs too, as far as I can see: not so easy to see, but there.
Does anyone know what is said about Fentum in the New Langwill Index? I’m wondering about J. Fentum and Henry Fentum, so 1830s, 1840s, 1850s Fentum flute makers.
Hi Thalatta,
Fentum, WWI fl London 1784 - c1821.
1763 established as music engravers, sellers, publishers by the flautist Jonathan Fentum; 1784 succeeded by John (d 1843), listed as “Music Instrument Maker”; from 1821 listed as “masquerade warehouse”, “music and masquerade warehouse”; c1836 succeeded by Mrs Mary Ann Fentum, listed as “Music Seller and Publisher”; 1845 succeeded by Henry Fentum. See also Florio, Tacet.
MARK: FENTUM / 78 STRAND / LONDON
ADDRESS: 1763 - 1784: “Jonathan Fentum”, 22 Exeter Exchange in the Strand etc; 1784-96: “John Fentum”, 78 Strand; 1801-36: “Jonathan Fentum”, ditto; 1837-44 “Mary Annn Fentum”, ditto.
WRITINGS: Jonathan Fentum, Complete Tutor for the German Flute (London c1765)
LOCATION: flute: US-DC-Washington: 1100 (incomplete): keyed bugle: GB-Keighley (6k).
Fentum, Francis WWI fl London 1837 - 1845.
1844-45 listed as “Flute Manufacturer”.
ADDRESS: 1837-43: 36 Queens Row, Walworth; 1844-45: 29 Queens Row, Walworth
LOCATION: flute: private collection (4k)
Fentum, Henry WWI, BI fl London c1840 - 1859.
Maker, repairer, teacher of flute, WI dealer; 1845 successor to Mrs Mary Ann Fentum (see FENTUM); an advertisment of c1840 offers “cocoa flutes” (8k) with “patent head”; flageolet, clarinet, keyed bugle reported.
MARK: “H. Fentum, London”
ADDRESS: a 1845: 6 Surrey St., Strand; 1845-59; 78 Strand.
Fentum, Jonathan WWI fl London 1850-1856.
1850-56 Listed as “Flute Maker”.
ADDRESS: 1850-56: 105 Fenchurch St.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Smith in Grove 5, Humphries and Smith 1970.
Here’s the Langwill’s entry for Florio:
Florio, Pietro Grassi (b ?Italy c1730; d London 1795) WWI fl London late 18c.
Flute player, inventor; by 1756 flautist at the Court of Dresden; 1756 left for Paris; by c1760 in London, where he pursued a successful career as flautist; associated with the player TACET over the adding of new keys to the flute. Jonathan Fentum’s (see FENTUM) tutor of c1765 showing “Florio & Tacet’s new invented German flute with all the Keys” (6k); according to Cornelius WARD (1844, quoted in Bate) he attempted to keep the foot-joint keys concealed from his colleagues; according to Byrne, HALE was probably the maker of two of his flutes with extended foot-joint, since the C and C# keys bear the latter’s mark. See also POTTER, GEDNEY.
MARK: FLORIO / LONDON
ADDRESS: 1767: “with Mr. Moon, watchmaker, in Clements Inn”; 1781: 113 Wardour St.; 1794: 9 Portland Place, St. James.
LOCATION: flute: GB-Oxford: 114 (4k)
BIBLIOGRAPHY: GerberNL, Byrne in GSJ 18.10, O’Loughlin in NGDMI, Fentum c1765, Carse 1940, Bate 1969.
The Langwill’s entry for Tacet:
Tacet, Joseph (b ?Nantes; d London 1801)
WWI Inventor fl London
According to Schilling (1838), born in London, according to MGG (1961), in Nantes; flute-player, 1760-86 rate-payer at Meards Court, Dean St.; according to Samuel Arnold’s tutor (1787), it was he that had first suggested the adding of keys to the flute; Jonathan Fentum’s (see FENTUM) tutor of c1765 depicts “Florio & Tacet’s new invented German Flute with all the Keys” (6k); 1794 (I) J.F. BOIE advertised in AMZ flutes made with “pewter-plug” flute keys, which he calls “Tacett’sche Klappen”, attributed to him their recent invention; according to Sachs, he patented in 1790 the “Zinnpolster & Lochfutter” (zinc pad and tone hole lining) (but see R. POTTER); Byrne suggests that he may have collaborated with MASON over his extended flute foot joint of 1756. See also GEDNEY.
WRITINGS: Six Solos for a German Flute op.1 (London 1767)
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Schilling, Chaillon-Guiomar in MGG (sv “Nantes”), Byrne in GSJ 18.10, Arnold 1787, Welch 1911, Sachs 1922.
Here is a photo of my one of my two Fentums:
Uploaded with ImageShack.us
This is a nice playing flute, I should finish it up… The band on the lower section was a common repair for a crack in the socket back then.
Here is the makers stamp;
Fentum
36 Queens Row
Walworth
London
Uploaded with ImageShack.us
Here is my favorite flute… 
Stamped the same as the previous, 36 Queens Row.
This flute has double springs and silver keys, so it is a the deluxe model. Keys are stamped I.N.
Uploaded with ImageShack.us
Hi Dave, I really appreciate that, thanks a lot. Looks ike it can hard to determine which Fentum made a flute marked simply “Fentum 78 Strand London”: could be Jonathan or a Henry or, behind it all, a Wylde… Shane
Jon, thanks a lot too for those photos. Lovely photos indeed. I’ll upload photos of my own soon, which has silver end caps on each end (which I have already seen in a Fentum with the 36 Queens address, perhaps repaired by you?), plus a silver lip plate (which I have not seen in any Fentums so far). Shane
Here are photos of my two Fentums:
ca. 1840 Francis Fentum, 36 Queens Row, Walworth- 
more images at: http://img10.imageshack.us/g/boxbr.jpg/
ca. 1840 Fentum, 78 Strand, London- 
more images at: http://img268.imageshack.us/g/bodystamp.jpg/
