William Forster (Company)
William Forster
One of the difficulties in assembling this website is finding a way to accurately account for the members of the Forster family working in London. The last of the clan, Simon Andrew Forster wrote his History of the Violin that both celebrates the four generations, all named William that worked before him, but it also reveals a great deal about their business practices and the practicalities of how they made instruments. As a result it is not as one would expect to straightforwardly ascribe instruments to one member of the family or the other, but the reality from a scholarly perspective as well as with concern for market values is to regard the family as one continuum, with the identity of any particular maker - either an family member or an employee as a bonus. As a result I have listed instruments by the maker where they can be identified, but also provide a more complete inventory of examples of the family's work within this section.
One of the difficulties in assembling this website is finding a way to accurately account for the members of the Forster family working in London. The last of the clan, Simon Andrew Forster wrote his History of the Violin that both celebrates the four generations, all named William that worked before him, but it also reveals a great deal about their business practices and the practicalities of how they made instruments. As a result it is not as one would expect to straightforwardly ascribe instruments to one member of the family or the other, but the reality from a scholarly perspective as well as with concern for market values is to regard the family as one continuum, with the identity of any particular maker - either an family member or an employee as a bonus. As a result I have listed instruments by the maker where they can be identified, but also provide a more complete inventory of examples of the family's work within this section.
