John Bagnall

Bagnall, John

John Bagnall. Music dealer, piano manufacturer, b Staffordshire, England, 1828, d Victoria, BC, February 1885. He worked as a piano builder and cabinet maker for Collard & Collard in London, and came to Canada in 1862. The pioneer music dealer on the west coast, he sold music and instruments and tuned, regulated, and repaired pianos and harmoniums in Victoria at a store located first on Fort St and later on Government St. He built a number of pianos, probably the first to be made in British Columbia, and in 1871 announced his intention to establish a piano factory. It is doubtful that this plan came to fruition, although in 1882 the city directory listed his business as 'manufacturers of pianos, organs, and harmoniums, established in 1863'. None of his pianos is known to exist today. Following Bagnall's death, in 1885, his business was taken over by Charles Goodwin, who formed a partnership ca 1887 with G.W. Jordan, with premises on Fort St. This firm built upright pianos, several of which were shipped to San Francisco. In 1890 Goodwin and Jordan built their first grand piano, for a clothing merchant, A.G. McCandless of Victoria. The firm ceased activities during the early 1890s. In 1990 the only known extant Goodwin and Jordan piano was housed in Craigdarroch Castle in Victoria.