Early British record labels 1898-1926: A

See Frank Andrews & Arthur Badrock, TMR 76, 77, 78, 1989-90. (The article was, in effect, split between these 3 issues). Collectors often loosely refer to ‘Vocalion’ as an umbrella term for 3 or more different companies, which I know caused Frank some distress, as he has meticulously recorded the history of all three. Originally there was the Orchestrelle Co. Ltd., which later ‘became’ the Aeolian Co. Ltd. Its records were pressed by a subsidiary company, the Universal Music Co. Ltd. at a factory in Hayes, Middlesex. The ACO trade mark was registered to Aeolian in July 1922. The first Aco discs appeared in November 1922. Mike Thomas has kindly furnished an early label example. Aco was in effect a ‘budget label’ to Aeolian’s high-prestige Vocalion marque. Aeolian had just bought up the Invicta Record Co. Ltd., whose label was Guardsman, and most of the first 40 or so Aco issues were derived from Guardsman masters, some of them quite old. The label continued until G-16230 in 1927, but does not turn up all that often. They also put out at least seventy-five 12″ discs in a F-33000 series. These are very scarce, and we are grateful to Roger Mackey for sending the above example. Just for the record, the Vocalion Gramophone Co. Ltd. was formed in December 1924, so only products after that date (they manufactured many other labels) really merit the loose term ‘Vocalion’.

The third volume of Mike Langridge’s monumental listing of British Pathé records covers the lateral cut discs – principally Actuelle. Go to the CPLGS website to get your copy.

Also see Frank Andrews & Arthur Badrock, TMR 78, 1990. Also FA on Pathé. Hitherto, the disc products of the venerable and important Pathé concern had always been vertically cut – disque à saphir – from the sapphire ball stylus used to play them. But after the Great War, it became plain that a ‘normal’ lateral cut record was needed. The U.S. branch of Pathé registered the trade mark ‘Actuelle’ in 1919, lateral discs appearing there in September 1920. British Actuelle discs duly came out in September 1921, with ‘Needle Cut’ on the label – disque aiguille. They had several catalogue series. The normal ‘popular’ series above began at 10101, and continued out of our time period, until December 1928, over 1,400 issues having been made by then. Incidentally, the cream & green centre of the first label is highly unusual; it is the only one I have ever seen in the 10000 series. All acoustic Pathé master records were in the form of cylinders, not discs. They were dubbed pantographically into either lateral form (as here) or vertical, as required – vertical cut Pathés continued to appear in the country for several more years after 1921. Many quite early masters, dating back well before the War, appeared on Actuelle. See also Pathé.

Made for an unknown client, these discs were pressed by The Universal Music Co. at Hayes, Middlesex (often loosely known as ‘Vocalion’) from masters deriving from Aco, U.S. Vocalion, and perhaps other related sources. The only trouble is, they are so scarce as make their evaluation very difficult. The few known have numbers in single or low double figures; so probably only a first release was made, and nothing further happened? However, the G-series control numbers they bear can give us a clue to their date. Adelphi 13 bears G-1780, which is a very high number, and that series was abandoned in May 1926. This gives us a ball-park date for the appearance of this first (and only?) batch of Adelphis. (Adelphi 11 has G-1648 and G-1649, which fit well.) In addition, the ¾d copyright stamp indicates a retail price of half-a-crown, 2/6d, or 12.5p in current terms. ‘Mighty HMV’s’ popular series records were currently only 3/- (15p). Moreover, the above Adelphis are both acoustic recordings, while HMV’s had been made electrically for some time. I think we may reasonably conclude that the public didn’t find Adelphis very good value for money?

See Len Watts and Frank Andrews, HD 108, 1979. In September 1911, Aérophone discs were imported from Paris, and sold from premises at 50 High Holborn, London. Apparently both vertical and lateral cut discs were made. The first one above is 10.5″ and is lateral cut. We do not know what cut the second one has; or which type was imported here. Perhaps both? Neither is it known for how long they were available. What is certain, is that not many can have been sold – they are very scarce.

The Anglo French Music Company was founded in 1916 by Tobias Matthay and John McEwan to produce piano music, graduated to assist the progress of students. By 1923 they were also producing discs. These appear to have been recorded by ‘Aco’ and pressed at the Universal Music Co’s factory at Hayes, Middx. See pianosage.net for more information on Matthay. The pianiste Desirée MacEwan worked at Matthay’s School, specializing in teaching the piano to children.

Frank Andrews Archive.  AGA records were introduced in 1909 by the Aga Schallplatten Vertreib (= distribution), of 45 Bahnstrasse, Schöneberg,  Berlin. It was a period of very rapid expansion; labels were proliferating, and often drew from the same pool of masters. Material recorded in London came out in a 5000 catalogue series. The control numbers, confusingly, also ran in a 5000 block. Many sides also appeared on Ilco, Bel Canto, Sound Wave, and probably other elusive labels of that ilk. It is a confusing period; small companies came and went quite quickly. AGA was no exception; it went into voluntary liquidation on September 25th 1911. The scarcity of their discs in the U.K. speaks for itself…

Thanks to Mike Atkin, a new label has been rediscovered after about 112 years! Klingsor records appeared here in 1910. They were made in Germany by Polyphon, who at that time had no direct outlet into the U.K. Klingsor records ‘went with’ Klingsor Gramophones. However, in due course, October 1911 to be precise,  Polyphon entered the burgeoning British disc market in its own right, so Klingsor had to yield. Remainng stocks of Klingsors were obviously ‘jobbed off’ – but to whom? The overstuck ‘Agincourt’ label enabled somebody to sell these changelings. But who they were, will probably remain forever unknown.

Albion discs were around from about 1911 to December 1914, when the company went into liquidation. There are two basic designs with the coloured label. 1256 has the small coloured insert, with a not very imposing lion. It also has the scarce Bert Feldman ‘portait’ copyright stamp. This was in contravention of the Copyright Act – no images of any individual were permitted, so they were soon withdrawn. 1426 has the larger design with a more impressive lion. They usually carried Beka material, but Odéon-Jumbo masters are known, indicating they may have been pressed at the Lindström-Beka factory at Hertford. Note that we have labels which indicate (a) no place of manufacture; (b) pressed in Prussia, and (c) manufactured in England! The two plain blue labels are pasted over German-made discs. The John Bull concern was bought up by Albion in late 1913, and their labels were stuck over remaining stock. The Beka paste-over probably originated after the outbreak of war in August 1914. Records which said ‘Reproduced in Prussia’ on the label would have been unsaleable, and thus jobbed off to have other labels pasted over. (Having said that, Beka discs had been pressed at Hertford for some time before the war; the Linsdström labels continued until 1916.)

See Frank Andrews, HD 214, 1997. The proprietors of this scarce label, Frank tells us, must have been the Alexander Record Co. of Birmingham, Chester, Coventry and Manchester. He also suspects it might have been a ‘tallyman’ operation – see John Bull and Meloto for an explanation of this. They were pressed in Germany by Polyphon and Beka, with the Polyphons probably coming first, beginning in 1910-11: e.g. 20399 above. The end-date of the label is unknown, but the tallyman operations faded away in 1913-14, owing to the increasing number of cheap labels which came in at that time; so the Alexander Record would have been  been short-lived.

A comprehensive and detailed history of the Odéon company and a listing of all early Odéon records exists. “British Odéons” by Mike Langridge. 312 pp A4.  Pub. CLPGs Bookshop on behalf of CLPGS Ltd. Wells next the Sea, Norfolk. 2006. Visit the CLPGs Bookshop for details. The company history was written, naturally, by Frank Andrews.

This qualifies as a British label in that they were sold here – imported, as the label freely informs us. Dating from 1905-1906, they were a product of the American Record Company. These discs were ‘adopted’ by Odeon for sale in Europe. They were pressed in a rich, resplendent blue material, and are superbly recorded – listen to this fine cakewalk record. Alas, the ARC were driven out of business due to infringing U.S. Patents, presumably held by Victor and Columbia, who were operating a mutual (but otherwise exclusive) sharing of certain crucial patents. These discs are very scarce, even in the U.S.A., where they have the same excellent label simply titled ‘American Record’. A batch of ARC masters were subsequently shipped to the U.K. and appeared on various minor labels here, such as Pioneer.

Anker was a German company. The first disc is titled in no less than five languages, and it must be assumed that there was an intention, or at least an option, for their sale in any or all of the countries speaking those languages. The Belle Fields (recorded in Berlin, December 1907) is titled largely in English, so the same may be said to apply.The third clearly seems to have been intended for the British market, and must pre-date 1914 (St. Petersburg). We assume that there is a connection between ‘Anchor Record’ and ‘Anchor Phonogram Co’.

A curious and uncommon species. They also have a tendency to bear multi-lingual labels. Mostly made in Germany, they might have been intended for extremely general distribution, where the retailer (and probably his clientele, some of whom could probably not read in any case) cared little or nothing for a brand name, and happily settled for anything that was cheap  & cheerful. Another possibility, suggested by Bill Dean-Myatt, is that some discs of this type may have served as ‘travellers’ samples’, played by a company rep. to demonstrate the quality of their product to merchants who wanted their own label. ‘Your name here!’ they would have said, indicating the blank space on the label. One of those above has a German AMMRE copyright stamp – but in the early days of such stamps it was quite common for the royalty to be paid in the country of manufacture rather than the country of consumption. We have assumed that any label titled in English was  – or might have been – intended for sale here. Dr Rainer Lotz kindly informed us that the discs with logo of two horses holding records were a product of the German Turmaphon company. There is also a quadrilingual label in German, English, Spanish and Russian – this, the product of Globophon (Dr Lotz). The coupling  (80/164) is odd, in that one side is titled twice in German; while the other side is quadrilingual in German, French, English and Spanish! All these may be dated ~1908 – 1914.