Lockey Hill violin, c. 1796, Islington (London) | Metzler Violins

broad, clear, open

About the Instrument
This violin has a broad, clear tone and would be a great instrument for chamber or orchestral playing. This violin's varnish is light, reddish-brown with golden ground. The one-piece back has flame slanting downwards towards the treble side on the upper back and slanting downwards towards the bass side on the lower back. This violin is remarkably fine condition.

Interior label reads: “Lockey Hill MAKER /  Islington 179_” (the final number is illegible). Other interior paper: "780"
The back of the violin is branded with the name and addresses of the prestigious firm Lockey Hill hired to sell his instruments:
“LONGMAN & BRODERIP / No. 26 CHEAPSIDE /No. 13 HAY-MARKET”
Length: 354 mm
Upper bouts: 164 mm
Middle bouts: 110 mm
Lower bouts: 200 mm

About the Maker
Lockey Hill (1752-1796) is an early member of the Hill luthier dynasty that made an indelible impact on British violin making, with Lockey arguably the most distinguished British craftsman of the 18th century. (There is some dispute about Lockey’s birth and death dates, which are at times given as 1796-1810.) Originally a family of carpenters, the Hills began crafting stringed instruments around the time of Lockey Hill’s birth, culminating in the 1880 founding of the illustrious W.E. Hill & Sons atelier still active and esteemed today. Hill was living and working in London by 1772, and often made trade instruments for Longman & Co. or Longman & Broderip firms. Hill crafted violins based on Stainer and Amati models, though with minor differences between them, instead imparting English characteristics to both. 

Hill had a colorful life, though ultimately brief—illustrating his remarkable talents as a luthier for a man who became renowned for his craft though only lived to 45. While traveling between London and the extended Hill family’s home in Alvechurch, Lockey Hill made a habit of horse thievery, and was caught and imprisoned for his crimes as early as 1782. Over a decade later, Hill was convicted of the same crime and sentenced to death by hanging, which he was in early 1796. After Lockey Hill’s death, his son Henry Lockey Hill, then twenty-two, struggled to help support the family and also fell into criminal behavior before serving in the Napoleonic Wars and then taking over his father’s shop in 1810.