A History of Bentley Pianos in England

Bentley Piano Company 本特历钢琴公司 In 1906 the enterprise which was to become the Bentley Piano Company was founded in London by Douglas Grover, already the third generation of Grover piano makers, as his father and grandfather also produced Grover & Grover pianos. The earliest references date this business to 1830, and at its peak the annual output exceeded 500 instruments. A Grover & Grover from 1872 stands in the Geffrye Museum in Shoreditch. In 1911 Douglas Grover moved his fledgling business to a well-known landmark in the Cotswolds, Woodchester Mills near Stroud. A mill stood on the site in 1605 and the still extant early deeds record fulling and grain mills with dye-houses nearby. A plaque, proudly displayed at the factory, commemorates the visit of HM King George III, Queen Charlotte, and the three eldest princesses in 1788. The handsome five-story mill erected shortly afterwards in 1804 proved an outstanding example of mill architecture during the heyday of the cloth industry along the Stroud valleys. By the turn of the century demand for Stroud cloth had declined and empty mills abounded. The founder did not realise his far-sightedness when he moved from London, as only towards the end of this century has relocation away from the capital become fashionable. He brought with him a dozen leading workers and began training local labour. The company was now known as the Stroud Piano Co. Ltd., and production expanded in the 1920s, as construction of keyboards began in 1921. In 1930, Douglas, now joined by his son Richard, launched a fresh overstrung design to be sold under the new Bentley name, followed four years later by a 4-foot 6-inch (1.37 m) grand. The Bentley models were an immediate success, so that during the 1930s the company became a major producer, with an annual output exceeding 3000 pianos.