Colquhoun & Gahagan

Dates Active in Dublin: 

1766–1768

Business Type: 
Musical instrument maker: bagpipes
Musical instrument maker: wind instruments
Address(es): 

Cork Hill
George's lane, near Dame Street, at the Sign of the Fiddle, 1768

Details: 

Partnership of Henry Colquhoun and John Gahagan.

'The earliest makers of Irish chamber bagpipes known to have advertised' (Carolan, 2006).

Gahagan's wife's obituary notice (28–30 April 1768) refers to him as 'Mr. Geoghegan, Musical Instrument-maker to his Majesty’s Regiments of Foot Guards … George’s-lane’ (Carolan, 2006).

[Dates and names differ according to sources: Carroll gives the date as 1767, but erroneously gives Gahagan's name as 'Gavagan'. Carolan gives the dates as 1767 to 1768. Boydell gives the earlier date of 1766.]

Select Product/Work List: 

Produced and Sold

  • 'Wholesale and Retail, Bassoons, Clarionets, Hautboys, German and Common Flutes, Bagpipes, Birdpipes, and Taber-pipes, in Box, Cocoa, Ebony, or Ivory, beautifully ornamented with Gold or Silver, approved by the best performers', November 1767 (Saunders's News-Letter, 16–18 November 1767, cited in Carolan)
    • See Also: 

    Colquhoun, Henry

    Source(s): 

    Carroll, F., ‘Dublin Music Sellers, Etc. 18th Century’, The Irish Book Lover, 31.6 (November 1951), 129–30, p. 130

    Carolan, Nicholas, 'Cutting a Dash: Uilleann Pipes in the 1760s and 1770s', An Piobaire, 4.35 (May 2006), 18–23 (pp. 19–23)

    Carolan, Nicholas, 'Egan of Dublin, an 18th-Century Maker of Irish Pipes', An Piobaire, 13.3 (August 2017), 32–38 (p. 34)

    Boydell, Brian, ‘Colquhoun, George', Dublin Music Trade Card Index <http://dublinmusictrade.ie/card-index>

    Last Update: 16-03-2018