Woffington, Robert

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Dates Active in Dublin: 

1775–c. 1820

Business Type: 
Musical instrument maker: harpsichord
Musical instrument maker: organ
Musical instrument maker: organistrum
Musical instrument maker: piano
Address(es): 

6 Grafton Street, 1775–78 [as Gibson & Woffington]
9 William Street, 1787–1835

Details: 

Apprenticed to Ferdinand Weber? (Boydell, Card Index)

In partnership with William Gibson from 1775 to 1778, trading under 'Gibson & Woffington'.

First listed in the Dublin Directories in 1787 as 'piano-forte maker'.

After his death (c. 1820), he was succeeded in business by his sons Thomas and Abraham. The name of 'Robert Woffington' appears still to have been used on occasion after his death.

[Dates differ according to sources: the Dublin Directories list Woffington first in 1787. Hogan gives the dates as c. 1800 to 1813. Teahan gives the dates as 1787 to 1810 and 1823. Note: not the same as Robert Woffington, organist at St Mary's Church in 1713 and father of John Woffington, organist at St Michan's Church and organ repairer/tuner]

Select Product/Work List: 

bProduced

  • Harpsichord (single manual), c. 1770s: sold by Sotheby's in December 1991
  • Organ: St Augustine's Church, Brunswick Street [now St Augustine's Lane], Cork [rebuilt by Haddock in 1808] (Boydell, Card Index)
  • Claviorganum, 1785: private collection
  • Organ: St Andrew's Church, Suffolk Street, commissioned in 1801, opened in 1807 [destroyed in the fire of 1860] (Dublin Builder; Flood, 'Organ-Builders')
  • Boudoire organ (Sheraton style), c. 1800–10: National Museum of Ireland (Boydell, Card Index)
  • Chamber organ (2): National Museum of Ireland (Gogan)

    • Tuned

  • Organ: Rotunda, 1784–91 (Boydell, Card Index)
  • Organ: St Mary's Church, Navan [Cornmell organ] (Boydell, Card Index)

    • Installed

  • Organ: Down Cathedral [built by Samuel Green?], 1802
    • See Also: 

    Gibson & Woffington
    Weber, Fredinand
    Woffington, Thomas & Abraham

    Source(s): 

    Dublin Directories

    Dublin Builder, 1 April 1860, p. 233

    Flood, W.H. Grattan, 'Dublin Harpsichord and Pianoforte Makers of the Eighteenth Century', The Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, 5th ser., 39.2 (1909), 137–45 (p. 143)

    Flood, W.H. Grattan, 'Irish Organ-Builders from the Eighth to the Close of the Eighteenth Century', The Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, 5th ser., 40.3 (30 September 1910), 229–34 (p. 234)

    Gogan, L.S., 'Musical Instrument Collections in the National Museum of Ireland', in Music in Ireland: a Symposium, ed. by Aloys Fleischmann (Cork: Cork University Press, 1952), pp. 299–307 (p. 305)

    Teahan, John, 'A List of Irish Instrument Makers', The Galpin Society Journal, 16 (May 1963), 28–32 (p. 32)

    Hogan, Ita Margaret, Anglo-Irish Music 1780–1830 (Cork: Cork University Press, 1966) (p. 107)

    Humphries, Charles and William C. Smith, Music Publishing in the British Isles, from the Beginning until the Middle of the Nineteenth Century; a Dictionary of Engravers, Printers, Publishers, and Music Sellers (London: Oxford University Press, 1970) (p. 338)

    Boydell, Barra, 'St Michan's Church, Dublin: the Installation of the Organ in 1725 and the Duties of the Organist', Journal of the British Institute of Organ Studies, 19 (1995), 74–96 (pp. 80, 86)

    Boydell, Brian, ‘Gibson, William (1)’, Dublin Music Trade Card Index <http://dublinmusictrade.ie/card-index>

    Boydell, Brian, ‘Woffington, Robert (1)’, Dublin Music Trade Card Index <http://dublinmusictrade.ie/card-index>

    Boydell, Brian, ‘Woffington, Robert (2)’, Dublin Music Trade Card Index <http://dublinmusictrade.ie/card-index>

    Last Update: 17-02-2017