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~ WHO'S WHO ~
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James Herbert Marshall
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The first of many shops owned by James Herbert Marshall, a former Guardsman and commercial traveller for a firm of piano manufacturers, was built opposite the skating rink on the corner of Rutland Street and Humberstone Gate. The grand opening of "Marshall�s Midland Musical Depot" (the name board can still be seen over the windows) was celebrated by a grand concert and sale at which, it was said, no reasonable offer was refused. Marshall took old instruments in part exchange for new ones and such was the level of business that in the winter of 1884 he was forced to hold a clearance sale of second-hand pianos as well as opening a sheet music branch in Gallowtree Gate. He also manufactured pianos such as his "Students Model" (twenty guineas) and his "Acme" (thirty guineas). Always keeping up to date with new musical trends in 1898 Marshall advertised an "Armour-clad" damp-proof piano at twenty-two guineas cash or fifteen shillings a month, while two years later he was selling, at three guineas, the recently invented gramophone. No doubt some of the buyers of these "recording and producing apparatus complete with trumpet and double hearing tubes" would have been members of the Leicester Phonographic Society which had been formed in 1892.
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President of the Music Trades Association of Great Britain, in 1900 Marshall expanded his business by opening premises in Regent Street, London. His first customer, so the story goes, was the King of Portugal who purchased an Angelus Orchestral, a devise described as a "perfect piano player and organ combined" which could be attached to any piano or used separately. A few days later the King of Greece, in company with the Crown Prince of Denmark, visited the shop and purchased a piano for his palace in Athens. In 1904, Marshall expanded his business in Leicester by taking over the former Victoria Coffee and Cocoa House in Granby Street. Considered one of the finest music shops in the world, the basement was used as a workshop and the ground floor for general music sales. The first floor was used for performances by Marshall�s own fourteen piece band which was led by Walter Waddington. Pianos were on display on the second floor while organs were on the third. The top floor was devoted to practise rooms where local teachers could hold private lessons. In celebration of the new use of the building one wag of the town penned: 28 Victoria, Victoria, Chiefest of emporia, For coffee, buns, And Sally Lunns, And such like common scornia! Gloria Victoria, In escelsia gloria! What joy to rise From tarts and pies To fugues and oratoria!
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In politics Marshall was a Conservative. A member of the Council, in 1897 he served the town as mayor. Knighted in December 1905, in 1910 Marshall unsuccessfully contested the Market Harborough division. In 1911 he formed a limited company, opening a factory in north London where he produced the Marshall and Rose piano. James Herbert Marshall, who was married to Clara Ann, daughter of Vittore Albini of Garzuo Italy, died in August 1918. Other shops in the town at this time included that of brass band instructor John Smith, who, in 1869, boasted that his King Street.
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The above was taken from the book�Musical Leicester by local author Max Wade-Matthews. For more information on Leicester's History, and to find out about the many colourful characters from Leicester's past, please visit Max's website: Leicester Research.
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