Clarion
Clarion was the last of the British phonograph companies, incorporated in July 1907 as the “Premier Manufacturing Co.Ltd", just as public taste was veering towards the disc. It had the benefit of Charles Richard Johnstone, a veteran recording engineer from the old Edison United Phonograph Co. of the early 1890s, and produced well made and recorded records in its early years. Contemporary opinion considered the wax to be exceptionally smooth and the band records to be of outstanding quality. Clarion also produced a 5 minute (200 tpi) cylinder known as the “Ebonoid” in April 1909 with 20 titles and attachments to convert Edison Gem and Standard phonographs to play them. The company folded in 1910 in the general difficulties assailing the cylinder trade at the time and re-emerged as the Clarion Record Co. Ltd. It had a nominal capital of just £100 and from this time onwards it led a hand to mouth existence, issuing records from time to time until November 1922.
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The Spirit of the Storm (Lingwood) played by the Silver Prize Band. Clarion 14. (November 1907) There is no indication which silver prize band is recorded here, but such a record reminds us of the great tradition in this country for village and works bands which carries on today. In spite of nearly a century of wear and tear, the heavy chords of the brass still sound impressive.
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Your King And Country Need You (P. Rubens) sung by Horace Witty. Clarion 878. (November 1914). In spite of its meagre capital, the doughty Clarion company soldiered valiantly on through the Great War and beyond until 1922 providing the only up-to-date British-made records for owners of cylinder phonographs which had not been converted to play the 4 minute records. (Between early 1916 and 1919, there was a ban on imports of all foreign records and machines). This famous song , Your King and Country Need You, evokes very well the priorities of that grim period in our history.
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