CROYDON CHRONICLES: When an old viola was sold in 2025, it set a world record for the most expensive stringed instrument ever, surpassing the previous record of $23million.
DAVID MORGAN has discovered an East Croydon music school which had an instrument of similar origin in its collection, with links to composer Mendelssohn
When Arthur Wilmot died in February 1939, aged 83, his collection of musical treasures stored in his home at 23 Dingwall Road drew attention from the national press as well as Croydon’s newspapers.
Born in Birmingham in 1856, Wilmot had lived in Croydon for 60 years and was a familiar sight to locals who recognised him by his shock of white hair.
Wilmot earned his living as a music teacher and musician. He had a fine tenor voice, was a skilled viola player and for many years ran the Beethoven House College of Music, established in 1879.
Stradivarius viola: but what has happened to Arthur Wilmot’s treasured instrument?
It was through his musical career that Wilmot built up an impressive collection of instruments from around the world. Two were particularly noteworthy.
The viola was his favourite instrument, which he played in many concerts.
It was made in 1712 by master craftsman Antonio Stradivarius in his workshop in Cremona. Its origin is unclear: there is a suggestion that Stradivarius made the viola for Pope Clement XI. Newspaper reports at the time of Wilmot’s death mistakenly attributed it to Pope Urban.
What is established is that the viola was played in the Vatican’s orchestra at St Peter’s Basilica in Rome until 1808, when Wilmot’s grandfather bought it for 100 guineas – equivalent to £12,000 in today’s money.
Mendelssohn was said to have composed his contralto aria O rest in the Lord, part of his oratorio Elijah, in Wilmot’s grandfather’s home, Lea Hall on the outskirts of Birmingham. Edward Dunwoody Wilmot was a successful silversmith and jeweller in Victorian Birmingham.
Obituary: Wilmot was a well-known Croydon figure
In Arthur Wilmot’s obituary, it was stated that his grandfather had played his viola at the 1847 performance of Mendelssohn’s Elijah. It is likely, though, that this date should have read 1846, which was the first performance of the piece in Birmingham.
Mendelssohn did conduct performances of Elijah the following year, four of them, but they were held in April in Exeter Hall on the Strand, London. These were Mendelssohn’s last appearances in England, as he died in Germany later that year from a stroke, aged 38.
The writer of Wilmot’s newspaper obituary added that Mendelssohn himself had played that viola, too.
It is reported that there are fewer than 12 Stradivarius violas in existence. When a Stradivarius viola of similar vintage to Wilmot’s was sold in 2025, it was reported to have set a world record for the most expensive stringed instrument ever, surpassing the previous record of $23million.
Wilmot’s instrument collection also included a psaltery so rare that one newspaper reported that “even the British Museum didn’t have one like it”.
Medieval music: Wilmot’s collection also included a 300-year-old psaltery from the Middle East
A psaltery is an ancient stringed instrument, similar to the zither, typically played by plucking its strings with the fingers or a plectrum. Wilmot’s instrument was a gift from a pupil who was Syrian and whose family claimed to have had this “Biblical instrument” in their family for 300 years.
A psaltery, a translation of the Hebrew word nebel, was mentioned in the Old Testament. Psalms 71, 81 and 92 all had references to such an instrument, as did the Books of Daniel and Amos.
Psalm 82 v2 “Take a psalm and bring hither the timbrel, the pleasant harp with the psaltery.”
Wilmot’s psaltery was old, so it was probably played by plucking the strings rather than using a bow.
Wilmot had been trained to use his fine singing voice in lessons from the noted Victorian singer, Sims Reeves. Wilmot was also a fine pianist and organist.
All Wilmot’s musical accomplishments were achieved despite him having lost his sight when he was a boy. He was twice invited to Windsor Castle to sing for Queen Victoria and he was highly praised by Edward VII for his organ playing at the Royal Normal College, now the Royal National College for the Blind.
Wilmot was a great supporter of the college. which was then based in Upper Norwood. He appeared regularly as a soloist with their choir in venues all over London.
In April 1879, when Wilmot was 22, he appeared at Shoreditch Town Hall. In 1877 he was a soloist at Anerley Congregational Church for an evening of sacred music given by the choir from the college. In 1880, the choir gave a concert in Woodford in Essex with Wilmot a soloist and Prince Alexander of Hesse, who was also blind, a violin soloist.
As a singer, Wilmot was much in demand. In 1880 he was booked to appear in five different locations in five days during November: Devizes on the 15, Newbury on the 16, Trowbridge on the 17, Birmingham on the 18 and Glasgow on the 19. Quite a schedule!
Life’s work: Wilmot devoted much time to raising funds for the blind, as this report from 1926 shows
During World War I, Wilmot was closely linked with St Dunstan’s, a charity for the blind then based in Regent’s Park. Through his concerts he raised hundreds of pounds for the rehabilitation of people blinded in the conflict.
In February 1916, Wilmot wrote a letter to the Croydon Times, thanking churches and individuals for their generous support of the National Carol League. This was a nationwide initiative to encourage carol singing groups to go out and raise funds for St Dunstan’s.
Wilmot was the organiser for Croydon and the surrounding district. A total of £83 – £9,700 in 2026 values – had been collected, with Wilmot still waiting to hear back from some churched about their efforts. The money would go to the hostel which the charity ran to house sightless ex-servicemen.
The Beethoven College House of Music began its existence in Wilmot’s home in 1879. As well as teaching his students there, he also used Mr Warne’s Music Saloon in Selhurst Road, and would visit pupils at their homes for lessons.
The college was so successful that he opened another branch in the West End. In 1887 he was advertising vocal classes to be held at 77 St James’ Road to “enable ladies and gentlemen involved in business an opportunity of studying songs artistically”. These sessions were held on Wednesday evenings and cost five shillings for a term.
Wilmot continued to live in Dingwall Road (his house was where the Croydon Job Centre stood until relatively recently), but the St James’ Road address became the new base for the Beethoven College.
Working from home: one of Wilmot’s many advertisements for his music school
In 1896, Wilmot advertised that his speciality was “the cultivation of the voice” and that pupils were “brought out professionally”. Wilmot offered a free voice assessment for prospective students. He could also advertise that his pupils were achieving successes in examinations.
One of the best known of Wilmot’s pupils was William Hurlstone. Although much of his work has now been neglected, Hurlstone was a significant composer at the end of 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries. Wilmot must have enjoyed that some of Hurlstone’s compositions formed part of the 1910 Proms concerts. Hurlstone was aged 30 when he died in 1906.
Wilmot tried his hand at composing and several of his Kyries were being sung in churches in the 1930s.
In 1909, Wilmot moved his music tutoring back to Dingwall Road and was advertising that he had a piano and organ studio there. He was able to say that pupils from his academy had been accepted at the Royal College of Music and had won LRAC certificates (Licentiate of the Royal Academy of Music). As a new venture, the college had opened an art studio, run by his daughter, Catherine.
Geranium Day: Wilmot was the organiser of charity collections in Croydon
Wilmot was said to have taught more than 3,000 pupils from Croydon and the surrounding area during his career.
In his retirement, Wilmot continued his fundraising for blind charities as well as making people aware of what blind musicians could accomplish. He seemed indefatigable, travelling down to Folkestone in 1929 to visit schools, play for them and raise the awareness of blindness among the students. Well into his 70s he was still the local organiser of Geranium Day in May 1934, a Croydon street collection for blind charities which raised £140 10s 7d.
Wilmot’s funeral was held at Croydon Parish Church, now the Minster. His widow and daughter from his first marriage were the leading mourners.
Wilmot was another member of Croydon’s rich musical history of the 19th and 20th Centuries. Where are his instruments now?
A Stradivarius viola isn’t going to be thrown away, is it?
David Morgan, pictured right, has been chronicling Croydon’s history for Inside Croydon for more than a decade. Morgan is a former Croydon headteacher, now the volunteer education officer at Croydon Minster, who offers tours or illustrated talks on the history around the Minster for local community groups
If you would like a group tour of Croydon Minster or want to book a school visit, then ring the Minster Office on 020 688 8104 or go to the website on www.croydonminster.org and use the contact page
Some previous articles by David Morgan:
- To the Manor borne: Croydon’s evacuees and the millionaire
- Just 18 and fatally wounded on the first day of Passchendaele
- VC hero of Zeebrugge Raid who steered Vindictive safely home
- How Croydon got its first shopping centre, 750 years ago
- The church fire that consumed a thousand years of history
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