John Devereux is considered to be the first trained violin maker to successfully work in Australia. Prior to this there are only sporadic references, such as a record of a label in a violin stating "Repaired by Patrick Murphy, Harp, Serpent and Violin Maker, Clarence St, Sydney, 1817" or the mention of an early free settler, Daniel Dering Mathew, who made a violin entirely from native timbers and sent it to the Colonial Secretary in 1823.
Devereux trained in London with Bernhard Simon Fendt, a maker who learned initially with his father in John Betts’ workshop and later worked in partnership with Charles Joseph Farn and then George Purdy. A Fendt double bass that was being restored in London recently was found to have Devereux's signature underneath the bass bar.
However, both Fendt and his 19-year-old son, who was working with him as an assistant, died in 1852. It is not clear exactly when Devereux left London or what prompted his decision to move to Australia; perhaps the great cholera outbreak in Soho in 1854 was a contributing factor. Devereux is thought to have migrated to Australia with his wife and son around 1854 although no shipping records have been found. He quickly began to make instruments and also showed a definite flair for self-promotion, using the local exhibitions of trade and industry to raise his profile in the city (possibly having learned a lesson from Purdy and Fendt’s success at the Great Exhibition in London).
Exhibition records indicate that by 1856 Devereux had made an instrument in Australia. Furthermore, he had already also begun to introduce modifications to the traditional methods he had been taught in London, no doubt with the intention of making his instruments able to withstand the rigorous Australian conditions. Most notably Devereux put in a ‘tension bar’ – a wooden rod, oval in cross section that connected the top and bottom blocks internally down the centre of the instrument.
Devereux is best regarded today for his double basses. He was apparently more comfortable in building the larger instruments and seems to have had some trouble in bringing the size of his violins down to the standard dimensions – according to Henley his violins were made with ‘rather excessive proportions’.
Devereux died in 1883 at the age of 73, pre-deceased by his wife and without any surviving children to take over his business. He is known to have had at least one apprentice, Richard Gilmore, who appears to have also used Devereux’s varnish. Another maker, Henry Francis Lewis, was also reported to have worked with Devereux in Melbourne for a time before moving to Sydney and he too used a similar varnish.
For more information about Devereux and all other Australian violin makers see:
'Violin and Bow Makers of Australia'
