Oboe, boxwood, by William Milhouse, English, 1800-1820.

'Boxwood in three joints, unmounted. The top of the upper joint is turned in an 'onion' form. There are six silver keys of which three are original and three appear to be later additions. The three original keys are on the lower joint and are mounted on blocks in the wood; they comprise a G sharp key (for the little finger), and the normal E flat and C keys, the latter with fish-tailed touch. The other three keys are mounted on nickel-silver saddles screwed to the wood, and comprise an octave key for the left thumb and a side B flat key for the right forefinger, these both being on the upper joint; and an F key on the lower joint, this having a square key-plate, whereas with the other keys of the instrument the plate is round. Two double holes. In the bell, two vent holes and an internal flange'. Anthony Baines: Catalogue of Musical Instruments in the Victoria and Albert Museum - Part II: Non-keyboard instruments (London, 1998), p. 97.

Given to the Museum by Mrs E. Payne.

Given to the South Kensington Museum in 1884 by Mrs E. Payne, Park Villa, Loughborough Road, Brighton.

William Milhouse (1761 - after 1835) was famous for his oboes and bassoons. Born and married in Newark, he moved to London in 1787, where he set up shop first in Wardour Street and subesquently in Oxford Street from 1797 until his death in the late 1830s. This example is one of the most sophisticated oboes to be made before the adoption of Thomas Boehm's 'ring-key' system throughout Europe by the1850s.

AP.45-1884