In Part 1 of the story of Loughborough carillon, we climbed to the top of the tower and looked out over the town and its surroundings. In Part 2 we talked about the opening of the carillon in 1923, and briefly about Eric Jordan, the first Borough Carilloneur. In this, Part 3, we will find out a little more about another one of Loughborough's early carilloneurs - or maybe that should be carilloneuse?
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| Eric Jordan, Borough Carilloneur with his pupil, Violet Carrier |
Violet Marion Carrier was born on 1st March 1909, to parents George Henshaw Carrier and Mary Ellen (nee Monk) who had married in 1907. Both the marriage of George and Mary Ellen, and the birth of Violet Marion were registered in Nottingham: Mary Ellen had been born in Basford in 1884, and George in Bedford in 1882. By the time of the 1911 census, the family of three had moved to 68 Jakeman Road, Balsall Heath, Birmingham, where George was employed as a clerk for the National Telephone Company Ltd.. By 1913, the family had moved to Atcham, in Shropshire, and Violet now had a younger sister, Gertrude. In 1921 they were still residing in Atcham, where Violet was now aged 12, and Gertrude, 8.
Violet began her working life in the County Library service of Salop, and in August 1927 attended a summer school for library staff at the University of Aberystwyth. One of the events that she attended was the 'fancy costume dance', which took place in Alexandra Hall (1), to which Violet went attired as the 'Lido Lady'.
It was probably after this summer school that Violet joined the staff of the County Library service at the Loughborough College, as we know that by May 1928 she was taking lessons in carillon playing from Loughborough's carillonnuer, Eric Jordan! In May 1929, the following notice appears in the 'Daily News' (London):
“YOUNGEST
GIRL BELL-RINGER Miss Violet Carrier, aged 19, of Loughborough, is the youngest
woman carillonneur in the world, She will shortly be billed to give recitals on
the famous Loughborough war memorial carillon, on which she has been receiving
tuition for the past twelve months.
Miss
Carrier is the only woman in Britain who has played at a public recital. Mr W.
Jordan [i.e. Eric Jordan], a Loughborough carillonneur, attributes her success
in carillon playing to her brilliancy as a pianist and the fact that she is a
clever athlete, as carillon playing demands physical endurance.” (2)
Violet's first recital on the Loughborough carillon took place on Sunday 2 nd June 1929, and was described thus, in the ‘Western Times’ of Friday 7th June 1929:
“Miss
Violet Carrier, aged 20, who is said to be the youngest carillonneur in the
world, gave her first public bell recital at Loughborough on Sunday. Miss
Carrier has had a year’s training by the borough carillonneur, Mr Eric Jordan.
She delighted a big crowd around the war memorial tower in Queen’s Park with
her masterly manipulation of the 64 [3] bells, the heaviest of which weighs
over four tons. Miss Carrier, who is an assistant in the county library at the
Loughborough College, said in an interview that she found bell playing very
interesting, but one has to be very fit to perform the task. And courage is
needed to ascend to the top of the tower and sit alone before the clavier,
hidden from the multitude below in the park.”
In July 1929 – 24 German secondary school boys visited Loughborough as guests of the local junior college, invited by Principal Schofield, who sought permission from the Town Council for Miss Violet Carrier to give them a recital on the carillon. Violet said that she would be delighted, and loved to play for anyone who was interested. The recital was reported in the ‘Leicester Chronicle’ on Saturday 6th July 1929:
“A
unique feat was accomplished at Loughborough when Mr W.E. Jordan, the borough
carillonneur, and Miss Violet Carrier, the youngest woman player in the world,
played duets at a carillon recital.”
On the same day, a reporter for the 'Leicester Evening Mail' said:
“For
the first time on record the German National Anthem has been sung round a
British War Memorial … [Violet’s] last item [was] the German National Anthem. Then
came the request, ‘Do play it again and we can sing it.’. Miss Carrier
willingly obliged, and the song of the fatherland was sung.”
On 6th July 1929 the ‘Leicester
Chronicle’ also reported the following:
“A
unique feat was accomplished at Loughborough when Mr W.E. Jordan, the borough
carillonneur, and Miss Violet Carrier, the youngest woman player in the world,
played duets at a carillon recital.”
A report in the 'Daily News' (London) in July 1929 describes Violet's ambitions to give recitals on the 30 or more modern carillons which had been installed in different parts of the US. It was also reported in July that Eric Jordan (Borough Carilloneur), Sidney Potter (Deputy Borough Carillonuer), and Violet Carrier (Honorary Deputy Borough Carilloneur) all performed on the carillon at St Helens Catholic church, Liverpool.
In August 1929, Violet played a week-long series of four recitals a day on the Wellington War Memorial at the North-East Coast Exhibition in Newcastle upon Tyne (4). She was delighted to do this, and enjoyed playing to a large and interesting crowd of around 6,000 who referred to her as being a ‘clivver and canny lass’. Some of these recitals were broadcast on the BBC.
In June 1930, Violet leaves Loughborough to take up a job in a Nottingham architect's office. Despite living in Nottingham, Violet returns to Loughborough every Monday evening to play the carillon, which she does wearing thick gloves, as striking the keys needs to be done forcibly. She doesn’t use piano music, and harmonises much of the works herself, so a good knowledge of harmony is essential to carillon-playing. Loughborough carillon receives lots of overseas visitors, but although BBC broadcasts were made from the carillon in its early days, these broadcasts had been discontinued: but Violet considered that more, brighter music, like that from the carillon, ought to be broadcast on Sundays.
In January 1932, it was proposed that Violet Carrier will go on a tour of the US. Mr Fred Rock, an American carillon expert from Morristown, New Jersey, once declared that Miss Carrier was the finest woman player in the world, after he’d heard her play at Loughborough (5).
In April 1933, Eric Jordan gave an Easter recital, and the interior of the tower was open for the public to visit. Eric hoped to reach the milestone of 1,500 performances this year. Also at Easter, there was a unique recital, performed by Miss Enid Carpenter, MA, who was the honorary deputy carillonneur at Sydney War Memorial Carillon, with Miss Violet Carrier, who was now living in Shrewsbury, and Miss Alma Schepens from Loughborough, who was now one of Eric Jordan’s pupils.
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| Violet Carrier in 1933 |
In 1934, Violet Marion Carrier married Dr James Dalton from Wrexham, North Wales, at a ceremony in Shrewsbury.
What happens to Violet in the ensuing years, before her death, which I think was in 2010, at the age of 101, is hazy, but I shan't share my conclusions here. Suffice to say that eventually, in 1946, Violet married Eric George De Salvo. One of Eric's children from his previous marriage was Patrick de Salvo, who, in the early 1960s was training to become an actor.
Patrick attended the Webber-Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art, and in August 1963, he was part of the group which played “The Bubonic Plague Show” at St Andrew’s church hall in Edinburgh as part of that year’s Fringe show, with a group called the Mikron Theatre Company.
Sadly, the following report appeared in the 17th September 1964 edition of 'The Stage':
In May 1966, a memorial clock was installed in the Webber Douglas School in memory of Patrick, and of Elizabeth Davey.
Violet and Eric emigrated, and certainly by 1951 they were living in what was then called Northern Rhodesia, today known as Zambia. Although I believe Violet Carrier lived on into the twenty-first century, I have found no evidence that she continued to play the Loughborough carillon after 1934.
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Notes
(1) Alexandra Hall had been built in 1896 and opened on 26th June that year by the Princess of Wales, Alexandra of Denmark. It was one of the first female halls of residence to be opened in the UK, and its opening coincided with the installation of the Prince of Wales (later to be Edward VII) as the chancellor of the university. Another Loughborough lady who attended Aberystwyth University (in around 1891) was Edith Gadsby, who married Bernard Nixon Wale.
(2) According to a report in the 'Daily News' (London) in July 1929, Violet had been learning to play the piano from an early age, and it was her capabilities in this that caused Eric Jordan to initiate her into the art of playing the 47 bells of the memorial tower, and she had already given recitals on the carillon, and was viewed as the finest woman exponent of bell-playing in the world.
(3) Loughborough carillon actually has 47 bells.
(4) The Wellington war memorial had been built for New Zealand, but was exhibited temporarily in the UK before being sent to New Zealand
(5) You can hear the carillon of St Paul's Episcopal church Morriston, being played by my uncle.
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posted by lynneaboutloughborough
With apologies for typos which are all mine!
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Lynne
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