Edison Bell - Biography

Biography - Edison Bell

UK

The Edison-Bell family of labels contains many different names, with a significant proportion revealing no connection to the company in their label design.

The Edison Bell Phonograph Corporation was founded in 1892 and acquired phonograph patents which should have given the company a 10 year UK monopoly of the Talking Machine trade. However, Edison Bell did not exploit this fully and rival companies (including James E. Hough and his London Cylinder Co.) quickly began trading.

Edison Bell tried to stop Hough, but Hough made a deal with them, the result being Hough's new company ‘Edisonia’, formed in mid 1897. The disputes between Edison Bell and Hough continued, and in 1898 Hough lost in court. Edison Bell and Edisonia were then incorporated to form the Edison Bell Consolidated Phonograph Co, but Hough managed to emerge as the General Sales Manager of this new company, which kept overall control of the cylinder market until 1902 when its patents expired.

In 1903 a manufacturing site was set up at Peckham,London to produce cylinder records and players.

In 1904, Edison established its own European arm, and Edison-Bell lost its distribution rights to Edison cylinders. By this time however, Edison Bell had become one of the three major UK cylinder record producers, along with Pathe and the National Phonograph Co.

In 1908 Edison Bell acquired the assets of the rival 'Sterling' cylinder manufacturer, and also produced their first flat discs named Bell Disc. These were slightly over 10" in their earliest form and started at No.1. They continued to be produced, along with cylinders, until 1912. Around 500 Bell Discs were issued and a partial listing may be found at Michael Thomas's site. Two styles of labels seem to have been used, with the green label appearing on later issues.

In 1909 Edison Bell went into bankruptcy. This seems to have been only technical, since the firm continued to trade and was acquired outright by Hough, acting under the name J. E. Hough. Ltd.

The "Velvet Face" label was first issued in September 1910 as an improved version of the Bell Disc. The success of the Winner label, however, caused this label to be quickly abandoned.

"The Winner" label was announced in December 1911, with the first list of records published in January 1912 to be available from 1 February. It was advertised as being owned by a syndicate, with the address given as that of J. E. Hough Ltd. The earliest labels featured coloured representations of a horse and jockey, and there are many variations.

Shortly after the end of the First World War, the Velvet Face label was revived under the control of Joe Batten. Its purpose was to provide more serious works than those in The Winner catalogue. One major milestone was Batten's organisation of the first recording of Elgar's "Dream of Gerontius" in 1923, which had previously been claimed to be un-recordable. The introduction of electric recording in 1925, however, soon put paid to this label's prestige.

In 1921 the name 'The Bell' was again used for 5½" (and later 6") children's records. The catalogue number started at 250 and had extended into the 400s by the time the label ended in 1926. A listing may be found at the same link given above for Michael Thomas's site.

Around mid-1922, "The Winner" label was renamed "Winner," and the label changed to a gold drawing of horse and jockey on a claret background.

In March 1926, Winner's horse and jockey label was abandoned, and the label name changed to "Edison Bell Winner."

J. E. Hough Ltd. became a public company in May 1926, and the Winner label was changed to show a new name: Edison Bell Limited London & Huntingdon. The first electrical recording to be released was Winner 4386 in April 1926, but this record used American Paramount masters. The first electrical recording from Edison Bell's own masters was number 4444 in July 1926.

The Electron label was introduced in 1927 to replace the acoustically recorded "Velvet Face" records. They were electric recordings and all British matrices. Because of their higher price, they did not sell well and are comparatively rare compared to Winner records. The label remained in use until 1929, with the catalogue running from 0150 to 0303. A 12" series was also produced.

The Edison Bell Radio label was introduced' in 1928 and provided 8" records to a very lucrative market, costing only 1/3d (£0.06). Former Music Hall performer Harry Hudson was musical director and provided most of the dance music under a variety of aliases. The catalogue numbers started at 800 and had reached over 1600 by the label's end, although numbers in the range 1000-1200 were not used.

In 1931, the Radio label was changed from gold on blue to black on gold; the label was abandoned in 1932.

By 1929, Edison Bell was making losses, and in January 1933 the company was wound up. No offers for the company were received, and most of the remaining assets were eventually taken over by Decca. Decca gained a concession in 1933 to continue to release Winner records for a short time afterwards, including a new series prefixed W, while Edison Bell itself struggled on until 1938 when it was liquidated. The last Edison Bell records were issued in January 1935.

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