Clifford Essex: Boss of British Banjoes

Having had a recent occasion to mention Clifford Essex (1869-1946), we thought his contributions to the variety arts sufficient to merit a brief entry of his own here.

Essex was basically the Keech Brothers of the British banjo. This highly entrepreneurial man manufactured and repaired the instrument, taught people how to play it, promoted it, and naturally performed on it. He seems to have been a mere teenager when he partnered with Brooklyn born Alfred Cammeyer (inventor of the zither banjo) to make and sell their own line of the most percussive of stringed instruments. By the turn of the 20th century he and Cammeyer had split, each manufacturing their own lines.

In 1891, Essex formed the first British Pierrot troupe, a form of entertainment that lasted in the UK for decades. The Clifford Essex Banjo Band performed at music and variety halls and private functions to demonstrate the instruments. In 1903 he founded BMG (Banjo, Mandolin and Guitar) Magazine, one of the longest running music magazines in the UK. All of its back issues are available here. It’s very interesting to learn about the BMG movement of the early 20th century and about this magazine. It ties together a lot of things, from Groucho Marx taking up the guitar to Pete Townsend starting out on the banjo.

After Essex passed away in 1946, his company was still in operation for another three decades. It was revived in 2007.

To find out more about the history of vaudevilleand the variety arts, consult No Applause, Just Throw Money: The Book That Made Vaudeville Famous,