John Dodd

John Dodd was the eldest son of Edward Dodd, and was born in 1752. He is often referred to as the English Tourte, and he was equally important in the development of the modern bow as his French contemporary. He worked in Lambeth in the 1780s and 90s, and moved to Kew around 1803. His work demonstrates the huge advances he made in a relatively short period – from his early bows, which are elegant but primitive, without faceplates or slides, to the fully developed modern bow with faceplate, metal slide and ferrule. The influence of Tourte is clear in the head shape of his mature work, a feature which was retained and refined by James Tubbs and, by the time it was adopted by the Hill workshop, had become quintessentially English. Dodd’s fortunes seem to have deteriorated swiftly in the 1830s, and he died in Richmond Workhouse in 1839. His work is generally branded DODD on the stick and the frog.