Thomas Perry II

Thomas Perry, father and son, worked in Dublin from about 1741 to 1818. They were possibly related to Claude Pierray of Paris and a connection with the French capital was made more certain with the arrival of Vincenzo Panormo in or near to the shop, the Sicilian maker having left Paris in 1789. Thomas (I) was established in Christ Church Yard, Dublin, and was recorded, on his death in 1771, as ‘fiddle maker’, but no work of his has so far been identified. His son, Thomas (II) assisted him from about 1745, and following his father’s death, moved to 6 Anglesea Street. Another Dublin maker, G. Ward of Aston’s Quay, shows great similarities in his work and may have been associated with the Perry shop at some time. In 1790 William Wilkinson joined the business, which became ‘Perry & Wilkinson’, and at around that time Panormo departed Dublin for London to work with John Betts. The shop moved to 4 Anglesea Street in 1796 and, after Perry’s death in 1818, it was run by Wilkinson alone until 1828, when it was taken over by one of the employees, John Mackintosh. Other assistants included William Ringwood, John McNeil, and another by the name of Tregart or Deegar. The production of the business covered a wide field of plucked and stringed instruments. The violins range from the Stainer model similar to that of Richard Duke in London to more sophisticated Cremonese patterns, and in a range of qualities, from poor unpurfled examples with rather thin brown varnish, to more finely finished and attractive work, all usually bearing the Perry or Perry and Wilkinson brand beneath the back button.