Transcript

of

Nicholas Samuel Heineken (Obituary)

Trans. Devon. Assoc., 1884, Vol XVI, pp. 59-64.

by

Rev. W. Harpley

Prepared by Michael Steer

Mr Heineken of Sidmouth was an amateur scientist, inventor and antiquarian, with a broad range of interests, which included archaeology, astronomy, meteorology, and mechanics. He made a sophisticated ornamental turning lathe (rose engine, or medallion lathe). In c.1955 it came to light at a farm sale, and was featured in an article in the Model Engineer. The lathe was described in the Polytechnisches Journal in 1836, the article being based on one from the Mechanics' Magazine, No. 674. Heineken was a frequent correspondent to technical journals. He presented a historically important mural quadrant made by Abraham Sharp to the Royal Observatory. 'The rim is of brass, and when rescued by Mr. Heineken from a tinman was about to be transformed into kettles. This fulsome obituary was presented at the June 1884 Association meeting at Newton Abbot. The article, from a copy of a rare and much sought-after journal can be downloaded from the Internet Archive. Google has sponsored the digitisation of books from several libraries. These books, on which copyright has expired, are available for free educational and research use, both as individual books and as full collections to aid researchers.
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Nicholas Samuel Heineken came of a clever family in Germany, amongst the different members of which were the skilled musician and Capel Meister Johann David Heinecken, author of a very curious work in German, entitled, Der General Bass in der Composition, order neue und gründliche Anweisung &c.,1728; and the Baron Charles Henry Heinecken, author of an equally curious and interesting work in French, known as Idée Generale  d’une Collection complete d'Etampes, &c., 1771; also Christian Henry Heinecken, "The Wonderful Boy of Lubec," and some others.

The grandfather of the subject of this memoir was the first who came to England; he had been a merchant at Bremen, and when established in London and the neighbourhood, realised a large fortune by a well-conducted business, and by importing Baltic and other timber for the use of the English Navy; and, being thus possessed of ample means, either he, or his son, or both, lived for a time at the mansion house of Poles, in Hertfordshire.

Some of his relatives also came to England about the same time. In the London Magazine for 1772, among the deaths, the following occurs: June 26th, Dr. Herman Heineken Physician to the City of London Lying-in Hospital. His will is preserved in the Will Office, at Somerset House; and one of his executors is a cousin, called William Heineken, who lived at Chelsea, and who is appointed trustee or guardian to his daughter, who appears to have been an only child. Among the marriages in the same magazine this notice may be observed: "August 29th, Dr. Monro, Physician to St. George's Hospital, to Miss Heineken, of Pall Mall." From the circumstance that this lady married a gentleman of the same profession and status as the above-mentioned, it may be inferred that she was the person mentioned in the will As no descendants of the same family name have since been heard of, it is presumed that they have died out, at all events in the male line.

The son of this first arrival was a man of education and of cultivated taste, much given to reading, if we may judge by the numerous works on art, science, theology, voyages, travels, and poetry, which he had collected about him. He lived for some time at Boiling Hall, an old gothic mansion near Bradford, which suffered considerably in the siege of that town during the period of the Civil Wars; and whilst residing there he was the minister of the Unitarian Chapel at that place. He died August 25th, 1840, and of his seven or eight children three only attained maturity; namely, Christian, the eldest, a doctor of medicine, who, during the last nine years of his life, lived and followed his profession in the island of Madeira, where he eventually died unmarried; (1) secondly, the subject of this notice; and thirdly, a daughter, who married William Horfall, Esq., of Hornby Grange, near Northallerton, in the county of York.

Nicholas Samuel, of whom we now speak, was born at Brentford on the 5th of July, in the year 1800; and having received the usual rudiments of education, he was sent for preparation for the Unitarian ministry to what was then "York," now "Manchester New" College, on the foundation, in the city of York, where he was a fellow-student with Hamilton Bowan, Edward Strutt (afterwards Lord Belper), and some others, whose names in aftertimes have made a noise in the world. Having a great passion for music, he turned his attention to the organ, looking upon that instrument as the most comprehensive embodiment of musical mechanism that man's ingenuity had ever produced. This taste led him repeatedly into York Minster, where he quickly formed an acquaintance with the organist, and soon after with the organ itself, his knowledge as a player, and his turn for mechanics, rendering it quite safe in his hands. It was at this time that he seems to have conceived the idea of a different principle of reed stop, now known as the "free reed." The reed of the clarionet, of the trumpet-stop, and of some others in the organ, and in the common penny whistle used by children, and it may also be added in the buzzing whistle that may be made with a penknife out of a straw, or stalk of corn - in all these cases lies on a plate or flat surface of wood or metal, with a hole under it smaller than the reed which covers it, so that this elastic reed or tongue slaps or strikes the flat surface in its vibrations; but Mr. Heinekin's plan advocated a reed smaller than the hole or slit, instead of larger, and which had just room enough to vibrate freely inside it, with a small space all round, except at one end, where it was fastened. By this construction a new quality of tone was produced. So much was the organist taken with the idea, that he had a pipe, or a series of pipes, comprising a complete stop, made upon this principle; but being a novelty, and not having been put out of hand with sufficient care, the experiment did not answer the expectation, and the matter dropped, or fell temporarily into abeyance.

Some time after he had completed his education he removed to Devonshire, and made the acquaintance of the Rev. M. L. Yeates, who was appointed minister of the Old Presbyterian or Unitarian Meeting House at Sidmouth in 1821, to which chapel Mr. Heineken was himself appointed in 1825, and held it till 1830. In 1830 he married Miss Emma Yeates, only child of that gentleman. She died young at Cullompton, leaving an only daughter, named Emma Yeates Heineken. In 1835 Mr. Heineken was again appointed to the chapel at Sidmouth, and continued there until 1840, when he resigned, and devoted all his leisure afterwards to the pursuits of music, mechanics, and the sciences.

His daughter, Miss Heineken, married the Rev. J. B. Lloyd, who had been minister of the same chapel at Sidmouth, but subsequently of Wareham, and since then of Knutsford, in Cheshire.

His ruling passion was music, which he cultivated theoretically and practically with steady perseverance, until the infirmities of age weakened his hand. Being a good mechanic, he made his own double-bass, or "big fiddle," as it is popularly called, a very fair toned instrument, on which he played at the concerts of the Oratorio Society in Exeter, and at other concerts elsewhere. At the private meetings in Sidmouth he frequently took a part on the violoncello. He again turned his attention to the "free reed," and he subsequently had an organ in his drawing-room, which facilitated his inclination to study the stops. He took a piece of brass plate as thick as a penny, and cut a hole in it six-tenths of an inch long, and one-tenth wide, and fixed a flexible brass tongue at one end, small enough just to vibrate freely inside the hole. The current of air should be directed down upon it, so as to blow the tongue into the hole, and then the tone is produced. This was a small beginning; but he afterwards proceeded to construct an instrument of several octaves, having a manual of black and white keys like the pianoforte, bellows, and treadles complete. The whole of the metal work was accomplished with his own hands - a most laborious undertaking. He made no secret of his inventions; so far from that, he generally communicated his new contrivances to the public, by writing full descriptions, and sending them to the popular journals and magazines of the day. We believe we are right in saying that this seraphine, as he called it, was the parent of the accordion, and of the harmonium of a later day; and it is certain that many ingenious contrivances, which have from time to time been brought out as original by mechanics, manufacturers, and others, were in reality his inventions, taken wholly, or sometimes modified, from the pages of these prints.(2)

It was during the earlier portion of his life that he composed six original psalm tunes, arranged in full score for four voices and the organ, a first edition of which was printed at the time, and a second subsequently in Exeter. They were adapted to words by several authors. Late in life he printed extracts from Der General Bass, and other old writers, for distribution among private friends, in order to perpetuate the excellencies of some of the early masters.

He also made the brass excentric chuck of his lathe, as well as many of his tools, by which he accomplished a variety of beautiful effects in ornamentation. Not the least of the several ingenious contrivances attained by his lathe was a plan for copying medallions, effected by means of a bent lever, one end of which passed over the surface of the object to be copied as a "feeler," while the other was armed with a fine cutting tool, directed against a block or disc of hard wood, out of which, by this means, a facsimile of the medallion was produced. Equally an enthusiast in telescopes, he directed his hand to grinding and polishing the lenses, which he made out of selected specimens of thick plate glass; and having thus made himself practically acquainted with the construction of the most commonly-used spy-glass, he next proceeded to the reflecting telescope. He made at least two : the first of small size, but the second had a four-inch reflector. He cast the speculum metal himself, ground and polished the reflector, and mounted it in its tube on a tripod. It produced a very clear image, and was certainly a great achievement for an amateur. His performances in electrotyping, gilding and silvering in the battery, photographing, or dialing, cannot have more than a passing notice here; and though sedulously followed, they frequently gave way to the attractive studies of geology and archaeology.

He joined the Devonshire Association at the Honiton meeting in 1868; and although he did not contribute to the Transactions, beyond recording facts for some of the committees, he took an ardent interest in the good work promoted by its members, and felt that but for their industry an immense body of valuable information concerning various parts of the county would have been utterly lost to the use of future generations, though now by their care preserved.

He believed himself to be the last of his name in England. In the month of June, 1883, he suffered from a bilious attack; and although he never gained sufficient strength afterwards to leave his room, there was every appearance of ultimate recovery. In the latter part of August, however, he was taken with occasional fainting fits, and he succumbed to one of them on the 25th of that month, having attained the age of 83 years and 51 days (3).

References

(1)    Chambers’s Miscellany, No. 64, vol. vii.

(2)    In the Musical World for June 3, 1888, vol. xxiv. p. 843, there is a full account of the free reed, communicated by Mr. Heineken only a few weeks before his death.

(3)    This and the following note were kindly contributed by Mr P.O. Hutchinson.