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Please monitor the "John Fletcher" thread. I've just asked a closely related question to yours, and am waiting for a reply from "Jonathantuba" which should also answer your question.

Briefly, "Boosey & Hawkes" is (I believe) a company name that has (effectively) become "Besson". Those in the UK can explain the connection, and precisely how the two names are releated.

I believe the bottom line is that a Boosey & Hawkes instrument is effectively an older version of what would today be called a Besson instrument.

My post in the "John Fletcher" thread is asking about the difference between their "Imperial" models and their "Sovereign" models.

HTH,

For many years, Besson was branded as "Boosey & Hawkes' in the UK. Other than the branding, there was no difference as the horns came off the same assembly line and shared a common serial number system.

Prior to about 1931, Besson was a distinct brand from the Hawkes & Son brass.

Boosey & Co. was established by Thomas Boosey in 1816. Hawkes & Sons operated as a separate company from their inception, some time in the 19th century (I don't have acces to my copy of Langwill to tell exactly when) until they merged with Boosey in 1934 at which time the company changed their name to Boosey & Hawkes.

Boosey & Hawkes merged with the Besson company in 1948 and began selling instruments with the Besson name. Eventually they sold Boosey & Hawkes and Besson instruments that were essentially the same instrument with a different brand name. Some have claimed that the "better" samples got the Boosey & Hawkes name, while the lesser instruments were branded Besson and sent to the US. I have no evidence that this is true. Depending on when a Boosey & Hawkes instrument was made it could be the same as a Besson, or a totally different instrument.

The "Imperial" line was the top of the line Boosey & Hawkes model when it was made. I believe that they used this name during the time that they owned Besson, but I'm not sure what the equivalent Besson model name would have been.

Yes, that's right, for a long time the Imperial was the top of the range B&H model. The Besson equivilant was the 'International' for higher brass and 'New Standard' for low brass.

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