Arthur Bultitude

Arthur Bultitude (1908-1990) was employed at the W.E. Hill & Sons firm in London starting at the age of fourteen, where he apprenticed under William Retford. After military service during the Second World War, he returned to Hill, where he was appointed manager in 1945. He stayed with Hill until 1961, when he set up his own workshop in Gills Green, Kent. During the following twenty years he made more than two thousand bows.

Many of Bultitude’s bows are decorated with a Tudor Rose on the frog, which can be seen on this violin bow dating from 1972. The bow has a tortoise shell frog mounted in gold, including a gold adjuster and face plate, and is in perfect condition.