According to English composer Charles Burney, the first piano ever seen in England was imported by Samuel Crisp in the early 1740s, made in Rome by an expatriate English priest. At the time, Jacob Kirckman was already manufacturing harpsichords, one of the most famous harpsichord makers during the 18th century, in fact. Kirckman was born in 1710, in the town of Bischweiler in the French region of Alsace, his family of Swiss origins. He traveled to England as a carpenter in the 1730s and worked for famous harpsichord maker Hermann Tabel, learning the craft and becoming a British citizen. He made harpsichords and some pianos until his death in 1792, working alongside his nephew Abraham Kirckman, who died in 1794.

The senior Kirckman’s son Joseph Kirckman carried on the business, and as pianos rose to fashion due to their relative cheapness and higher sound quality and space-saving compared to harpsichords, the company shifted towards making them by 1777. The Kirckman Harpsichord Company produced successfully up to the 19th century, when they became linked to the Collard & Collard Piano Company, which produced “Kirkman” pianos until going out of business in 1960.

Thomas Jefferson, 3rd President of the United States and author of the Declaration of Independence, ordered two Kirckman pianos, one of which is still in his Monticello home. Kirckman pianos were traditionally known for their high quality.