Musicians from Europe – but in particular German musicians – were not an uncommon sight in Ilfracombe throughout the mid to late 1800s and even into the 1900s.
An 1876 edition of The Ilfracombe Chronicle newspaper goes to great lengths to express significant joy, excitement and anticipation that George Klee would be visiting Ilfracombe for an entire season with his Brass and String Band.
Joseph and Margeritha Hahn, and their German born son Jacob, were already working as itinerant musicians when by 1891 all three had moved down to Ilfracombe and were found at 25 Cambridge Grove with daughter Katherine.
Yet another musical family are the Beckers, particularly Philip Becker a beloved Professor of Music. Philip Becker, who was born in Germany, first appears in census records as a Bandsman, record as living with his wife Eliza Zora and their children at 14 Harne Road in 1891.
Read their full stories.