The Galpin Society was formed in October 1946 to further research into the branch of musicology known as organology, that is the history, construction, development and use of musical instruments.
The founding members included academics, professional and amateur performers, and private collectors, including Anthony Baines, Robert Donington,[1] Hugh Gough,[3] Eric Halfpenny, Edgar Hunt,[1] Eric Marshall Johnson,[4] Lyndesay Langwill,[1] Reginald Morley-Pegge,[5] F. Geoffrey Rendall[6] and Maurice Vincent.
[1] One of the inaugural vice-presidents was the widow of Arnold Dolmetsch,[2] and the others included Walter F. H. Blandford, Adam Carse and Rosamond E. M.
[7] The society brought the relatively unknown term organology, coined in 1941 by Nicholas Bessaraboff, to the attention of a wider public.
[citation needed] Its exhibition of 330 British-made instruments at the Arts Council's premises in St James's Square for the 1951 Festival of Britain brought together a "collection unsurpassed in its representative completeness"[2] and attracted over 6000 visitors.