Alfred Charles Langonet


Alfred Charles Langonet was an English violin maker and founder, along with his father Charles Francois 'Frank' Langonet, of the firm C. F. Langonet & Son.
Last in line to the Langonet dynasty of violin makers, he was apprenticed to his father in the workshop at W. E. Hill & Sons before joining the RAF aged 19.
Langonet served with No. 209 Squadron RAF Coastal Command during World War II and was a rigger aboard the PBY Catalina that spotted the German battleship Bismarck.
After the war he went into business with his father, and C. F. Langonet & Son opened in 1946 at 71 Brondesbury Road, London.
Alfred Charles Langonet won notable awards for violin making, including:
  • Silver Medal at the 1949 Stradivari Exhibition at Cremona.
  • Special Diploma 1949, The Hague.
  • Winner Festival of Britain Competition for Best British Violin 1951.
  • Winner of the British Violin Makers Exhibition 1952.
Alfred was married to cellist Phyllis Woodward. Her uncle, John Wesley Woodward, was the cellist aboard the Titanic.