A Viola Bow by Arthur Richard Bultitude

Arthur Richard Bultitude was brought to and introduced to the Hill shop by William Napier, father of Frank Napier another exceptional Hill bow maker, in 1922 when he was just 14 years old. Bultitude developed a close relationship with William Charles Retford, one of the foremost Hill makers after James Tubbs. Bultitude worked for the Hill shop from 1922 until 1961, with a brief interruption where he worked in an airplane factory during the war. Upon his return, he was promoted to Workshop Manager; a job he loathed as he viewed himself as a maker and not a supervisor. Despite this fact, he was quite successful in the role. In 1961, he left the Hills to set up his own shop where he continued to make bows based on the same model set up by Alfred Hill (the Tourte model). However he slowly moved away from this and made individual bows built to suit particular customers and his frogs often show a range of motifs, including the Tudor rose.

Bultitude's work was well sought after by professional musicians, and when Jacqueline du Pre wished for her 90g Dodd bow to be copied, Bultitude was happy to oblige, using a particularly dense blank, and du Pre would use this bow in concert tours until her death in 1987. Bultitude would be awarded the MBE by Queen Elizabeth II in 1982 for his service to the craft of bowmaking. He would go on to retire the same year.