The double bass is the deepest member of the violin family. It was developed in the 1500s from the violone, the double bass viol.

Experiments with body size and the number of strings were made regularly in an attempt to simplify playing technique.

This instrument shows the violin shape preferred by Italian makers and the three strings indicating the lack of standardisation in string numbers until relatively recently.

It was played in Herr Julius Lemmers’ Nelson School of Music orchestra that had been established in the late 1900s and went until 1944. German-born Herr Lemmer was, for over forty-five years, the principal of the school before retiring in 1944.