Lewis Augustus Lavenu was a musician, music seller and publisher.
Background
He was the second son of John Lavenu, pastry chef to Stephen Fox, Lord Holland (brother of Charles James Fox). His father had opened a coffee house and tavern in Salisbury where he took over the assembly rooms and held concerts for the local gentry and middle classes.
Career
Beginning as a violinist in the Covent Garden opera, Lavenu set up his "New Musical Warehouse" at 23, Duke Street, Saint James, Piccadilly in 1795. Lavenu had married Elizabeth Mackenzie of Greenwich on 3 March 1793 at Street George Hanover Square, Westminster. The business returned to the New Bond Street premises in 1828 after Mori and Lavenu"s marriage on 24 January 1826 at Saint Paul"s, Covent Garden as "Mori & Lavenu" and continued there until it was sold in the 1840s by Eliza"s son Lewis Henry Lavenu.