E ITOIUAL
G L.ASS CIR ~LE
NEWS
No 16
EDITORS
David Wat~
2 7 Raydeari • , d
Barnet, He.c
L £ Vi lAJ
Gabriella Gros
9 Harman Drive
Londo~, N.w.2. 2EB
January 1981
As another Christmas fades into obl vion our hi thoughts turn fro . 1:11,~ a evements of 1980 to the prospects for 19 F
t e dark cloud of reces~ion has still to sho ~ts ~r dealers and ·ul rctoL alike
i silver lining anu .
:•11::;01 ;d;Jt1’or1 not survival, has become the order of the d As · -1 ‘ • ay • int ation erodes ‘1tn- : comes so the dealer f inJs himself caught b t~een the need to increase ,:-! ; pi-ices
l proportion and the r~0lity that few have u1tabl~ deep pockets these tl~ys,
The sale rooms vc.ho the story with ncreas 1ng numbers of lots unsoi d.
T P quality items have usu.ally kept pace wit inf lat ion but the more orctiaary
v ssels -the hard core of many of
om: colle tions -tend to staguat 0• On the
brighter side the wor ld-w lde ature of the reccssj ,,,n hos abruptly
eeked the flood of antiques out of Britain that a year or so ago thr 0atcnpd to
cimate our national ht dtage if allowed to .ontinue unchecked. Tc day, anlique
ops and the increasingly popular fairs are ffering a wider selec ti on of goods
an we
have seen for many years and for thos prepared for a bit of hagg Un ,
ere are unusual pieces and ·,ome
real bargai s to be had.
Al 1 things cons id·,’.Hid, it would seem an odd time to launl ii a nC”w Journal.
t if you can’t afford tc collect ’em you ma still like to read :iout Im and
” verything Has A Value” seems to have found n attractive formuL , 1o1,1hini.ng ~hort,
appy and often humorl)1. 1s articles on anythin ;,-collectable from any p<.•r i.,·,rJ 1tf) to
e present. It is well-produced, and
if th price can be kept down to cop it
sure to sell. The current issue (No 4) hc1 s a free valuation servil'.",.· ,)n
ctorian glass by Mr J.P. Smith from the wel -known Tadworth firm of l:, .. nin".,
ad an article on somewhat optimistically ove priced slag glass.
There was no sign of a squeeze at th A.G.M. on 14th October where, after
e usual formalities of the business meeting and expressions of gratitude to all
ose who so freely give their services to ke p the Circle thriving, we turned
th pleasure to a
splendid display of member's specimens which ranged from Syrio-
man to the 20th C. Of outstanding beauty as a collection
of toasting P-lasses
inging together a remarkable diversity of d tail in twists and knopping
1✓i thin
e simple but elegant 18th C drawn trumpet f m. Barbara Morris and Gdl,r lella Gros
a sisted our President with comments about age and provenance. Th:1.nkt: were
pressed to our hosts, Mrs Gros, Mr Layton an Mrs Wordsworth and p~rticularly to
Kersley who has made the Pond Street facili ies at the· Westminster ttv;,pilal a
r
gular venue for our meetings with great fina cial benifits to the Circl0.
As we go to pres~ co-editor,Gabriella is being hospitalized at Chnrjng Cross
f r a bit of surgery. Gabriella hopes to be :i.ome in time for Christma:, and we
w sh her a speedy recovery.
Finally, may
botl1 editors thank all t ose who have contribntcd to GC News
er the year
and remind both new and es tablis ed members that we cn-c aJ ways
lighted to hear from you and that contributi ns on any matters gL:Ls~ be they
s cial, historical,
technical, bibliographical or some other -al we hav' nt thought
o , are most welcome.
A11 exciting New Year t you all •
N
• • • f ••••••••••••••••••••••••
ITTEE MEMBERS
Mr E.T. Uci, 11 and Dr D .Watts
lowing the expiry of t.11dr terms of office
. . . . . . . . . . . . .
ere re-elected to ci ~ Cwnnittec
y rotation.
We arc .ddighted to welcome Mrs U .B Flanaghan from Mere, Wil :llir
, a new overseas member, Mr John Austin, Cu ator of Ceramics and Gla JL the
onial Williamsburg Foundation, Virginia u.s A.
-2-
OTHE GLAS C RC'., If'. ~'11' GS
IE R_
CKE TS F; llLY ANu THE PHOENIX GLASSHOUSE By Mr C • Weedon
·ing held at the We ·tminste'r Hospital on the 19th June, 198
0
Th Pho nix gla<",sh,
1 tc at Bristol s ems to attract the hi st0 rian, dis~ropo1 i•,ri
perhap~, wh_n co~parcd wi.th other equally interesting aspects of gla..:c-making ·,. tn• 1t
ar a. ls it bccaus the l J.story of the Phoen:f.x Glasshouse, the laSt t !: ~ ! .1i1 L l
Bristol,
is bett t documcn ui or that Jacob Wilcox Ricketts, a flamboya·.~ ,-L'1,·~·c.t.er
bv all ac.ounts provides ittt ',,ra that historians find attractive'? Per:iap .. it;
because the glasshouse is sing .i--d out for an accolade by Hugh Owen in his pub1 ·~·;it
·c,n 'Two Centuries of Ceramic Art in Bristol'. Since the war papers have her
lodged with the Bristol
City Archives which throw new light on the devPlopmen• and
conrnercial ac ti vi ties of th is c i.;,npany. They show that Hugh Owen is wrong :i • crt~d 1 t ..
ing the building of the glossho1.se to the Taylor family, a well- known fami 1.y of crn"·n
glass makers. The evidence b that it was built by a consortium headed i)y Jacob
Wilcox Ricketts. •
Ricketts
was a successful c, istol entrepreneur, and it is strange tra 1 1e: !~hould
speculate in glassmaking at ~i t ·me when its importence as a Bristol indus-.ry was
waning. It was an indus tr.y i!·J which he had had no previous experience - .:-.nd :J.f he
wished to invest in glassm~king ,.,,hy not the bottle rather than the flint ~.1 n.s.c;
sector, since his founding of th(: h, istol Porter Brewery at about the Sa!''- tiif,~=
would have at least providecl him ,.,·i '..h a tied market. • He was a speculat, , ond,
within a comparatively short tin·•-, he had amalgamated with, and closed, r J'.J, ~-he
Temple
Street and the RedLli.U Backs glasshouses, his two remaining compl:. :...l' ,,-r:s in
Bristol, and had taken the prr•prietors into partnership.
Perhaps the signs of t!conomic decline were not so obvious to those who liv~ 1 P
Bristol at the time. Of :~he existing fifteen Bristol glasshouses twelve wer, :·c;,i
working when Ricketts bui1t his at Templegate, but so severe were the economic
pressures that within the next twentyfive years at least nine of these had closed
down. Even so, the Phoenix glasshouse continued working for a further fourty years•
its fortunes varying cons:derably over this period. By this time the activities of
the company had been extended to cover the manufacture of bottles by leasing a glass·
house in Cheese Lane~ When the Phoenix glasshouse at Templegate closed down in the
1850 1 s the bottle-making interests were amalgamated with the adjoining gl.asshou '·
and eventually became Pow~ll and Ricketts.
Jacob Wilcox Ricketts was a remarkable man. He had what one cormnentator has
termed 'the Midas touch'. Ho~ 1ever, he does r1ot seem to have been able to pa:.;s th is
quality on to his family. If there is such a character fr tic as a generation c... 1P
then it existed to the full between J.W. Ricketts and his son, Henery, since fc,
much of their partnership they se:em not to have been on visiting, let alone spt •
' ing terms. some of the co-rr<2spr,ndencc shows how painful this rift must have ~\er~
to the family at the time. Much of the energy of the other partners seem to ii~v~.;
1
been spent in trying to per~wade J' .w • Ricketts to retire, but without succc.;. , un,.~
1825. . learnt The curious point in all thi. is that Henry Ricketts does not seem to_ 1
_ 1a.v~
... t'i
f hi experience
or perhap:-- he problem of communication between the R !.ck~.. _ rom s , . . I L t h H ' Rich'1rd cotTtP and their sons was a bu1lt-1.n p11!nomenon. a er we ave enry s son , Thc.'Y
1 i i , When 1 j oine
Glass Circle News_No.16, Jan 1981
