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Regency Coade: a study of the Coade record books, 1813–21

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 April 2016

John E. Ruch
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Extract

The discovery of new documents relating to the Coade Ornamental Stone Manufactory is an interesting and important event. This firm was one of the chief suppliers of manufactured ornaments to the building trade in the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. It was much concerned with contemporary architectural projects, and its records are filled with references to the works and activities of architects. The company's books therefore contain information which sheds new light upon a number of problems relating to Regency architectural history. The documents in question are preserved at the Public Record Office in London. They consist of a late, fairly representative, set of the Coade firm's record books, and together they form the largest group of Coade records known to survive. They date in the main from late 1813 to late 1821. Besides three manuscript volumes containing letter copies, accounts and orders with work notes, there are a few papers relating to Eleanor Coade Jr's personal properties. They allow us to fill in the company's history with greater detail and accuracy than had previously been possible. We can also follow the course of individual commissions from order, through construction, to completion and accounting. Finally, these documents illuminate the relationships existing between manufacturer and client, and between architect and manufacturer.

Type
Research Article
Information
Architectural History , Volume 11 , 1968 , pp. 34 - 56
Copyright
Copyright © Society of Architectural Historians of Great Britain 1968

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References

Notes

1 C. 111/106. The first scholar to recognize the value of these records was Mr H. M. Colvin. They were discovered independently by the present writer. A few details from them have already appeared in brief articles by Darlington, I. and Collins, F. J. in Staff, April 1965, p. 6 Google Scholar and Museums Jnl., May 1957, pp. 37–38.

I am grateful to the Secretary and staff of the PRO, not only for formal permission to publish, but also for much kindness and consideration. In addition I am grateful for encouragement and advice to Sir John Summerson, Prof. Sir Anthony Blunt, Prof. Peter Murray, Mr John Harris, Miss Y. Williams and Mr F. J. Collins, not to mention the unfailing kindness of Mr Kenneth Martin-Leake and the tireless support of my wife.

The three record books cover business from the death of John Sealy to that of Eleanor Coade Jr. They represent only part of the firm's papers for this period, which must also have included other books, letters from correspondents, plans, drawings and technical notes. Perhaps the most interesting item is the letter book which contains lengthy messages about various commissions. The accounts volume gives a fairly explicit record of income and expenditure and two inventories of manufactured stock on hand.The awards of commissions are noted in the third book, with tallies of labour and material costs.

Letter Book (abbrev. ‘L.’ followed by relevant page number): vellum-bound folio, partly filled with 510 pages of correspondence containing about 1,200 letter copies, 7 Jan. 1813 to 6 Nov. 1821. The original letterhead was ‘Ornamental Stone Manufactory, Lambeth’ or in short form ‘O.S.M.L.’ This was changed on 14 Oct. 1817 to ‘Ornamental Stone and Scagliola Manufactory, Lambeth’, or ‘O.S.&S.M.L.’ Some of the letters, particularly those of 1813, are written in an almost illegible hand. The signature was ‘pp. E. Coade’; later ‘W. Croggon’ often signed himself. At the front is a simple index which is somewhat muddled. The correspondents’ surnames are grouped by initials only. The Is and Js are mixed and the Us occur amid the Ts. At the back there are some shipping notes of 1813. A very few sketches were jotted down beside letters as aides memoires: pp.5,10 (two), 82,399 and several inside the back cover. These are all architectural in content, one representing a small Gothic church. A number of accidents interrupted the sequence of text and page order. Several pages are blank, i.e. pp. 22–40 and pp. 313–314, which were sealed together. Three times page numbers were duplicated. Thus there are two each of pp.229, 276 and 308. Lists of stock prices occur in a number of letters, note particularly that of 1820 on pp. 472–473.

Accounts Book (abbrev. ‘A.’ followed by relevant page number): quarto, bound in leather, labelled ‘Day Book’. The pages are water-marked with the date 1813. Accounting occupies only 381 pages. Dates of entry extend from 13 Nov. 1813 to 30 Nov. 1821. General balancing of accounts took place every two or three years, i.e. 30 June 1815, 31 Dec. 1816, the same day in 1818 and lastly in Nov. 1821. For these see respectively pp.58–63, 128–133, 227–235 and 307–381. The script is easily legible. Inventories of stock manufactured and still on hand occur on pp. 128–130 (Dec. 1816) and 225–230 (Dec. 1818). Some brief calculations were pencilled inside the back cover.

Orders and Memorandum Book (abbrev. ‘O.’ indicates front section, followed by a folio number; ‘W.’ indicates back part, accompanied by a folio number of a different series): octavo, bound in leather, paper water-marked 1812, much of it blank.

(a) Orders are in the front of the book, 8 Oct. 1813 to 26 Sept. 1821. Folios are numbered on the recto upper-right corner in print from 1 to 38. Each entry is written across the full width of the page and is separated from others by a horizontal pen stroke.

(b) Work Notes form a separate section at the back, written with the volume inverted and reversed. Printed folio numbers appear on the recto so formed in the upper-right corner, from 1 to 68. Entries date from 30 Oct. 1813 to 21 Oct. 1821. Each side of a sheet is divided in two vertical columns, and each commission occupies an arbitrary amount of space in the columns under its own title. Below this name each participating workman is noted. His work on the project is tallied in units of days or half-days. Inside the back cover are listed the most frequently ordered coats of arms, their sizes and prices.

2 The property was leased to Routledge, Thomas and Greenwood, John Danforth in 1837 (Survey of London, XXIII (1951), p.61)Google Scholar.

3 Current opinion holds that Eleanor Coade Jr was the principal driving force behind the firm from its early days. She was in any case a woman of strong character.

4 Lease dated 1798 (Survey, pp.69). See also Lambeth Archives, Poor Rate Books, ‘Marsh and Wall Liberty’ 1798, pp. 22–23, which declares ‘Coade's Gallery not yet occupied’.

5 See n.79, below.

6 Drawings showing factory exterior at different periods, bound in a special album illustrating T. Pennant, Some Account of London, ‘Lambeth’ (BM Print Room, Crowle Collection). An early view neither signed nor dated, is mounted on f. 129 along with one by C. Tomkins of 1801 which shows an enfilade through the coachway (Survey, pl. 38a). See also n.23 below.

7 Plainly visible in two drawings by J. T. Smith, one of which is on f. 128 of the Pennant album above and the other, freer version in Lambeth Archives. It is partly obscured in the Tomkins drawing.

8 Sealy ‘has long been confined to his bed and room in a severe fit of the gout’ (Ann Sealy, 7 Oct. 1813, L.21).

9 For more than two years (1813–16) the firm supported ‘a Charity School at the Manufactory’ of which one Thomas Lett was treasurer (A.56).

10 Croggon wrote to the Countess of Cork and Orrery (23 Dec. 1814):‘… the business is now conducted on a/c of Mrs Eleanor Coade but she takes no active part in the concern.’ The old lady's powers appear to have been failing markedly, but in spite of ‘her advanced age and debility’ (L.152,15 Nov. 1815), she lived another six years. In 1808 ‘Mr Cood, Strand’ was included in the list of twenty members of the London Architectural Society ( London Architectural Soc. Essays, i, p.xiii Google Scholar). This person was probably a younger relative ( Builder, xxi (1863), p. 113 Google Scholar).

11 He agreed to pay her executors £1,400 for the entire business, 30 Nov. 1821 (C.111/106, loose papers).

12 Leased to J. Rutherford, 19 Aug. 1822 (ibid.).

13 Leased to Rev.J. Coles, 15 Aug. 1822 (ibid.).

14 Referred to as ‘late Coade's Gallery’ (6 Jan. 1817, L.243). It is likely there was diminishing interest on the part of the public as well as of the firm. Superb collections of original, ancient sculpture were becoming accessible to the public. In this very month the British Museum had expanded its rules much more liberally. Few visitors were apt to prefer Coade's gallery of products to the Elgin marbles.

15 Mentioned, L.207, 17 Aug. 1818.

16 L.222, 17 Oct. 1816, in which the new development was announced to a client. Coade's workmen also engaged in cleaning older scagliola, e.g. at Greenwich Hospital, W.46 r., 1818.

17 Scagliola works are listed A.225–226, and Coade stone objects follow in A.227–230.

18 Correspondence reached a peak in this year, taking up about ninety pages of the letter book. The totals for later years fell noticeably.

19 Croggon proposed to dismantle and rebuild a kiln in 1820 (L.466–467 to Dr Hughes, Jesus College, Oxford).

20 The date of Nash's journey to France is now fixed for the first time by a letter to Nash's assistant, James Morgan (L.76, 25 Oct. 1814), which begins: ‘If Mr Nash is returned from France…’

21 e.g. a 5s 6d baluster was raised to 6s on the increase in material costs (L.430).

22 The PRO documents under review were submitted as evidence in proceedings instituted by the heirs against the executors of Eleanor's will for a final settlement in 1823.

23 Survey, pl. 38b. Behind this tall front lay a deep, narrow building which was probably only one storey high (ibid., plan, p.61, based on documents at GLC, County Hall). Bacon had supplied much of the original decoration. His allegorical frontispiece first existed as a trade card design published in 1786 as engraved by Wray after Ryley's drawing. It appears to derive from Roubiliac's monumental compositions (cf. Fig. 11a).

24 Allen, T., History and Antiquities of the Parish of Lambeth (1826), p. 306 Google Scholar.

25 ex. inf. Mr W. R. Maidment, Camden Borough Librarian. Croggon (‘Cogan’ in the rate book) occupied the seventh house, numbered ‘6’ from Jan. 1826 to Aug. 1833. Mr. F. J. Collins pointed out to me that a number of sculptors had recently settled in this neighbourhood.

26 Croggon's rates were £10 per annum on an assessment of £160 p.a. Austin's were £2 2s on a £36 assessment.

27 A note of this appears in the rate book. Scant details have been found in the Court of Bankruptcy records, PRO.The Docket Book 1833 (IND.22678), section ‘C’ No. 229 gives the docket date as 16 Nov. and that for the fiat as 18 Nov.

28 He died 2 June 1835 in his fifty-eighth year (Morning Chronicle, 5 June 1835 p. 4).

29 There were branches in both Falmouth and Grampound. William Croggon was a partner in Rist & Croggon, auctioneers, 64 Cornhill, London, a business which existed from at least 1819 to 1833 or later (Robson's [Annual] Directory). Although the newspaper obituary stated that he came from Falmouth, William is thought to have been the brother of John Croggon of Grampound. Mr C. C. Croggon, descended from John, assures me that his own ancestor had a brother named William traditionally identified with the proprietor of Coade's firm. I am indebted to this informant for a number of family details.

30 He predeceased his younger brother, leaving four children. The only son, William Richard Raymond Croggon, was excluded from Thomas John's will by a codicil.

31 There were no surviving children. He died in his seventy-second year (The Times, 3 March 1884), leaving an estate valued at £12,000 (PCC 1884, No. 465, Somerset House).

32 According to the Secretary of Croggon & Co., metal dealers (Colnbrook, near Slough), the firm was founded in 1835 by Thomas John Croggon. William Barry Ritchie was both partner and heir. Thomas's widow, Eliza Jane, survived him seven years (will PCC 1891, No. 1074). William Richard Croggon, after bankruptcy in 1833, was for a brief period linked with early railway promotion. He was Secretary of the ill-fated Great Northern Railway which failed in 1836. Associated with him in this venture were Joseph Gibbs, Thomas Routledge and William Wilkins. I am indebted to Mr Atkinson, British Railways Archives, and to Mr H. S. Cobb, House of Lords Record Office, for details of railway history and legislation.

33 Salary £200 p.a. (A.221).

34 Dubbin's wages appear to have risen from 7s 6d a day in 1814 to 10s a day in 1819 (A.20 & W.49 r.). Employees’ expenses during work at distant locations were paid up to 5s or 6s a day, plus fares (A.3, A.36, A.369–370).

35 Wages 8s 9d p.d. (W.49 r.).

36 These were: Barnett, T. Dubbin, Griffith, Ham, Harrison, Morgan, J. Panzetta, Watkins, Wilcoxon, James Wilson and Young.

37 William Dunn and Wheeler (W.30 r. & 31 r.).

38 Durand (W.47 r.).

39 L.374.

40 Correspondence with Wither Bramston Esq. of Oakley Hall, Basingstoke, demonstrates Dubbin's attempts to harmonize new work with medieval surroundings (e.g. L.407). He had a wooden model constructed of the Deane church screen (L.432).

41 Dubbin and Panzetta collaborated on a design for the proposed monument to Samuel Watson at Weymouth in 1819 (W.50 r.). The commission eventually went to Joseph Theakston ( Gunnis, R., Dictionary of British Scupltors [1953], p. 385 Google Scholar).

42 n. 159 below.

43 L.370 to Henry Peto, 1818. It may be that the firm was so fully employed in this year that such orders were passed on to Dubbin's private care.

44 Their partnership in a terra-cotta manufactory dates from c. 1818 (Gunnis, p. 67). Bubb was probably competing with Coade as early as 1814, when he disparaged the firm's work to the Countess of Cork and Orrery (L.87, 23 Dec).

45 ex. inf. Mr F. J. Collins. For copies of Inwood's contract drawings, drawn by the architect's apprentice J. D. Wyatt, cf. RIBA F.14.

46 Entries for Coffee (and ‘Cobby’) extend into Jan. 1817, although John Thomas is said to have emigrated in 1816 (Gunnis, p. 109). At this time William Coffee would have been seventy years old.

47 Gunnis, p. 289.

48 L.268 to Lady Beaumont, 13 May 1817.

49 He carried out two-thirds of the work on John Nash's figures in 1813–14 (W.3 v.). His contribution to other commissions varied. Records support the view that Panzetta's speciality was figural modelling, e.g. he was much concerned with the King of Portugal's statues in 1820, but did not work on the royal arms which accompanied them (W.59 r. & v.).

50 Croggon used such models as ex gratia gifts after obtaining commissions. Copies were kept at the factory and examples submitted to committees or individual patrons were given on occasion to influential parties (L.164 & 179).

51 A model in Coade stone was given to E. Haycock in 1818 (L.320).

52 L.331; other models are mentioned, e.g. L.392.

53 Gunnis, p. 289.

54 Evelyn J. Shirley selected a Gothic fireplace design for Ettington Hall, Warwicks from a plate in Britton's works (L.285).

55 Parsons referred Croggon to Peter Nicholson's handbook in order to determine entasis on column plans for Willey Hall. This was probably The Student's Instructor in Drawing and Working the Five Orders of Architecture (1804 ed.), p. 5, p. 17, 20,24,25.

56 2 capitals, 2 antae and 4 paterae (O.10 r.; L.140).

57 Shortly before 1 April 1818 he visited the works to inquire about the cost of a Corinthian column 13ft 4in high (L.330). An Egyptian lion was made for him in 1819–20 (W.53 r. & L.453). For Hope's eclecticism see Irwin, D., English Neo classical Art (1966), p. 140 Google Scholar.

58 Dalmeny House and the Nelson monument, Great Yarmouth, see below.

59 O.30 v.; L.319–320. At Grove Lodge (?), Cambridge, Arthur Browne had specified ‘ancient Grecian Ionic’ capitals for Christopher Pemberton, 1814 (0.2 v. & 3 r.; H.M.C. Cambridge, ii (1959), p.354 Google Scholar).

60 Eagles made for Sir George Osborne Bt (L.264).

61 W.34 v.; L.287 & A. 187.I am grateful for research carried out in Athens by Prof. J. W. Graham, University of Toronto, and for information from Mr D. E. L. Haynes, Keeper of Greek and Roman Antiquities in the BM. The fate of Guildford's caryatid is unknown. There is a modern concrete locum tenens in the Erechtheion porch.

62 A.229, valued at 5s on 31 Dec. 1818. For the effect of newly available collections of antiquities and the English visit of Canova see Whinney, M.D., Sculpture in Britain (1964) pp. 204–210 Google Scholar.

63 An exception was Rev. Henry Welstead, who in 1814 disputed Coade's iconography in a figure of Peace. Welstead demanded literal accuracy. Croggon strove for formal, visual effectiveness and structural strength (L.51 & 53,1814).

64 L.432 to Mrs Puget, Totteridge.

65 Note the eclectic selection of bust subjects in the 1784 catalogue, pp.5, 16.

66 Gunnis, p. 107. In 1821 six men were sent to ‘Belzoni's Egyptian Hall’ to move an unnamed figure, probably at the time of J. B. Papworth's building there (A.337).

67 O.l v. & 4r., 1814. Bulls and elephants were shipped by Aug. 1815. There were also figures of Apollo, horses & c.

68 An elephant arrived there, Aug. 1817, but may have been returned (L.276 & 279, to Lady Beaumont).

69 No. 69, 1784 cat. p. 5; 0.28 v.; L.435.

70 Nos.297–299, 1784 cat.; L.139 to D. Stephenson; L.431 to F. C. Annesley.

71 Noteworthy examples may be seen on the west front of St George's Chapel, Windsor, which can be dated before 1799.

72 Barberini Fountain, 1799 cat. No. 55. The firm showed little interest in Renaissance works. Nothing was avowedly copied from the great masters, although Michaelangelo was supposedly the creator of the River Gods (1799 cat. Nos. 115–116).

73 Sadness ‘from Le Brun's Passions’, 1784 cat. No.461.

74 Vase from the Grenelle Fountain, Paris, 1799 cat. p. 19.

75 At least thirteen different pieces in 1799 cat.: Nos.2–5, 24, 28, 30, 56, 59, 73, 94, 101, 102. The last pair were candelabra for William Locke, Norbury Park.

76. Figures were copied from Reynolds's designs for the chapel window at New college, Oxford. The miniature Coade statues formed part of a font, of which one example went to St George's Chapel, Windsor, 1790.

77 Gunnis, p. 106.

78 1799 cat. Nos. 18, 27,35.

79 These were: (a) An untitled book of plates, some of which are dated 1777 and others 1778. The BM example (press mark 1802 b.24) has 36 plates, some undated; (b) A Descriptive Catalogue of Coade's Artificial Stone Manufactory (1784): this has 31 pages in which 778 numbered pieces are classed in 29 groups; (c) Coade's Gallery or Exhibition in Artificial Stone (Lambeth, 1799)Google Scholar: a 12 page introduction is followed by 24 pages describing objects as they were arranged in the gallery (for details see Esdaile, K. A., ‘Coade Stone’, Architect & Building News, clxi (1940), pp. 94–96, 112–114)Google Scholar.

80 Woodington's lion was moved to the foot of Westminster Bridge not long ago, see Holroyd, J. E., The Times, 5 March 1966, p. 9.Google Scholar Holroyd indicates a number of Coade works previously unstudied.

81 Contrasts (1836).

82 0.1 r., A.6, 1813–14; four figures were in pilaster form, the other two - Architecture and Sculpture - were in the round for niches, cf. Summerson, J., John Nash (1935), pp.79–80 Google Scholar.

83 Used at both his residences - Lincoln's Inn Fields and Pitzhanger - as well as at Buckingham House and the Bank of England. He is mentioned in A. 132, L. 47 & 76, also 0.1 r.

84 Works for Downing College, Great Yarmouth, Hudson Gurney and Lords Manvers and Roseberry.

85 In 1814, L.79, W.7 r. & 8 r.

86 Plymouth's order was mentioned in 1816 (L.161); the work for Devonshire occupied 1819–20 (L.427 & 453).

87 L.411, 1819.

88 Besides columns and pilasters for Christ's Hospital, 1817–18, the Hardwicks ordered work for Syon House (1814, W.7 v.; 1818, W.43 r.); new Bethlehem Hospital (1814–15, W.14 r.).

89 L.486,19 June 1821, informed Wyatt that scagliola pilasters for Apsley House were ready. This was seven years earlier than his previously known work here ( Colvin, H. M., Dictionary of English Architects 1660–1840 (1954), p.721 Google Scholar). Benjamin Deane Wyatt ‘Timber Merchant Architect Dealer and Chapman’ went bankrupt a few months before the same thing happened to Croggon's elder son (Court of Bankruptcy records, PRO B.5/99 p.72: Appointments of Assignees, 9 Feb. 1833; B.5/33 Docket Book: ‘ W’).

90 See below.

91 See n.59 above. Browne was exacting in his requirements, and several times refused to accept capitals which had shrunk more than anticipated during their manufacture. He ordered examples in high and rejected those which were five-sixteenths of an inch under this mark.

92 Although letters were addressed to Gummow ‘care of Sir Watkin Williams Wynn, Bart.’, the subject of the correspondence was work for Major Ormsby Gore, Parkington, Oswestry, Salop. (O.10 v.; W.21 v.; L.176).

93 In 1819–20 Ionic capitals based on the ‘Temple of Ilissus, Athens’ were made for him (0.31 r.;O.10v.).

94 See below.

95 Besides work on the Percy Column, Alnwick, Coade produced unnamed pieces for Stephenson before July 1815 (L.122).

96 Entirely concerned with work for this building, the letters reveal one source of friction between manufacturer and patron. Although Croggon requested a drawing of Sir Godfrey Webster's arms, Feb. 1815 (L.99), none was received by him when the order was placed in August-September (O.10 v.). Coade's craftsman hurriedly copied the arms from Webster's coach door (L.138). It was shipped in December (L.155), but not examined carefully until February when Vidler found that the motto was faulty (L.170).

97 L.205 to Col. Grant MP, Cullen House, Banff, 1816.

98 In 1814 a number of stoves were shipped to Lord Frederick Campbell through the agency of Thomas Powell of London, a smith (L.56, 59 & 62). See also L.109 to Rudd, architect, at the Register Office, Edinburgh.

99 Austin and Cochrane ordered arms in 1815 (0.8 v., L.114). Four years later the Royal Bank purchased arms (L.425 to Archibald Elliott Esq.).

100 L.226 to Sir R. W. Vaughan, Mannan, near Dolgellau, Merionethshire. Thomas Penson Esq., Overton Cottage, near Wrexham, Denbighshire, inquired about scagliola work in 1817 (L.248, 257, 260).

101 Both of these employed Coade stone reliefs: the Rotunda Hospital which was altered in the late 1780s ( Curran, C. P., Rotunda Hospital (Dublin, 1945), passim Google Scholar); and the Rutland Fountain 1791 ( Craig, M. J., Dublin 1660–1860 (1952), p. 280 Google ScholarPubMed).

102 He used Coade stone details in Emo House as well as in the Rotunda ( Craig, , op. cit., p. 290, n. 1 Google Scholar).

103 According to Dr Ledyard's letter to Gandon, the latter had suggested the incorporation of ‘factitious stone’ in the proposed monument to Wellington, 1815 ( Mulvany, T. J., Life of James Gandon (Dublin, 1846), pp. 225–226 Google Scholar). Gandon's ideal, unexecuted villas designed during his retirement had decorations ‘intended to be done in compo, now so much improved, and when properly done, as durable as stone’ (ibid., p.221).

104 Of Wilton Castle, Enniscorthy, Co Wexford, now in ruins. Alcock may or may not have used Coade (L.287, 17 Sept. 1817).

105 Later Earl of Annesley, of Castlewellan, Co Down. Several letters, 1818–21, are recorded; see also 0.26 r. & 33 v. listing figures and vases ordered. Lord Glerawley sometimes acted for Annesley (L.381–382 & 394–395).

106 Lord Blayney of Castleblayney, Co Monaghan. Work was carried out for him in 1808 (L.121, care of Col. Freeth, Aylesbury, Bucks).

107 Of Caledon, Co Tyrone. For the fountain, made 1815, see L.65 & 172.

108 Behan proposed to use royal arms for the Court House in Galway (L. 141, 1815). Robertson commissioned the figure Justice late in 1816 (L.219–220 & 236–237). This may have inspired Thomas Cobden's inquiry about a similar statue in 1818 (L.388; Colvin, pp. 143–144). For Ryan see L.280, ordering the vase in 1817, and A.177.

109 Coade had made arms and trophies for J. & P. Boylan, Grafton Street, Dublin, 1805 (L.101). Early in 1815 James Donovan purchased royal arms (0.7 v.), possibly on the same pattern.

110. John Pollock ordered an inscribed tablet for the Bishop of Meath early in 1813 (L.l). The next year Major de Blacquire ‘of Dublin’ inquired about a monument (L.70). In 1821 he made a payment of 4gn.

111 W.2v.; A.352.

112 L.437, 1819, concerning Ionic capitals for the Cape of Good Hope, sent to D. Barber, Cheapside.

113 L.7, 1813, to Capt. Young, re 19 cases of Coade stone, almost wholly illegible.

114 L.270; A.171, re £36 15s charged to the East India Co, 1817. Possibly S.P. Cockerell had a hand in the order as he was then company surveyor.

115 A.335: £46 10s 9d paid by the Earl of Clancarty for arms sent to Brussels.

116 L.504, 1821, advised Gen. Sir G. Don(?) of the shipment of arms for the Court House, Gibraltar.

117 A.269, royal arms for the island of St Vincent, £55 4s 4d; L.3 concerning royal arms for Trinidad, 1813.

118 King John VI, resident in Brazil 1807–21. Several people in London were involved, particularly the architect's brother Andrew Johnston. The sculpture included the royal arms of Portugal and life-size figures of Truth, Justice, St John and St George (0.28 r.; W.58 v.–59 v.; A.306–307; L.471–473). The order was placed early in 1819, work was carried out in mid–1820 and the shipment finally dispatched in November.

119 Four allegorical reliefs representing Agriculture, Arts and Manufactures, Commerce and Navigation: see 0.27 r.; W.49 r.; Darlington, loc. cit.

120 Correspondence with Henry Peto (L.66, 1814; L.307, 1818). The charges amounted to £824. For sculpture see A. 169.

121 n.88 above; L.209, 279 & 311.

122 Royal arms, 1815; see L.217, W.14 r. and n.88 above.

123 1814; letters to John Goodwin, e.g. L.84.

124 1815; letters to James Jones, e.g. L.112, 0.7 r. & 8 r.

125 Letters to Whither Bramston 1819, especially L.461–462 & 0.29 r.

126 The modeller, Coffee, spent over 40 of the total 50 days’ work in the church itself(L.150&165;W.20r.).

127 The following list comprises all those addressed by the company as ‘architect’; their location is London, unless otherwise stated: Peter Atkinson (York), William Barker (surveyor and architect, Southampton), Arthur Browne (Norwich), Thomas Butcher (Epsom), Thomas Cobden Jr (Chichester; later Carlow, Ireland), S. P. Cockerell, George Dance, Benjamin Gummow (Ruabon, Wales), Thomas and Philip Hardwick, John Johnston (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), Edward Haycock (Shrewsbury), Thomas Horrell (Exeter), David Laing, Edward Lapidge, Richard Morgan, John Nash, George Repton, William Robertson (Orchardton, Kilkenny, Ireland), Denis Ryan (Dublin and Templemore, Tipperary, Ireland), John Shaw, David Stephenson (Newcastle upon Tyne), Francis Stone (Norwich), John Tasker, William Wilkins, B. D. and L. W. Wyatt, John Yenn.

128 This list of titled people is given in two sections, (a) nobility, (b) knights and baronets: (a) Amherst, Annesley, Blandford, Blayney, Breadalbane, Bristol, Buckingham, Caledon, (Hon. Frederick) Campbell, Colchester, (Lady) Cork and Orrery, Devonshire, Downshire, Dunmore, Egremont, Elgin, Fitzwilliam, Foley, Gardner, Glerawley, Gorst, Guildford, (Lady) Harcourt, Harewood, Harrington (and Lady), Lindsay, Manvers, Morley, Morton, Norfolk, Northumberland, Northwick, Oxford, Plymouth, Rosebery, St John, (Lady) Saye and Sele, Shrewsbury, Wellington; (b) Jacob Astley, George Beaumont (and Lady), Francis Blake, J. F. Boughey, Simon Clarke, Charles Cockerell, William Forbes, J. C. Hippisley, John Keane, James Langham, Thomas Liddell, George Osborne, John St Aubyn, John Shelley, Godfrey Webster.

129 He purchased busts of Milton and Shakespeare, and an elephant in 1817 (W.34v.;L.276).

130 Correspondence about several vases, 1815–16, amounting to £40 11s 10d.

131 Unnamed work, 1814–15, £43 12s.

132 Charged £168 1s 6d, for figures of the four Seasons and two ornaments (L.104, 1815).

133 n.56 & 57 above. Another patron, Sir Richard Colt Hoare, inquired about prices for monuments in 1817, but does not appear to have ordered one (L.269).

134 A design was submitted to a committee at Weymouth concerned with the erection of a monument to Samuel Weston (W.50 r.; L.399–400 to George Arden). See n.41 above.

135 L.149: Wilkins's plans are preserved at Dalmeny. He placed his first order with the firm on 28 Oct. 1815 (0.11 r. & v.). For other orders cf. 0.12 v., 13 r., 14 v., 18r.,20r. & v.; for a detailed account cf. A.207–208. The final shipmentfrom Lambeth went in summer 1818 (L.361 to Lord Rosebery, 12 Aug.). Records at Dalmeny contain little information on the subject (ex. inf. Mr S. Carruthers).

136 A.207–208.

137 L.160.

138 O.20 v.

139 Hussey, C., English Country Houses: Late Georgian (1958), p. 115 Google Scholar; Colvin, p.733.

140 This tends to support Pevsner's suggestion that work here continued on the interior until at least 1821, Shropshire (1958), p.319 Google ScholarPubMed.

141 ‘Mr Wyatt is of the opinion however that you are hardly ready with your floor to receive them’, wrote Croggon to Parsons (L.356, 4 Aug. 1818).

142 W.46 v.

143 L.386–387.

144 L.304–305.

145 L.316–317, 14 Feb. 1818.

146 A.214.

147 L.280 & 290. Robert Parry, a plasterer at Willey Hall, had been the original informant of the Coade firm through his friend Dubbin (L.382–383 & 394). One of the Cundy family was requested to inspect work done for Willey, representing Parsons in London (L.394 & 316–317).

148 L.296–297.

149 L.318.

150 L.290–291; apparently Wyatt sent only the height and the diameters at top and bottom.

151 L.316–317.

152 ibid.; the use of this form Croggon found ‘according to the most approved rules of architecture’. Besides, he argued, his rivals Brown and Young used the same shape. This was scarcely an up-to-date justification.

153 L.318; Croggon pleaded on the basis of traditional practice and the example of ‘the more ancient books and the architecture of all our great public buildings’ and that ‘being from these authorities we could not do wrong’. Parsons in return referred him to Peter Nicholson's handbook for the latest methods, see n.55 above.

154 L.338.

155 L.363.

156 L.376.

157 L.376–377 to William Dunn, a Coade employee.

158 L.376; Wyatt himself had been out of town when work from his drawings began.

159 They seem to have been shipped at Dubbin's direction on 29 June 1818, and paid for by 16 Sept. 1818 (L.343, 363 & 371).

160 Pevsner, , Shropshire, p. 320 Google Scholar, lists these sports among the hall's most attractive features.

161 L.386–387 contains an estimate of dado cost. Reference to three vases for Forester's conservatory occurs in L.341. When work for Willey Hall was over, Croggon had 30 extra feet of yellow frieze on hand which he offered to Parry at about half price (L.382–383).

162 For the trend toward large, public memorials at this time see Whinney, , op. cit. p. 203 Google Scholar.

163 On one occasion he solicited assistance from Lord Egremont in obtaining a large monumental commission (L.235, 17 Dec. 1816). The appeal seems to have been unsuccessful.

164 L.154–155 to E. Haycock, Shrewsbury, Dec. 1815. Upon completion of firing, monumental figures were usually assembled for temporary exhibition at the factory. Notice of the display was given by newspaper advertisements, e.g. ‘Lord Hill’ Courier, 21 Aug. 1816.

165 L.154–155; the price of a statue was reduced by more than 20 per cent to 300gn. Croggon charged what he thought he could obtain, according to circumstances. A life-size statue from stock might cost 40gn, while a specially modelled one would cost twice as much. Colossal figures posed difficult problems, and ranged in height from 7 to 15ft at prices from 120 to 400gn (1816 list, L.166–167).

166 At least seventeen letters (16 Oct. 1815 to 28 Feb. 1818) survive: to John Beck, committee member, and E. Haycock, the architect. For work notes and accounts cf. W.24 v. & A. 110. See also Moyle Sherer, A Description of the Column in Shrewsbury to the Honour of General Lord Hill (c. 1840).The Coade firm contributed £5 towards the cost of the column's Doric guard's lodge (L229). As at Alnwick and Great Yarmouth, a Coade employee, J. Wilson, was sent to supervise installation of artificial stone parts (A. 110; W.35 r.; A.264).

167 Some twenty letters (6 June 1816 to 18 Nov. 1818) relate to this commission, addressed to D. Stephenson, architect. For a progress report, 17 Sept. 1817, cf. L.288; for order, work notes and accounts cf. 0.18 r., W.35 r. & A. 173. Notes of committee meetings and the architect's agreement (1 June 1816) to ‘build a colum [sic] agreeable to the design … approved of’ for £2,660 survive among Alnwick Castle archives (ex. inf. Mr D. P. Graham).

168 Sixteen letters (26 Jan. 1816 to 20 Jan. 1820) to the architect, Wilkins, and to Henry Francis, committee secretary, survive. Croggon sent advice of the shipment to the Clerk of Works c. 8 July 1819 (L.345). Details of the manufacture of the scrolls and statues may be found in W.39 v.–40 r., and charges in A.247 & 264. Coade's designer had prepared a model for summit sculpture representing a Roman galley (L.200). On 14 Jan. 1818 the committee preferred to choose a figure of Britannia, although this increased the cost by £50 (ex. inf. Mr P. Rutledge, Great Yarmouth Archives).

169 L.195.

170 Figure of Nelson and four inscribed reliefs shipped, 20 March 1808; completed monument dedicated 17 Aug. 1809 (documents in the Château de Ramezay, Montreal). It is possible that these pieces introduced Coade stone to Montreal and suggested the material used a decade later in the Bank of Montreal reliefs, see n.119 above. It is clear from the dedication plate that the architect concerned was Robert Mitchell of London. Cf. Colvin, p. 392, where 1801 is the latest date recorded for him. His activity is thus extended into 1806, when the Montreal representatives in London (including the great explorer and fur trader Sir Alexander Mackenzie) were appointed. The only PRO reference appears in a letter to E. Haycock about the Shrewsbury column (L.154, 6 Dec. 1815). As an illustration of desirable proportions Croggon cited the Canadian monument. The column had originally been planned 92ft. high, but this was not considered appropriate to a 9ft figure. He recommended the shaft be reduced to 83 ft. Croggon must have been unaware that the Montreal mason refused to build the stonework higher than 50 ft, at which level it has remained ever since, giving the whole a stubby appearance (E. A. Collard, ‘The Statue that Coade and Sealy Made’, Montreal Gazette, 18 April 1959; ex. inf. M. Henri Gerin-Lajoie, Montreal Archives, and Westmount Public Library).

171 L. 145–146; the foundation stone had been laid on 27 Dec. 1814 ( Sherer, , op. cit., p.5 Google Scholar).

172 Croggon advised that a 16ft high figure was more in harmony with a column 120ft tall (L.145–146). The committee had originally asked him for estimates on 12ft and 14ft figures (L.143).

173 L.154, 6 Dec. 1815.

174 L. 176–177, 6 Feb. 1816.

175 It is true that one of the Great Yarmouth figures had developed a crack during firing, but Croggon did not hold this to be serious. Nonetheless, he had it packed with special reinforcements for shipping (L.345).

176 A frequent occurrence, see Hamilton, S. B., ‘Coade Stone’, Architectural Review, cxvi (1954), pp. 295–301 Google Scholar.

177 The pieces replaced are mentioned in L.89 & W.7 v. On earlier repairs see Hamilton, op. cit.

178 L.292,14 Oct. 1817. In the following year work was done on a fountain with coral and rock (L.387–388; W.43 r.).

179 There were numerous complaints on this subject, e.g. L.98 to A. G. Storer of Purley Park.

180 e.g. L.161 to T. Cundy Sr.

181 e.g. L.59 & 437–438.

182 Croggon maintained that although overfiring reddened the material, it did have the advantage of making it a more durable substance (L.113). Clay has the decided disadvantage of shrinking in firing, and allowances have to be made accordingly. In spite of Coade's experience note the difficulty encountered in making Pemberton's capitals (L. 47 & 63). Excessive moisture in the clay body at the time of firing also causes deterioration. This was troublesome to the factory, particularly when work was rushed and the atmospheric humidity was high for lengthy periods (L.292).

183 Hamilton, op. cit. For a contemporary visitor's description of the methods used at the factory see Jewitt, L. F. W., The Ceramic Art of Great Britain from Prehistoric Times Down to the Present Day, i (1878), p. 141 Google Scholar.

184 Leach, B., A Potter's Handbook (1965 ed.), pp. 59–60 Google Scholar.

185 A competitor of Duggan, I. & H. Scovell, Toppings Wharf, offered Croggon clay at £32 a ton (W.18 v., 1817).

186 A.224 & 372.

187 L.127, 135 & 146.

188 L.112, 13 April 1815.

189 Originally the firm paid £38 6s a ton in 1813, but the later supplies cost £34 a ton (A.224 & 373).

190 L.318; the man was possibly William Dunn, see nn.37 & 158 above. For a brief contemporary account of scagliola production at Lambeth see Somerset House Gazette (1824), p. 381 Google Scholar.

191 Purchased from Brandram Bros & Co and also the British Colour Co (A.347–348).

192 Obtained from Young (late New Road) and also from Grieve Grellier & Co (A.349).

193 Lamp black was cheap at 6d a pound, but purple-brown was forty-eight times more expensive (A.348).

194 L.260 to Parsons grouped scagliola colours in three levels according to price at 8s, 7s and 6s per foot.

195 Coade workmen could also be hired to clean old scagliola, see n. 16 above. They could repair slight surface damage to the artificial material by surface polishing with prepared powder (L.380).

196 Respecting the Willey Hall elements see L.296–297, for the frieze L.304–305 and for dado L. 386–387.