Francis Troup and the Art Workers' Guild

Before reading about the beginnings of the Arts and Crafts movement, I had not appreciated the significance of Francis Troup being a member of, and designing the Hall at the Art Workers' Guild.  This places Troup firmly in the midst of the Arts and Crafts movement.

Art Workers' Guild logo

As Walter Crane (who you may have noticed is my oracle on all arts and crafts events before 1900!) noted "The Art Workers' Guild...was able more effectively to raise the banner of Decorative Design and Handicraft and to gather under it a larger and wider representative group of artists" (Crane, Walter, An Artist’s Reminscences, The MacMillan Company, New York, 1907), than The Fifteen.  Crane explains the demise of The Fifteen in 1884 "we kept our meetings up for two or three years, and should, no doubt have existed for longer, but for the ultimate but natural absorption of our members into a larger Society, which was formed in 1884, with similar objects to ours, namely, "The Art Workers' Guild" (ibid).  The Art Workers Guild describe themselves as "founded in January 1884 at the Charing Cross Hotel. It was the coming-together of two existing informal discussion groups: The Fifteen, composed of designers like Walter Crane and Lewis F. Day; and the St George's Art Society, composed of six architects, all but one being pupils of Richard Norman Shaw".

No. 6, Queen Square,
address of the Art Workers' Guild

According to Crane, many members of The Art Workers' Guild had attended meetings of the Chelsea Conspirators.  He also observes that in 1888 as part of the Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society "many members of the Art Workers' Guild took a prominent part as presidents of various sections, as paper readers, or in the discussions"(ibid).

F.W. Troup in the 1920s

Stamp (Stamp, Gavin, A Hundred Years of the Art Workers Guild) describes of the Guild "Meetings are held fortnightly in the Hall built in the yard of No 6, Queen Square, and Bloomsbury. This hall is a convivial place it was designed by F.W. Troup and built in the 1913-14...(the Master) wears a chain of office made by Sir George Frampton, sits in a chair designed by W.R Lethaby for the short-lived firm Kenton & Co behind a table provided in 1888 as a temporary measure by W.A.S Benson. Members sit on (uncomfortable) ladder-backed, rush seated Clissett chairs, based on a design by Ernest Gimson. All very formal, very quaint, very traditional; yet within the Guild, as in civilization in a more general sense, a tradition may enshrine and pass on great truths about human nature and life. In the case of the Guild this truth is summed up in the motto on the Master’s chain and in the symbol above the Master’s chair, designed by Walter Crane: ‘Art is Unity’".

Troup Hall, drawn by Thomas Raffles Davison 1918

The hall Troup designed seems to also be called 'Troup's Hall' which is a lasting testament.  Stamp (ibid) remarks "A bust of Morris sits in pride of place in the niche above the Master’s chair in Troup’s Hall, yet when Morris’s name was first put up forward as a member in 1888 he was literally blackballed in the election.  Fortunately, owing to what Gordon Russell called ‘an entirely reprehensible and utterly justifiable bit of fiddling on the part of a scrutineer’, the black ball was deftly removed from the box."  When I included the drawing of Troup's Hall (above) in my earlier Troup post, I thought the ceiling was wooden beams, but looking at more recent photographs of the Hall I was surprised to see that it actually glass.

Troup Hall, Art Workers' Guild

In terms of Francis Troup's participation in the Art Workers' Guild, it would appear that he was a prominent member, although he seems to have not been an original member, joining in 1895.   I have just come across a very interesting directory that lists Troup's exhibitions, speeches and business interests ('Mr Francis William Troup', Mapping the Practice and Profession of Sculpture in Britain and Ireland 1851-1951, University of Glasgow History of Art and HATII, online database 2011).  An extract primarily listing the speeches he gave is below, from this his almost exclusive involvement in the Art Workers' Guild can be seen.

Extract of speeches and exhibitions of Francis Troup,
'Mr Francis William Troup', Mapping the Practice
and Profession of Sculpture in Britain and Ireland 1851-1951,
University of Glasgow History of Art and HATII, online database 2011).

Parry refers to him as "architect of the Art Workers' Guild" (Parry, Linda, Textiles of the Arts & Crafts Movement, Thames & Hudson, 2005).  Troup became Master of the Art Workers' Guild in 1923 in recognition of "valuable and untiring services as Architect to the fabric of the Guild premises" he was made an ex-officio member of committee (The fifty-second annual report of the committee of the Art Workers' Guild, 1936).  

Gilbert Bayes (1872-1953),
dressed in the robe of Master of the Art Workers' Guild,
robe donated by F.W. Troup in 1924

Troup donated a number of items to the Art Workers' Guild:

• Donated a red gown of office to be worn by the Master of the Guild and black gowns to be worn by the two honorary secretaries in 1924 [AWG annual report for 1924, p.10] - these robes are doubtless the ones referred to on the Art Workers Guild website, and were designed by Voysey: "The Master serves for a single calendar year, and is supported by two honorary secretaries. They conduct the formal business of meetings in robes designed by the architect C. F. A. Voysey."  This is complicated by a history of the Guild that says "The current Master wears a strange red
  robe, designed, some says, by Voysey (though Ashbee thought this, and other traditions, were created by Troup along with the Hall)."  (Stamp, ibid)
• Troup was reported in the 1926 to have "not only safeguarded the interests of the Guild in connection with the new building next door [no further information given], but generously gave his 'party-wall' fee to pay for a new arrangement of the electric lighting of the Hall" [AWG annual report for 1926, p.9].
• In Troup's will he left a bequest to the Guild of £250.  He also left "The Works of William Morris" (24 volumes), 'a collection of valuable books on Architecture and other crafts' (45 volumes), a collection of slides, a red painted table (designed and painted by Burne-Jones), two armchairs designed by W.R.Lethaby and E.Gimson [Fifty-eighth annual report of the Committee of the Art Workers' Guild, pp.5-6].

Troup Hall ceiling, Art Workers' Guild

Details are given on the same website of numerous talks that Troup gave at  the Art Workers' Guild, such as: 

• the 1923 speech on 'Line': "Troup suggested a reconciliatory shaking of hands between Sullivan and Jackson at the end of the meeting"!
• 'Scottish Art, 1500-1800' also in 1923: "Troup spoke with slides of Scottish buildings, gardens and illustrations of period domestic life, all lent by Sir R. Lorimer courtesy of J. Warrack." - this is interesting as Troup worked with Lorimer on Whinfold, the house at Hascombe in 1898
• the 1925 talk on 'Substitutes in the Crafts': "Ladies' Night. Subject opened by H. Ricardo, followed by S. B. Caufield, A. Rackham, T. Wilson, F. W. Troup, C. R. Ashbee and N. Heaton"
• the 1929 Inigo Jones speech: "J. A. Gotch read paper and showed slides, followed by (C.R.) Ashbee and Troup"
• the 1938 speech 'Scotland's contribution to the Arts': "F. W. Troup spoke post-interval about Scottish architecture ancient and modern, showing many of his own drawings"

Past members of the Guild include the Dolmetsches, the famous Haslemere early music instrument makers.  Arnold Dolmestch was a member from 1899 and Carl Dolmetsch  in 1953.

Troup Hall detail, Art Workers' Guild

Joseph King & the Dolmetsches – some musical revelations

I have been perturbed by Trotter’s remark about Joseph King in his book The Hilltop Writers (Trotter, The Book Guild, 2003),  as reported in a previous post (Biographies - Joseph King), that King's "greatest contribution may well have been his influence in persuading Arnold Dolmetsch to settle in the Grayswood Road in 1917, and introduce the community to the delights of early music".  Perhaps the quotation is out of context, but this seems a damning verdict of King’s achievements as a MP and a founder of the Peasant Arts movement.   Looking further, it would appear that this opinion is a generalization, and is not wholly accurate.

Mabel Dolmetsch from Dolmetsch Online

Reading Dolmetsch’s wife’s Personal Recollections of Arnold Dolmetsch (Rowledge and Kogan Paul Limited, 1957) adds more substance to the relationship between Joseph King and Arnold Dolmetsch.  In 1917 Mabel Dolmetsch writes: “Feeling strongly drawn to the neighbouring town of Haslemere (from renting in nearby Thursley), we made this place the prime focus of our search (for a permanent house).  Not only has Arnold, some twelve years previously, visited George Bernard Shaw in Hindhead, and been struck by the beauty of its surroundings, but also, more recently, while still living at Tanza Road, Hampstead, we had given a concert in central London for the Peasant Arts Society whose headquarters were situated in Haslemere.  Our chairman on that occasion was Mr. Joseph King, M.P. who made an appreciative and amusing speech at the close of the performance.”  Therefore to understand why the Dolmetsches came to this part of the country, one would need to understand why they were living in Thursley, it was not Joseph King who drew them to Surrey initially.  This is not something I have looked into.

Downhill from Jesses: The Wheatsheaf, Grayswood, 1909 from The Francis Frith archive

The Dolmetsch’s found the house ‘Jesses’ which Mabel describes as “the perfect house…in this auspicious house, Arnold, prophetic as usual, announced that he would live out the remainder of his earthly life.”  She describes the origin of the unusual house name “it stood on the territory which had once formed part of a large farm where, in the Middle Ages, they reared hawks (the word ‘jess’ signifying a leather strap fastened to the legs of the hawk and affixed to its perch, or to the hand of its owner).”  This also explains the name of one of the last houses in Grayswood village, before Jesses, which has the evocative name ‘Hawks Stoop’.

Mabel goes on to explain that they planned to move into the house in the New Year of 1918, but due to the owners of the house they were renting in Thursley, wanting to return early due to the air raids in London, they were forced to move in around Christmas time 1917. 

The Mount, 1928 from The Francis Frith archive: The Grayswood  Road to Haslemere

Given the steep slope on the Grayswood Road, which became a car park during the last snowfall in 2010, it is no mean feat that in snow and ice, after the farmer who was supposed to move the Dolmetsch’s refused “as he dared not risk his horses in such a venture”, that the Dolmetsch’s friend Major Coulder and helpers from the French-Canadian troops “managed their floundering horses” to Jesses without mishap.

The Dolmetsch family in costume, from Dolmetsch Online

Dolmetsch goes on to relate that “We lost no time in establishing contact with Mr. and Mrs. Joseph King, the Godfrey Blounts and other members of their confraternity.  These artists, at the beginning of the New Year (1918), organized some strikingly beautiful Nativity tableaux.  A charming touch was added (at their request) when, at one point, Nathalie and Rudolph (Dolmetsch), robed in white and gold, seated themselves at the edge of the stage in the centre of the picture, like two little angels; and played in duo, on tenor viol and recorder, the music of the fourteenth-century carol ‘Qui creavit Coelum’.  There were, of course, no stands or music-books to mar the illusion.” 

Unfortunately we have no record of this picture.  It has been reported elsewhere that the nativity tableaux in the Country Church (run by Godfrey Blount) was considered impressive.

Margaret Campbell (Dolmetsch: the man and his work, Hamish Hamilton Limited, 1975) writes about the first Dolmetsch Early Music Festival in 1925: “Although Dolmetsch welcomed controversy, he was shrewd enough to know that a festival would attract more attention if he could persuade a celebrity to open the proceedings with a few friendly words.  It was to (George Bernard) Shaw, who had helped him so much in the past, that he wrote, but the request was rejected with characteristic wit and good advice.”  Shaw argued that a speech would distract from the music, and attract those who would not attend “for the love of music” but “’idiots’ who come to gape and never return.” 

Cover from Dolmetsch, Mabel, Personal Recollections of Arnold Dolmetsch, 1957

Nonetheless Dolmetsch insisted that a speaker was needed, Campbell reports that “at the first concert (25 August 1925) Joseph King, a business, and ex-MP with a love for music, made the introductory speech…The Daily Telegraph critic originally intended to cover the first two concerts but was so captivated that he persuaded his editor to allow him to stay for the entire two weeks, sending daily reports – something unheard of in 1925.”

All Saints Church, Grayswood, 1902 from The Francis Frith archive

Mabel Dolmetsch recounts that “another prominent member of the board of governors of the Dolmetsch Foundation was Mr. Joseph King who proved himself throughout a whole-hearted and generous supporter.  He was joined herein, in 1931, by his second wife Helena King.”  Whilst in my previous post, I had assumed that Helena was the music lover, it would appear that it was her husband who first had an interest in the Dolmetsch works.

Biographies: Joseph King

Joseph King’s role in the Peasant Arts movement was as financier, provider of buildings and promoter of the cause through the Peasant Arts museum and the support of his wife, Maude Egerton King’s, role in the movement.

King was born in Liverpool in 1860, the eldest son of Joseph King and his wife Phoebe (nee Powell).  Phoebe’s younger sister Louisa married George MacDonald, making Greville MacDonald and Joseph King cousins.  His father was a surgeon and his grandfather was a co-founder of the Liverpool Stock Exchange.   The family are described as ‘non-conformist stock’, Joseph went to Trinity College Oxford were he was active in founding the non-conformist union that aimed to bring free churchmen together.   After graduating he entered into the Temple with the intention of studying for the Bar.   However he continued his theological studies studying at Geissen University in Germany in the summer of 1885.   For family reasons Joseph returned to the UK and completed his legal training (The Congregationalist March 23^rd 1911).  Interestingly both King and Blount had considered becoming non-conformist ministers, but instead had decided upon more orthodox career paths.

Joseph King from Swanton, E, W A Country Museum Haslemere Educational Museum, 1947

In 1881 King was living in Welford House, Hampstead as the head of the household with his sister.  By 1885 King was engaged to Maude Egerton Hine who was also living in Hampstead at the time.  Greville MacDonald first met Maude that year when he sat beside her at a dinner party and discovered that she was engaged to his cousin, Joseph King, who was at the time a young barrister (MacDonald, Reminiscenes of a Specialist, Allen & Unwin, 1932).  In 1887 Joseph and Maude married.  On the 1891 census they were living together at Wedderburn Road, Hampstead.  The Kings moved to Lower Birtley, Witley in 1894.  In 1895 Maude’s brother, William Egerton Hine painted a pencil and watercolour picture ‘A House at Lower Bertly, Witley’ (Christie’s, Watercolours by Henry George Hine and other artists of the Hine family, 1988, London) which doubtless was painted whilst visiting the Kings.   The Kings must have then moved to Upper Birtley where they are recorded as living on the census in 1901. 

By 1892 King was drawn into politics, unsuccessfully standing as a Liberal candidate for the New Forest constituency.   In 1894, shortly after moving to Haslemere, King served on Surrey County Council, eventually losing his seat six years later.  His Parliamentary career continued unsuccessfully losing two elections in 1904 and 1906 until in 1910 he was finally elected MP for North Somerset in the landslide Liberal victory that year holding the seat until 1918.  In common with his friend, Arthur Ponsonby (1^st Baron Ponsonby of Shulbrede), of nearby Shulbrede Priory, King defected to Labour.

Joseph King, from Haslemere Educational Museum

MacDonald described King as “Keenly appreciating genius, though his inclinations embraced rather politics and non conforming orthodoxies, gave her (Maude Egerton King) every opportunity for her hopes in spinning-wheel and loom” (Reminiscences of a Specialist Greville MacDonald p375).  King owned the land on Kings Road that was then called Foundry Meadow, and it was here that the Peasant Arts buildings were erected, with Francis Troup designing them.  Around 1902 Sandhouse was completed, designed by Francis Troup, where the Kings lived until 1922 when they moved to Hill Farm, Camelsdale until Maude’s death in 1927.

King donated Foundry Meadow to the Peasant Art Guild in 1914.  This was the land where the weaving houses and workshops were. 

Peasant Arts Museum room at Haslemere Museum c.1927 from The Lost Arts of Europe, Haslemere Educational Museum, 2000

It also housed the Peasant Arts museum from 1912.  On several afternoons Joseph took groups of children in the Peasant Art Galleries, in order to stimulate their interest in folk history and the appreciation of art and handicraft.  During the development of the Haslemere Educational Museum Joseph King spoke to the Museum committee on the peasant arts collections and supervised the move from the King’s road site to the museum in 1926.  The Guild offered the collection to the Museum committee as a free gift together with a building fund of £500 which King matched using his own private funds.  The Guild furnished, fitted and decorated two rooms to house the collection and King authored a handbook describing the collection.  He was appointed Honorary Curator of the collection until his death in 1943 (Swanton, E, W. 1947 A Country Museum Ch. 10 Educational Museum Haslemere, Haslemere).

Arnold Dolmetsch in 1916

In 1928 King re-married, a year after Maude’s death, Helena Gertrude Martins and went to live in Brownholme, Tilford.   Helena appears to have been musical, being the Honorary Secretary and Treasurer of the The Dolmetsch Foundation.  The Musical Times in May 1951 advertizes a Dolmetsch early music concert and reception, where tickets are ‘obtainable only from Mrs Joseph King, Brownholm, Tilford’.  The Dolmetsch link here is interesting seeing as according to Trotter King's "greatest contribution may well have been his influence in persuading Arnold Dolmetsch to settle in the Grayswood Road in 1917, and introduce the community to the delights of early music" (Trotter, The Hilltop Writers, The Book Guild, 2003).

The Peasant Arts beyond Kings Road/ Foundry Lane

Godfrey Blount, Arbor Vitae, 1899

Looking at the wider area of Haslemere, it's interesting to see where the main members of the Peasant Arts Guild resided after the 1901 census, and how these locations related to each other.

The Blounts moved out of Foundry Lane around 1911, to St Cross on Weydown Road where they established the St Cross School of Handicraft but continued their relationship with the Haslemere Weaving Industry on Foundry Road.  Marion Hine moved to Silverbirches, a house almost directly above her previous residence of Greenbushes, further up the hill.

Whilst the Kings were living down the road in Witley, first at Upper Birtley and then at the hugely impressive Sandhouse, in 1922 they moved to Hillfarm in Camelsdale until Maude Egerton King died in 1927.

The third key family of the movement, Greville MacDonald, only moved permanently to Haslemere from Harley Street in London, in 1919, where he bought Wildwood on Weydown Road, a neighbour of the Blount's at St Cross.  Greville had built a house for his parents in 1900 on the Grayswood Road, St George's Wood where they lived to their deaths a few years later.

An introduction is required of Greville's father, the writer George MacDonald, who is described as "one of the magic Victorian circle of Ruskin, Carlyle, Dickens, Trollope, Thackeray and Macaulay, to pick out a few only of those with whom he was on the most friendly and respected terms....his work was immensely valued and successful, his novels grossly pirated were eagerly read all over America, equal in popularity with those of Dickens and Thackeray.  In his day his literary reputation ranked with the highest throughout the English speaking world.  About the turn of the century, Dr George MacDonald often drove into the town from his new home along the Grayswood Road draped in a scarlet cloak, which revealed a white serge suit, and with a bearded face topped by a large grey felt hat he presented an ensemble which would surely please the most progresive of modern tailors."  (Rolston, Haslemere, 1956, Phillimore & Co. Limited, Chichester).

Interestingly, the famous Haslemere family, the Dolmetsch's, of the early music and recorder manufacturing local fame, family house, Jesses, is directly opposite St George's Wood.  Joseph King is reported to have persuaded Arnold Dolmetsch to move to Haslemere.

At the same time as the Haslemere Weaving Industries were being established, the Hammer Vale Pottery was also set up by Radley Young, whilst Hammer Vale was a few miles away, Radley Young lived nearby to Foundry Road, in Hillcrest on Courts Mount Road.  It is very likely that he was an acquaintance with the artistic community further down the hill.