Collier and Plucknett were a Warwick, England based Victorian-era furniture maker, best known for their Gothic revival pieces.
James Plucknett formed a partnership with Frederick Collier in the 1860s, with a showroom in Leamington Spa, and workshops in Warwick where Ambrose Heal was an apprentice. [1] The firm advertised themselves as: [2]
Collier and Plucknett: upholsterers, cabinet-makers and decorators by appointment to Her Majesty, and Manufacturers of rich carved furniture in the peculiar styles characteristic of the Gothic, Tudor and Elizabethan ages
From adverts in trade directories the firm gained a wider reputation across the United Kingdom, with national commissions supplementing work from local families. Their best known works were for William Gibbs, who commissioned John Norton to remodel his country house, Tyntesfield. William Cubitt & Co. were the sub-contracted builders, whose foreman was George Plucknett, a relative of James Plucknett. [2] Today, Tyntesfield is a National Trust property, and as well as items of furniture visitors can view the fully fitted Collier and Plucknett bathroom of Matilda Blanche Gibbs. [3]
After Collier retired and the old firm was dissolved in January 1880, [4] Plucknett went into partnership with James Steevens and they traded as Plucknett and Steevens. The partnership lasted six years and included the 1884 commission for the Town Hall in Leamington Spa. Plucknett traded independently from 1886 and in 1892 provided the furnishings for The Royal Pavilion at the Royal Agricultural Show. [2]
The firm ceased trading in 1908 and the remaining stock was auctioned off. [2]
Royal Leamington Spa, commonly known as Leamington Spa or simply Leamington, is a spa town and civil parish in Warwickshire, England. Originally a small village called Leamington Priors, it grew into a spa town in the 18th century following the popularisation of its water which was reputed to have medicinal qualities. In the 19th century, the town experienced one of the most rapid expansions in England. It is named after the River Leam, which flows through the town.
Warwick is a market town, civil parish and the county town of Warwickshire, England, adjacent to the River Avon. It is 9 miles (14 km) south of Coventry, and 19 miles (31 km) south-east of Birmingham. It is adjoined with Leamington Spa and Whitnash. It has ancient origins and an array of historic buildings, notably from the Medieval, Stuart and Georgian eras. It was a major fortified settlement from the early Middle Ages, the most notable relic of this period being Warwick Castle, a major tourist attraction. Much was destroyed in the Great Fire of Warwick in 1694 and then rebuilt with fine 18th century buildings, such as the Collegiate Church of St Mary and the Shire Hall.
Warwickshire is a county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, and the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Avon and Victorian novelist George Eliot,, at Nuneaton. Other significant towns include Rugby, Leamington Spa, Bedworth, Kenilworth and Atherstone. The county offers a mix of historic towns and large rural areas. It is a popular destination for international and domestic tourists to explore both medieval and more recent history.
Warwick is a local government district of central Warwickshire in England. It borders the Borough of Rugby and Stratford-on-Avon District in Warwickshire as well as the West Midlands County. The City of Coventry is to the north and northeast, the Stratford-on-Avon District to the southwest and south, the Borough of Rugby to the east, and the Borough of Solihull to the west and northwest.
Warwick and Leamington is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since the 2017 general election by Matt Western, of the Labour Party.
Tyntesfield is a Victorian Gothic Revival house and estate near Wraxall, North Somerset, England. The house is a Grade I listed building named after the Tynte baronets, who had owned estates in the area since about 1500. The location was formerly that of a 16th-century hunting lodge, which was used as a farmhouse until the early 19th century. In the 1830s a Georgian mansion was built on the site, which was bought by English businessman William Gibbs, whose huge fortune came from guano used as fertilizer. In the 1860s Gibbs had the house significantly expanded and remodelled; a chapel was added in the 1870s. The Gibbs family owned the house until the death of Richard Gibbs in 2001.
Wraxall is a village in North Somerset, England, about 6 miles (10 km) west of Bristol. Until 1811 the parish of the same name also included Nailsea and Flax Bourton. The village is now within the parish of Wraxall and Failand.
The Parisian firm of Jules Allard and Sons, in business between 1878 and Allard's death in 1907, was one of the most notable interior decorating houses of the turn of the twentieth century. The firm opened a New York branch in 1885. Allard's Paris origin reinforced the firm's credibility in composing "high style" French interiors for the American elite, at times employing authentic boiseries, mirrors and chimneypieces, skillfully extended and adapted for results that were comprehensive, acceptably correct from an academic point of view and socially conservative. Architectural fittings and sculpture were provided from the firm's ateliers, as well as furniture and upholstery, carpets, curtains and hangings.
John Fairfax was an English-born journalist, company director, politician, librarian and newspaper owner, known for the incorporation of the major newspapers of modern-day Australia.
John Dibblee Crace was a distinguished British interior designer who provided decorative schemes for the British Museum, the National Gallery, the Royal Academy, Tyntesfield and Longleat among many other notable buildings.
Hardman & Co., otherwise John Hardman Trading Co., Ltd., founded 1838, began manufacturing stained glass in 1844 and became one of the world's leading manufacturers of stained glass and ecclesiastical fittings. The business closed in 2008.
The Royal Pump Rooms is a cultural centre on the Parade in Leamington Spa, Warwickshire, England. It was the most famous of several spa baths opened in Leamington between the late-18th and mid-19th centuries. People would travel from throughout the country, and indeed Europe, to benefit from treatments using the town's healing waters. When 'taking the waters' became less fashionable after the mid-19th century the Pump Rooms became Leamington's only surviving spa facility, later also being extended to include the town's public swimming pool. After a major redevelopment in 1997-99 the building now houses Leamington Spa Art Gallery & Museum, a public library, a Tourist Information Centre, cafe and assembly rooms. It is a Grade II listed building.
Flaxley Abbey is a former Cistercian monastery in England, now a Grade I listed manor and private residence, near the village of Flaxley in the Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire. It is the former seat of the Crawley-Boevey Baronets.
John Norton was an English architect who designed country houses, churches and a number of commercial buildings.
Kimbel & Cabus was a Victorian-era furniture and decorative arts firm based in New York City. The partnership was formed in 1862 between German-born cabinetmaker Anthony Kimbel and French-born cabinetmaker Joseph Cabus (1824–1894). The company was noted for its Modern Gothic and Anglo-Japanese style furniture, which it popularized at the 1876 Centennial Exposition.
Antony Gibbs & Sons was a British trading company, established in London in 1802, whose interests spanned trading in cloth, guano, wine and fruit, and led to it becoming involved in banking, shipping and insurance. Having been family-owned via a partnership from its foundation, by the turn of the 20th century it was focused on banking and insurance. Floated on the London Stock Exchange in 1973, it was bought by HSBC in 1981 and formed the basis of its insurance broking arm, now part of global insurance company Marsh & McLennan.
William Gibbs (1790–1875) was an English businessman, best known as one of three founding partners in Antony Gibbs & Sons, a religious philanthropist, and the owner who developed Tyntesfield in Wraxall, North Somerset.
Arthur Mulliner was the 20th century name of a coachbuilding business founded in Northampton in 1760 which remained in family ownership. The business was acquired by Henlys Limited in 1940 and lost its separate identity.
The Birmingham Banking Company was a bank that operated in Birmingham, West Midlands from 1829 to 1889, and as The Metropolitan and Birmingham Bank from 1889 to 1892, the Metropolitan, Birmingham and South Wales Bank from 1892 to 1893, and the Metropolitan Bank from 1893 to 1914, when it was acquired by the Midland Bank.
Blanche Gibbs also known as Matilda Blanche Gibbs or Matilda Blanche Crawley-Boevey, was an English philanthropist, and a supporter of the Oxford Movement in 19th century England. Along with her husband, William Gibbs, a businessman, she funded the establishment and restoration of many churches and religious structures, and after his death, as the inheritor of his estate, expanded her philanthropy towards social and welfare efforts including the creation of convalescent homes, hospitals, and educational institutions.
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