The sculptor Sir George Frampton (1860-1928) is best known for the statue of Peter Pan  in Kensington Gardens, London. Frampton was a member of the Art Workers Guild from 1887, a committee member from 1893 to 1895, and Master in 1902. In his early days at the Guild, he would have seen the purchase and installation of many of the ladderback chairs made by Philip Clissett and still used today.  No doubt this is what prompted the purchase of his own Clissett chair.

This photograph from The Tatler’s series “Artists in their Studios” shows him in 1902 – and right in the centre of this image is one of Clissett’s lowback chairs. In about 1910, Frampton moved into a new  house which featured in an article in The Studio in that year, and many of the rooms were illustrated, including his new studio (below). The chair can be seen just to the right of the stove.

These photographs provide just a little more support for Dugald MacColl’s assertion that Clissett’s chairs, once they were on view at the Art Workers Guild “passed … into many houses”. 

References:

Anon. (1902). Artists in their studios: Mr G.J. Frampton, the Royal Academician, in St John’s Wood. The Tatler, 16 April 1902.

Anon. (1910). Recent Designs in Domestic. The Studio, 49, 213-220

The search continues for early images of Philip Clissett’s ladderback chairs. The earliest known purchaser of the ladderback chairs, aside from James MacLaren himself, was reputedly the Artworkers Guild in London. Eighty of Clissett’s chairs are still there, and in regular use. So, the AWG seemed a good place to concentrate on.

The Guild was founded in 1886, and hasn’t always been based in its current home in Queens Square. Earlier homes include the Century Club in Pall Mall, Clifford’s Inn, and the Hall at Barnard’s Inn. I struck lucky with Barnard’s Inn.

This drawing is by Joseph Holland Tringham (1861-1908) and was published in the London Illustrated News for 8th July 1893. The representation of ladderback chairs in this drawing is not perfect - they appear to  have rolled ends to the arms. However, a couple of photographs taken in the previous year suggest that this is a mistake (perhaps between the original sketch and the studio version), and that the chairs are, indeed, Clissetts.

The City of London Archive holds a photograph of the interior of the hall taken in 1892 by Bedford Lemere & Co. I can’t show the photograph here because of copyright, but do check it out. It shows three Clissett low-back chairs, and a high-back. The furniture over on the right hand side includes the current AWG Master’s table, and the original Master’s chair (not the Kenton & Co chair used today).

English Heritage also has this same photograph in its collection , and a further one providing a clearer view of the three low-backs. The metadata for these photographs tells us the exact date they were taken, 12 November 1892.

These photographs were taken with 12x10 inch plate cameras, and should show enormous detail. Unfortunately, English Heritage charge about £25 for a high-res image – this research is done on a shoestring, so this is just too much. So, while it seems to me almost certain that these are Clissett’s chairs (whose else could they be at this early date?), final confirmation will have to wait. In the meantime, I’ll try to find another source.

Bedford Lemere & Co were the leading architectural photographers of their day. If you want to know more about their extraordinary work, check out the online exhibition on the RIBA website.

While I have been able to trace Philip Clissett’s ancestry back to the 1690s, I've been aware for some time of two families of Clissetts in the City of Hereford from the 1560s onwards. Their details are easily available from the International Genealogical Index, though the surname, as usual, tends to vary quite a bit. The two families are almost certainly related, and one can be traced through to about 1650 in London. What happened to those who stayed in Hereford has not been clear, and how the Worcestershire Clissetts (Philip’s line) were related isn’t known.

Thanks to the interest and help of Jean Dobson of Hereford, it is now possible to put a little more flesh on the bones of the Hereford Clissetts. She has managed to show that the first adult male Clissett to arrive in Hereford was probably James Clissett who appears in the Herefordshire muster of 1542, and in tax lists for the City of Hereford in 1543 and 1545. It seems very likely that he was the father of John and William Clissett who headed the two known Clissett families, and who married in 1564 and 1571 respectively. He is also probably the father of Elenor, Margret and Christopher who married in 1568, 1575, and 1576.

There is not much evidence of occupations. Some of the Clissetts appear to have been quite well off, and a later James Clissett (1569-1610) was a Master Butcher.

The Clissetts disappeared from Hereford by the time of the Civil War. It’s really frustrating that we haven’t been able to discover where they went, and whether there is a link to the family at Earls Croome, Worcestershire in the 1690s.

I will (eventually) write up the early Clissetts in more detail. In the meantime, if you have an interest in Hereford, then you should keep an eye on Jean Dobson’s blog where she publishes all sorts of details of the townsfolk throughout history.