Cutting and Engraving Shop, Holyrood Flint Glass Co. ca. 1860

Cutting and Engraving Shop, Holyrood Flint Glass Co. ca. 1860

Glass and Ceramics

This workshop in the Cannongate area of Edinburgh, part of a bigger enterprise known as the Holyrood Flint Glass Company, was for the finishing of high quality glasswares using skilled cutting and engraving techniques. It shows a mixture of machine technologies for powering the cutting wheels combined with apprentice-trained handwork. The workshop is lit from above and contains about forty wheels attended by as many craftsmen. The engravers, fewer in number, can be seen in the foreground to the right, with their smaller precision engraving tools powered by hand or by a foot treadle. Much of the engraving work undertaken for the firm was done elsewhere in sub-contracting workshops in nearby Abbeyhill, mainly staffed by Bohemian glass engravers famed for their skill and innovative design. The Holyrood Glass Co. also made more pedestrian wares for a mass market in their factory premises.

The output of the workshop illustrated here, which was probably drawn for use in a catalogue or some other form of promotional literature, comprised a range of predominantly domestic wares which can be seen awaiting the cutting process and also stored in baskets on the floor. Various cutting wheels can also be seen on the floor. The Holyrood Glass Co. was known for its cut glass decanters and table glasses, along with fruit bowls, vases, glass oil lamps and dressing table sets. The company also produced fine glass door handles set with cameo portraits of notable figures of the day. They made to commission and for sale through their own retail premises in central Edinburgh and were frequently attendees at the great exhibitions in Scotland. A heavy glass vessel such as a large bowl could take up to 40 hours of work for the cutting stage.

In 1868, at the time the works were described for the Scotsman newspaper by David Bremner as part of his ‘Industries of Scotland’ series, the company, founded at the start of the century, employed over 200 men. The owner, John Ford, who took over from an uncle, was apprentice trained as a glass cutter, making a fruit bowl as his ‘apprentice piece’. According to Bremner, ‘The wheels are fixed in a sort of turning-lathe and are driven by steam, and the variety of patterns that may be produced on them is almost unlimited. The workman rarely makes any attempt at drawing the device on the glass before cutting it. He simply divides the circumference of the article into sections by scratching with a file, and guided so far by these marks he trusts to his eye to the rest.’

The flint glass industry was heavily unionised by mid-century, with a national union with head quarters in Birmingham. The union determined wages and defined the terms for apprenticeships, setting a ratio of one apprentice to five journeymen in an endeavour to control entry to the trade in much the same way as the old trades houses. The glass-cutters had a separate trades organization of their own with union contributions ranging from 1s to 3s6d per week, which was higher than that of the ordinary glass makers. Glass makers, who were specialists in glass blowing techniques, earned from 20s to 38s a week; cutters earned from 20s to 34s per week; and the engravers were the best paid of all earning up to 40s per week. Apprentices, who served seven years, got just 4s to 5s per week and paid from 10s to £7 entry money when progressing to journeyman status, according to their specialist skill. These were good wages and employment conditions, according to Bremner, were mostly healthy. In the later nineteenth century there were damaging conflicts between the unions and the owners of the Edinburgh flint glass making companies over wages and terms.

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Museum of Edinburgh