DOI Heft:
No. 55 (October, 1897)
DOI Artikel:The Guild of Handicraft: a visit to Essex House
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.18390#0050
A Visit to lis sex J louse
track'—cabinet-makers, carpenters, iron and copper general forthcoming. The whole experiment was
smiths, lithographers, draughtsmen, printers, house a distinct success, so much so that it was imitated
painters, sign writers, and pattern makers. Vicissi- at Birmingham, Newlyn, and many other places,
tudes the movement had, but the central idea was Meanwhile the County Council had proposed in-
well maintained, that the movement should be a teresting itself in Technical Education and founding
workmen's movement, on the basis not of master- its Polytechnic Institutes. Instead of subsidising
ship in the ordinary sense, but by co-operation in existing institutions, the Council determined to
industrial partnership. By the time that the establish others of its own. This being in due
Guild was three years old a larger habitation was course done, the school of handicraft became ex-
required, and an ideal home was found in Essex posed to the competition of nominal fees, and of
House down the Mile End Road, where the course no private adventure can stand against
Guild removed in 1890, and continues to remain. schemes supported out of public money. The
There was still the teaching side to the move- school had therefore regretfully to be closed. It
ment down to the year 1896, when the pupils was extinguished, indeed, by causes which the
numbered over 200. The workshop was self- success of its own endeavours did much to bring
supporting, paying indeed a creditable interest on into operation. Whether the work done in the
the capital invested, and having the school as East End Polytechnics is as efficacious as that
a first charge on its profits. The school could which was done by the Guild it is perhaps not
never, at such fees as might be charged, be in- worth while to inquire. On the face of it the
dependent of outside assistance, which was in thing does not seem likely—a workshop school, as
it might be imagined, would
be better than a teaching
^^S~^\ Polytechnic. However that
£^^^J\ may be, the matter is now
jggfto Jfjf '' '^M past praying for. The (mild
&&&Mk M^^^kj has a record on its teaching
WiT-^i —— — s -side of which it may well be
W^'^^M |r^*^~~«^p"-^ / t\ proud, not only in work
^flfftlF teffiSSlI / \ d0ne at its own head-quar-
ters, but in the supply of
teachers and inspectors to
various county councils
throughout the country.
The Productive Work
of the Guild.
With the Guild as a teach-
ing institution we have there-
fore nothing further to do.
But as a productive work-
shop its claims upon our
interest are little likely to be
1^1*^'^* . F*"" diminished. As an organi-
sation for the co-operative
|J production of such forms of
HI art work as cabinet-making,
. ' decorative iron and copper
v
work, jewellery, enamel, and
the stamping cf leather, its
productions are well known
s? c ^ to a large section of the
V- Slw~—artistic public. Whenever
they have been publicly
drawn by george 'iiio.MsoN shown, as at the Arts and
metal-worker
28
track'—cabinet-makers, carpenters, iron and copper general forthcoming. The whole experiment was
smiths, lithographers, draughtsmen, printers, house a distinct success, so much so that it was imitated
painters, sign writers, and pattern makers. Vicissi- at Birmingham, Newlyn, and many other places,
tudes the movement had, but the central idea was Meanwhile the County Council had proposed in-
well maintained, that the movement should be a teresting itself in Technical Education and founding
workmen's movement, on the basis not of master- its Polytechnic Institutes. Instead of subsidising
ship in the ordinary sense, but by co-operation in existing institutions, the Council determined to
industrial partnership. By the time that the establish others of its own. This being in due
Guild was three years old a larger habitation was course done, the school of handicraft became ex-
required, and an ideal home was found in Essex posed to the competition of nominal fees, and of
House down the Mile End Road, where the course no private adventure can stand against
Guild removed in 1890, and continues to remain. schemes supported out of public money. The
There was still the teaching side to the move- school had therefore regretfully to be closed. It
ment down to the year 1896, when the pupils was extinguished, indeed, by causes which the
numbered over 200. The workshop was self- success of its own endeavours did much to bring
supporting, paying indeed a creditable interest on into operation. Whether the work done in the
the capital invested, and having the school as East End Polytechnics is as efficacious as that
a first charge on its profits. The school could which was done by the Guild it is perhaps not
never, at such fees as might be charged, be in- worth while to inquire. On the face of it the
dependent of outside assistance, which was in thing does not seem likely—a workshop school, as
it might be imagined, would
be better than a teaching
^^S~^\ Polytechnic. However that
£^^^J\ may be, the matter is now
jggfto Jfjf '' '^M past praying for. The (mild
&&&Mk M^^^kj has a record on its teaching
WiT-^i —— — s -side of which it may well be
W^'^^M |r^*^~~«^p"-^ / t\ proud, not only in work
^flfftlF teffiSSlI / \ d0ne at its own head-quar-
ters, but in the supply of
teachers and inspectors to
various county councils
throughout the country.
The Productive Work
of the Guild.
With the Guild as a teach-
ing institution we have there-
fore nothing further to do.
But as a productive work-
shop its claims upon our
interest are little likely to be
1^1*^'^* . F*"" diminished. As an organi-
sation for the co-operative
|J production of such forms of
HI art work as cabinet-making,
. ' decorative iron and copper
v
work, jewellery, enamel, and
the stamping cf leather, its
productions are well known
s? c ^ to a large section of the
V- Slw~—artistic public. Whenever
they have been publicly
drawn by george 'iiio.MsoN shown, as at the Arts and
metal-worker
28