ANTIQUE COLLECTING
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Extract from the May 2009 Magazine
April 2009 Magazine Pages 20-21 NEWLYN ARTS AND CRAFTS COPPER

by Daryl Bennett
C.R.Ashbee, founder of the Guild of Handicraft, referred to William Morris as 'handing down the chain of beauty dropped in the 16th century'. Without a doubt, the Newlyn Industrial Class was one of the purest and most enduring expressions of Arts and Crafts ideals, which became a link in that chain as it developed from Morris, through the revival of handicrafts in Victorian Britain.
Despite the downturn in the antiques market in recent years, collectors of Arts and Crafts furniture and decora-tive items have shown a strengthening interest with some high prices paid at auction for well-known designers such as C.F.A. Voysey and companies such as Heals and Shapland and Petter. One 'school' of Arts and Crafts which has remained largely undiscovered is the Newlyn Industrial Class which, in the 1890s, specialised in repousse copper. Interest, however, is certain to rise in this area of collecting with the recent publication of a book on Newlyn Copper and a touring exhibition visiting four British museums in 2008/9 with the Cheltenham and London exhibitions scheduled for this year.
Copper working in Newlyn from 1890 to 1918, and later years, represented an important chapter in the history of the British Arts and Crafts Movement but, until recently, the history of the Newlyn Industrial Class has received very little attention. It is known that the Class was established in 1890 as a gesture to help people in Newlyn, to offer a practical solution to poverty and enforced idleness inherent in the fishing industry at the time. With finance from a local philanthropist, T.B. Bolitho, and hands-on help from schoolmaster Mr Barrett and telegraph clerk and amateur craftsman William Pezzack, the Newlyn Class was established. Based in an old 'net loft' building near the sea, the classes were attended by as many as 40 'lads' learning to beat copper in the winter evenings, led by J.D. Mackenzie, the principal designer.

May 2009 Magazine Page 23
Figure 11. Large Newlyn plantbox with John Dory design.

Whilst the Industrial Class at Newlyn was very much a local initiative, links with the wider Arts and Crafts Movement were important in its development. It is clear that master metalworker John Pearson came from the Guild of Handicraft in London to teach the technique of beating copper on a lead block. There is also evidence that the Home Arts and Industries Association provided help with classes in Cornwall and promoted Newlyn copper in Arts and Crafts selling exhibitions. The Newlyn painters Forbes, Gotch, Garstin and others supported the Class and perhaps helped to develop connections with the Arts and Crafts Movement centred in London in the early 1890s. One artist in particular, John Drew Mackenzie, was a guiding light to the class, creating the distinc-tive designs and providing consistent leadership of the Class from 1890 until his death in 1918.
In the early years, the Class succeeded as a social employment project, creating work for 'idle hands' but appreciation for the 'Artistic' work of the Class grew as their work was commended by Newlyn painter Norman Garstin in The Studio and other periodicals. Copper working in Newlyn in the late Victorian era approached the ideal of William Morris of 'art by the people for the people'; the Christian and philanthropic ideals behind the Industrial Class helping it to stay connected to the local community. It seems the Class avoided the 'earthly paradox' of other Arts and Crafts enterprises such as Morris & Co, the Guild of Handicraft and Liberty & Co which catered almost exclusively for the very rich. Newlyn copper workers lived and worked in Newlyn, sharing the profits of their work which sold locally as well as in exhibitions in London and elsewhere. The Class created a range of decorative and affordable pieces for the home, but also won many commissions for special gifts, challenge shields and commemorative items for schools, churches and community organisations. The Class also made stencils for the branding of pilchard barrels, ships kettles and other items for the local fishing industry. The 'Art Metal Industry' at Newlyn provided income for men and their families for many years; even after Mackenzie's death in 1918 the industry survived with former pupils Tom Batten and John Payne Cotton and others carrying on the tradition into the 1940s.