Title Professional Women Interior Decorators in Britain, 1871 - 1 8 9 9 Type The sis URL https://ualresearchonline.arts.ac.uk/id/eprint/14242/ Dat e 2 0 1 8 Citation Garrett, Miranda (2018) Professional Women Interior Decorators in Britain, 1871 - 1899. PhD thesis, University of the Arts London. Cr e a to rs Garrett, Miranda Usage Guidelines Please refer to usage guidelines at http://ualresearchonline.arts.ac.uk/policies.html or alternatively contact [email protected] . License: Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial No Derivatives Unless otherwise stated, copyright owned by the author Professional Women Interior Decorators in Britain, 1871 to 1899 Miranda Felicity Caroline Garrett A Thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) at the University of the Arts London June 2018 University of the Arts London Central Saint Martins Abstract This thesis recovers the histories of the women working as professional interior decorators in the later years of the nineteenth century and, by reassessing their contribution to the field, challenges the masculinized history of British interior decoration. Examination of documentary and archival sources, including trade directories, census records, periodicals and newspapers, has revealed that at least nineteen female-run interior decoration firms were active in Britain between the years of 1871 and 1899. Scholarship on the history of British interior design, however, is dominated by the histories of men. Only one female firm is mentioned with any regularity: that of cousins Agnes (1845–1935) and Rhoda Garrett (1841–1882). Although, typically, the Garretts receive a cursory mention, their female contemporaries are consistently overlooked. This study redresses the balance, focusing on case studies of three pioneering firms: those run by the Garrett cousins (active c.1874 to 1905), Charlotte Robinson (1859– 1901, active 1884 to 1901) and Caroline Crommelin (1854–1910, active 1888 to c.1903). These pioneering entrepreneurs were part of a growing network of women who, in the late nineteenth century, forged new roles in interior decoration. As a result, the thesis also considers the Garretts, Robinson and Crommelin’s less well-documented female competitors. Through extensive new research, it significantly enriches our knowledge of the Garretts’ work and reveals, for the first time, the professional biographies of Robinson and Crommelin. The case studies are approached thematically, with chapters focusing in turn on the women’s motivations and training, professional spaces, promotional activity and clients and commissions. By discussing the Garretts alongside their direct female rivals, our understanding of the cousins’ contribution is substantially enhanced. Further, by positioning the Garretts, Robinson and Crommelin alongside their male competitors, the significant contribution of women to nineteenth-century interior decoration is asserted for the first time. Contents Acknowledgements 1 List of Illustrations 2 Introduction 15 Chapter One: Motivations and Training 52 Chapter Two: Professional Spaces 91 Chapter Three: Promotional Activity 155 Chapter Four: Clients and Commissions 214 Conclusion 285 Bibliography 294 Appendix One 325 Appendix Two 242 Acknowledgements Without the knowledge, support, enthusiasm, kindness and humour of Caroline Dakers, Lis Darby and Judy Willcocks, this project would not have been possible. I will always be grateful to them for ensuring that the five years I spent researching and writing this thesis were rewarding, enriching and (most importantly) enjoyable. I am also indebted to the TECHNE AHRC Doctoral Training Partnership for funding this project, and to Deborah Cherry and Anna Buruma at UAL for their encouragement and advice. Individuals at numerous other institutions, libraries, archives and museums have been a source of assistance, but I would particularly like to thank Lola Armstrong, Meg McHugh, Richard Dennis, Max Donnelly, Charles Harvey, Kathryn Hughes, Helen Pankhurst, Laura Ponsonby, Jon Press and Ian and Kate Russell. I am grateful to Elizabeth Crawford for her guidance, and to Margaret Young for her generosity and endless supply of Garrett-related facts. My parents, Deborah and Robin Garrett, have my heartfelt gratitude for providing every imaginable kind of support for the past five years. Thanks also to Francesca Peschier for keeping me calm, and to Zoë Thomas for her brilliant advice, for being a joy to work with, and for ensuring that simultaneously co-editing a book and writing a thesis did not end in disaster. Finally, thanks and love to Jade Bisram, Judy Cherry, Annie Fox-Hamilton, Sarah Frampton, Jasmin and Tim Garrett, Rufus and Rupert Garrett, Rhea Taylor (and everyone at Rosebery House) and Holly Wilkinson. *** Research undertaken for this thesis has informed two additional pieces of work: Miranda Garrett, ‘Window Smashing and Window Draping: Suffrage and Interior Design’ in Miranda Garrett and Zoë Thomas (eds.), Suffrage and the Arts Visual Culture, Politics and Enterprise (London: Bloomsbury, 2018): 93–116. Miranda Garrett, ‘Interior Decoration and Domesticity in the Women's Penny Paper/Woman's Herald’, Victorian Periodicals Review, 51:2 (Summer 2018): 289–296. 1 List of Illustrations Title page Frontispiece to Agnes Garrett, ‘House Decoration’ in Alice B. Leith n/a (ed), Routledge Every Girl’s Annual (London: George Routledge & Sons, 1886). Figure 0.1 Photograph of Rhoda (left) and Agnes (right) Garrett in the garden 47 of their home in Rustington (date unknown, but before Rhoda’s death in 1882). Image courtesy of Margaret Young. Figure 0.2 Reproduction of a photograph of Charlotte Robinson (date 48 unknown, but before 1892), ‘Miss Charlotte Robinson’, Manchester Faces and Places, 10 April 1892, facing page 120. Figure 0.3 Illustration of Caroline Crommelin, 1889, ‘Miss Caroline 49 Crommelin’, The Women’s Penny Paper, 23 November 1889, 1. Figure 0.4 Advertisement for Katherine Margaret Cooke, The House, 1 April 50 1897, xx. Figure 0.5 Advertisement for Mrs Frank Oliver (who worked in Brighton 50 before opening additional premises in London), The Era, 8 December 1888, 24. Figure 0.6 Black and white line illustration of furniture designed by Mrs Frank 51 Oliver, ‘Christmas Windows of the West’, The Cabinet Maker and Art Furnisher, 1 January 1889, 174. Figure 1.1 Charlotte Robinson’s family tree. 87 Figure 1.2 Caroline Crommelin’s family tree. 87 Figure 1.3 Agnes Garrett’s family tree. 88 Figure 1.4 Rhoda Garrett (right, standing) speaking at a woman’s suffrage 88 meeting in the Hanover Square Rooms, ‘Women’s Rights, a Meeting at The Hanover Square Rooms’, The Graphic, 25 May 1872, 8. Figure 1.5 Advertisement for Mrs M. Vince. From Medical Women’s 89 Federation Newsletter, December 1921, SAMWF/B/2/1/1, Medical Women’s Federation Collection, Wellcome Collection Archives and Manuscripts, London. 2 Figure 1.6 Illustration of Caroline Crommelin buying an old chair on a tour of 90 the English countryside, ‘Miss Caroline Crommelin Explains her Work’, Weekly Wisconsin, 29 March 1890, 7. Figure 2.1 Contemporary map showing the area around Agnes and Rhoda 127 Garrett’s home at 2 Gower Street, London. Figure 2.2 Amédée Forestier, illustration of the premises of Morris & Co. at 26 128 Queen Square, Frances Evelyn Maynard Greville Warwick, William Morris: His Homes and Haunts (London: T. C. & E. C. Jack, 1912), 21. Figure 2.3 Agnes and Rhoda Garrett’s former home at 2 Gower Street. 129 Figure 2.4 Hand-painted ceiling of back first floor reception room at 2 Gower 130 Street. Figure 2.5 Fragment of hand-painted ceiling of front first floor reception room 130 at 2 Gower Street, UoL/CT/3/3/1-3, Special Collections, Senate House Library, University College London, London. Figure 2.6 Design of painted ceiling in front first floor reception room at 2 131 Gower Street, produced by conservators in 1974–1975, UoL/CT/3/3/1-3, Special Collections, Senate House Library, University College London, London. Figure 2.7 Photograph of Millicent Fawcett outside 2 Gower Street, Elsie M. 132 Lang, British Women in the Twentieth Century (London: T. Werner Laurie, 1929), 90. Figure 2.8 Illustration of the back drawing room chimneypiece at 2 Gower 133 Street, Agnes and Rhoda Garrett, Suggestions for House Decoration in Painting Woodwork and Furniture (London: Macmillan, 1877), frontispiece. Figure 2.9 Illustration of a hall table and chair, Agnes and Rhoda Garrett, 134 Suggestions for House Decoration in Painting Woodwork and Furniture (London: Macmillan, 1877), facing page 40. Figure 2.10 Illustration of the dining room at 2 Gower Street, Agnes and Rhoda 135 Garrett, Suggestions for House Decoration in Painting Woodwork and Furniture (London: Macmillan, 1877), facing page 46. 3 Figure 2.11 Illustration of the front drawing room chimneypiece at 2 Gower 136 Street, Agnes and Rhoda Garrett, Suggestions for House Decoration in Painting Woodwork and Furniture (London: Macmillan, 1877), facing page 61. Figure 2.12 Illustration of drawing room at 2 Gower Street, Agnes and Rhoda 137 Garrett, Suggestions for House Decoration in Painting Woodwork and Furniture (London: Macmillan, 1877), facing page 60. Figure 2.13 Illustration of a dressing table and glass, Agnes and Rhoda Garrett, 138 Suggestions for House Decoration in Painting Woodwork and Furniture (London: Macmillan, 1877), facing page 72. Figure 2.14 Day bed designed by Agnes and Rhoda Garrett. Formerly owned by 139 James and Margaret Beale and now in the National Trust Collection at Standen House and Garden, West Sussex. From http://www.nationaltrustcollections.org.uk/object/1214057 [accessed 09/05/2018]. Figure 2.15 Corner cabinet designed by Agnes and Rhoda Garrett. Formerly 139 owned by James and Margaret Beale and now in the National Trust Collection at Standen House and Garden, West Sussex. From http://www.nationaltrustcollections.org.uk/object/1213990 [accessed 09/05/2018]. Figure 2.16 Photograph of Agnes Garrett at 2 Gower Street, c.1900. From 140 https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portrait/mw162108/Agne s-Garrett?LinkID=mp102221&role=sit&rNo=0 [accessed 09/05/2018].