Philip Webb correspondence

Incomplete sequence of letters to and from Philip Webb (1831-1915, architect) concerning the design and manufacture of the University of Birmingham mace, used for official and ceremonial purposes by the University, principally for degree ceremonies. The letters comprise correspondence between Webb and Robert Catterson Smith (1853-1938, artist, silversmith, principal of Birmingham School of Art), who supervised the work, and Webb and James Richardson Holliday, a Birmingham art collector and benefactor who discussed the design and manufacture on behalf of Alice Beale (1845-1940, sister-in-law of Joseph Chamberlain, and wife of Charles Gabriel Beale), the donor of the mace to the University. The letters appear to have been kept by Robert Catterson Smith, even though they include correspondence between Webb and others, and draft letters from Webb, as well as letters between Catterson Smith and Webb. Some of the letters include notes by Webb indicating the date he replied, or other action taken. There are references in some of the letters to additional correspondence between Webb and Catterson Smith during the time period when the mace was being manufacturerd, which does not form part of this sequence.

Letters have been arranged in chronological order, from January 1902 to July 1903, though only two letters date from 1903. The earliest correspondence is between James Richardson Holliday and Philip Webb, and discusses the commission of the mace for the University, Webb's design, and the production of working drawings.This correspondence also refers to the selection of Robert Catterson Smith to direct the craftsmen manufacturing the mace in Birmingham, and to the identity of the donor of the mace, Alice Beale. There are also two letters between Philip Webb and Alice Beale concerning the design, and cost of the work, dated June 1902. The remainder of the correspondence is between Philip Webb and Robert Catterson Smith, and primarily concerns aspects of the design and manufacturing process. Several letters contain substantial information about Webb's intentions and vision for the mace, and about the ways in which Webb and Catterson Smith worked together to realise the design through the manufacturing process, though some of the initial details were altered during the process. Some of these letters include sketches and diagrams showing particular parts of the mace. The letters reflect feelings of mutual respect between Webb and Catterson Smith, and a shared attitude towards the production of the mace, and there are also references to their shared political views, seen in contrast to the assumed views of the University of Birmingham's founder, Joseph Chamberlain, and some of the comments convey a sense of the apparent contradiction in the choice of Webb and Catterson Smith, both socialists, to produce the ceremonial mace. Most of the correspondence between Webb and Catterson Smith dates from June to November 1902. It is likely that they continued to write to each other after this date, but the only other letters in this sequence date from May and July 1903 and discuss the completion of the work and the use of the mace in the 1903 degree ceremony. The mace was manufactured by the firm of W. H. Haseler, under the direction of Robert Catterson Smith. It measured fifty four inches, and was constructed of wood sheathed in silver and silver gilt, with enamel armorials and set with semi-precious stones

Philip Speakman Webb was born on 12 January 1831 in Oxford. He was the second of eleven children of Charles Webb (c.1795-1848), a physician, and his wife, M. Elizabeth Speakman. He was educated at Aynho Free Grammar School, Northamptonshire, and developed a love of the English countryside and the ancient buildings of Oxford from accompanying his father on his rounds. His father, who was the son of Thomas Webb (fl. 1804-1827), a medallist from Birmingham, taught him to sketch animals, and he learned drawing from Mrs Richardson, a flower painter living in Oxford.
After the death of his father when Webb was seventeen, he abandoned painting to study architecture, and in 1849 became an articled pupil of John Billing, who had a practice in Reading. Webb was trained in the Gothic and classical styles, and gained practical experience in and around the town. After the end of his apprenticeship, Webb continued to work for Billing until March 1854, when he joined Bidlake and Lovatt in Wolverhampton, and while there experienced the effects of the growth of heavy industries on the area and its architecture, which influenced his subsequent thinking and approach. He returned to Oxford in May 1854 to work for the diocesan architect, George Edmund Street, and became his chief assistant. Webb met William Morris, Street's new pupil, in January 1856, and he became a close friend.
Street moved his office to London in 1856, where Webb became a member of the group surrounding the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. In 1858 Morris asked Webb to design a home for him, Red House, built at Upton, near Bexleyheath in Kent. Webb became a partner in, Morris, Marshall, Faulkner & Co., founded in 1861, through which Morris and his friends made well-designed artefacts to commission and for the market. Webb was the architectural adviser, part-time business manager, and the designer of architectural fittings, furniture, and other products, and his designs influenced many later Arts and Crafts pieces.

Webb established his own practice in 1859 at Great Ormond Street, London. He designed several studio-houses, as well as other dwellings, workshops, and shops, for craftsmen, and a small number of country houses. In 1864 he moved his practice to 1 Raymond Buildings, Gray's Inn, where he spent the rest of his working life. In 1877 Morris and Webb founded the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings, and through his work in this area became an important figure in building conservation history. He became a socialist in 1883, and worked as treasurer of the Socialist League. By the 1870s, he had become an agnostic who followed Christian ethics. By the end of the 1890s, Webb was in poor health and had little money. He accepted the rent of Caxtons, a sixteenth-century yeomans' house at Worth, near Crawley in Sussex, from his friend William Scawen Blunt. He moved to Caxtons in 1901, after handing over his practice to his chief assistant, George Jack. He suffered from rheumatism, which prevented him from earning money by designing artefacts, but he was able to undertake some physical work in the house and garden, and enjoyed walking, and visits to London to attend committee meetings of the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings. He suffered intermittent memory failure in the last years of his life, and died at Caxtons on 17 April 1915.

Source: Sheila Kirk, 'Webb, Philip Speakman (1831–1915)', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/36801, accessed 18 July 2016]

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Purchased in June 2016

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Catalogued by Helen Fisher, July 2016. Prepared in compliance with General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997.

Permission to make any published use of any material from the collection must be sought in advance in writing from the Director of Special Collections (email: special-collections@contacts.bham.ac.uk). Identification of copyright holders of unpublished material is often difficult. Special Collections will assist where possible with identifying copyright owners, but responsibility for ensuring copyright clearance rests with the user of the material

These letters presumably formed part of Robert Catterson Smith's personal archive. They were part of a large collection of letters and papers of Robert Catterson Smith which had been acquired at auction by a bookseller in 2016

A small amount of correspondence releating to the design and manufacture of the University of Birmingham mace, including letters between Philip Webb and Alice Beale, can be found in a series of miscellaneous correspondence described at UB/Z/C/1. There are also photographs showing the University mace, listed at UC10/i/3
Research and Cultural Collections at the University of Birmingham holds the ceremonial mace, as part of the University of Birmingham's silver and plate collection, reference number BIRRC-S0046, http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/facilities/rcc/index.aspx