South London Technical School of Art (also Lambeth School of Art and City and Guilds of London Art School)
Other names: Lambeth School of Art (1854-1879), City and Guilds of London Art School (from 1937)
Foundation date: 1854
Active: 1854 -
Function: Art school
History or description: Lambeth School of Art (as it was first known) was founded in 1854 by the Reverend Robert Gregory as a night school in rooms occupied during the day by a National School in his parish of St Mary the Less. Reverend Gregory secured support from Henry Cole who supplied him with teachers. The school flourished and became a leader in the provision of instruction in applied art and design to working artisans, many of whom were employed by local manufacturing firms. The rapid expansion of the school led to the need for new premises and in 1860, the Prince of Wales laid the foundation stones for a building designed by J.L Pearson in Millers Lane (now known as St Oswald’s Place).
Soon after John Sparkes started teaching at Lambeth in 1857, he began to cultivate a connection between the school and Henry Doulton's neighbouring pottery works. From about 1869, Sparkes and his staff developed a curriculum that trained students for the pottery trade, and to carry out design work for Doulton's. This collaboration provided employment for students at Lambeth School of Art and improved Royal Doulton's standards of production.
In 1879 John Sparkes played an instrumental role in securing the involvement of the newly founded City and Guilds of London Institute, which received financial backing from the twelve Livery Companies, in Lambeth School of Art. The future of the school had been in danger due to a lack of funds and the new backing provided an injection of £600 per year. Under the new arrangement, the life, design and modelling classes together with the staff (Mark Rogers and William Silver Frith) and students moved to a new building in nearby Kennington Park Road, becoming known as the South London Technical School of Art (and occasionally South London Technical Art School). The school continued the close association with Doulton's. In 1937 it changed its name to the City and Guilds of London Art School.
Locations
Address Miller's Lane Lambeth London | View on map
1860 (Presumed) - 1879 (Presumed)
Miller's lane is now called St Oswald's Place. The school occupied purpose built premises designed by the architect, J.L. Pearson
Address 122-124 Kennington Park Road Lambeth London | View on map
1879 (Presumed)
When the City and Guilds of London Institute took over the management of the school it acquired two houses in Kennington Park Road 'with good gardens in the rear'. These were repaired and new 'spacious and excellently lighted class and work rooms' were built in the gardens under the supervision of John Sparkes. (Report to the Governors of the City and Guilds of London Institute, 10 March 1880, quoted by Beattie, 1983, p. 23)
Associated People
Principals included John Charles Lewis Sparkes
1858 - 1900 (Circa)
He taught at the school (then Lambeth School of Art) from 1857. When the South London Technical School of Art was formed in 1879, Sparkes' title was 'Superintendent of Studies'
Students included Frank Owen Dobson
Students included Robert Wallace Martin
Studied drawing
Students included Herbert Hampton
Before 1891, exact dates unknown
Students included Mark Rogers Junior
Students included William Silver Frith
1869 (Circa) - 1872 (Circa)
From late 1860s to early 1870s [according to Beattie (1983) p. 244]
Students included Harry Barnard
1880 (Circa) - 1881 (Circa)
Took six classes in modelling between these dates
Students included Harry Bates
1880 - 1881
Enrolled for one class in modelling between these dates
Students included Henry Gunthorp
1880 (Circa) - 1884 (Circa)
Students included George James Frampton
1880 (Circa) - 1881 (Circa)
Enrolled in modelling classes between these dates
Students included George Hugh Bindon
1881 (Circa) - 1885 (Circa)
Studied for four years, starting at the age of thirty.
Students included William Bateman Fagan
1881 (Circa) - 1885 (Circa)
Students included John Richard Foxton
1881 (Circa) - 1884 (Circa)
Studied for three years
Students included Robert Rodgers
1881 (Circa)
Enrolled for five sessions in the Modelling class
Students included John Edward Taylerson
12 January 1882
He took five courses in Modelling (Antique & Life)
Students included Edward George Bramwell
1882 (Circa) - 1887 (Circa)
Studied for five years from the age of seventeen, and then went to model at Ruabon for the Assize Courts in Birmingham.
Students included John Lawrance
1882
Enrolled for six sessions in the Antique Modelling Class, duration of studies unknown
Students included William Henry Prosser
1882 (Circa)
Enrolled in modelling class for at least two sessions
Students included Laurence Arthur Turner
1882
Enrolled for at least two sessions in the Modelling class
Students included Henry Poole
1888
Students included Nathaniel Hitch
1894 - 1901
Students included Abraham Broadbent
1895 (Circa)
Awarded the Sculpture Studentship in 1895 (£50 per annum for two years), duration of study unknown. [William Silver Frith's report on the modelling class (December 1912) for the annual report of the 'City and Guilds South London Technical School of Art, session 1911-12', p. 6]
Students included Leonard Jennings
1904
Students included William Reid Dick
1907 - 1908
Students included Philip Lindsey Clark
1910 - 1914 (Circa)
According to Philip's obituary in 'The Times'
Students included (Henry) Eric John Doudney
1925 (Circa)
Dates uncertain but almost certainly preceded his study at the Royal Academy Schools
Students included Estcourt James Clack
1933 (Circa) - 1936 (Circa)
Students included David McFall
1941 - 1945
McFall switched to the art school in Lambeth (City and Guilds) when the Royal College of Art was evacuated to the Lake District
Teachers included Percival Ball
1863
He was a pupil-teacher appointed at the request of John Sparkes
Teachers included Edgar Silver Frith
1929
Frith succeeded Thomas Tyrell as teacher of modelling on the latter's death in 1929. Edgar continued the long-standing connection between his father and the school - William Silver Frith taught there between 1880 and 1924.
Teachers of drawing included (Henry Charles) Innes Fripp
1894 - 1930 (Circa)
He may have taught at the school until 1946 but this is unconfirmed.
Teachers of modeling included Gilbert Ledward
See 'Register of R. C. A. Students' (1907-1924), p. 30, in which subsequent professions are listed for students of the College. No dates are given.
Teachers of modeling included (Aimé) Jules Dalou
1879 (Circa) - 1880
Teachers of modeling included William Silver Frith
1880 - 1924
From 1895 he reduced his hours and worked extensively as an architectural sculptor
Teachers of modeling included William Wright
October 1881 - 1895 (Circa)
The date Wright retired from teaching at South London Technical School of Art is not known, possibly in the mid-late 1890s. He received a pay increase in 1892.
Teachers of modeling included Thomas Tyrrell
1895 - 1924 (Circa)
Worked with William Silver Frith, the year of Tyrrell's retirement is not yet known.
Teachers of sculpture included David McFall
1956 - 1975
Head of sculpture for much of this time
Sources
Catalogue of an Exhibition of Sculpture and Drawings by Frank Dobson
1927
p.5.
Catalogue of the Memorial Exhibition of Sculpture by the Late Henry Poole RA
1930
p.7.
City and Guilds of London Institute Centenary 1878-1978
1978
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
2004
Information contained in: R. C. Denis, ‘Sparkes, John Charles Lewis (1832/3–1907)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, online edn, Oxford University Press, Sept 2004 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/56307, accessed 7 July 2010]
Register of Royal College of Art Students, 1907-1924 Royal College of Art
1907
p. 30.
The New Sculpture
1983
Numerous references but see especially pp. 23-8
Citing this record
'South London Technical School of Art (also Lambeth School of Art and City and Guilds of London Art School)', Mapping the Practice and Profession of Sculpture in Britain and Ireland 1851-1951, University of Glasgow History of Art and HATII, online database 2011 [http://sculpture.gla.ac.uk/view/organization.php?id=msib2_1207870826, accessed 29 Mar 2023]
