Cox and Son
Foundation date: 1838
Active: 1838 - 1881
Function: Church decorators, silversmiths, bronze foundry
History or description: Cox & Sons was founded as a clerical tailoring business in 1838 by Thomas Cox, 18 February 1816-2 June 1873 (born in Brompton, London and died in Reigate Surrey). Over the following four decades the firm became one of the leading church furnishing companies.
The firm supplied all the needs of the church from silver to vestments and tomb rails. There was a shop on the Strand and a manufactory in Lambeth. By 1870 a catalogue of Cox & Son claimed to be able to supply 800 designs of furniture, Gothic metalwork, carpets and hangings by 'eminent church designers'.
Cox & Son's are said to have acquired much of the stock of furniture and designs by E.W. Pugin for the Granville Hotel and working drawings from the Society of Decorative Art, of Great Marlborough Street. The firm was also very active in commissioning designs for furniture, metalwork, stained glass and ceramic designs from a number of leading designers. These included B.J. Talbert, S.J. Nicholls, G. Goldie, J. Moyr Smith, O.W. Davis, C. Rossiter and E.W. Godwin.
Cox and Son were represented at international exhibitions in London in 1862, 1871, 1872 1873 Paris in 1867; and Philadelphia in 1876; as well as later at the Arts & Crafts Exhibition Society. They employed several hundred workers at their works in London and on his death, Thomas Cox left an estate valued at about £30,000.
Thomas Cox's sons Edward Young (or Harry) Cox (11 April 1840-15 November 1935, born in Westminster London, died in Tunbridge Wells) and Thomas Cox Junior (born c.1846) joined the company and ran it after their father's death until about 1881. In that year the firm merged with Buckley & Co. and continued as Cox, Son, Buckley and Co.
There are fifteen trade catalogues for Cox and Son dating between 1862 and 1875 in the National Art Library.
Employees, Students & Members
Numbers: 100
Period Start: 1861
Numbers: 300
Period Start: 1871
Numbers: 190
Period Start: 1871
Exhibitions, Courses, Meetings and other Events
Exhibited at International Exhibition of Arts and Manufactures, Dublin, 1865
1865
Church Decorators
Section XXVII: Antiquities - Medieval Furniture and Metalwork. [located in]Medieval Court. p.29, no. 755: 'Oak Reredos, carved by machinery; carved oak altar table,carved oak eagle lectern, polished brass corona, wrought iron altar rail standards, church carpets, hangings ,etc...'
Citing this record
'Cox and Son', 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=msib3_1218441946, accessed 24 May 2022]
