John Hardman and Company

Other names: John Hardman Studios (recent title, date of change unknown)
Foundation date: 1838
Dissolution date: 1970

Function: Medieval metal workers, jewellers, stone and wood carvers, stained glass workers, die-cutters

Policy: Listed in Hulley's Trade Directory (1876-77)as 'ironsmiths, jewellers, medieval metal workers, engravers of memorial brasses, artists in stained glass, stone and wood carvers, decorators, & c.'

History or description: Founded by John Hardman in 1838 to manufacture ecclesiastical metal work as an offshoot of the family medal and button making business started by John Hardman Senior (1767-1844). The spur to form the new company was a meeting between the Hardmans and Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin in 1837. Pugin had had difficulty finding manufacturers to produce metalware to the standards he required and John Hardman had this expertise as well as shared religious convictions. It was the start of a long standing collaboration, in which, according to Anne Eatwell's and Ruth Gosling's authoritative account of the Hardman family, Pugin "provided the inspiration for the astonishing quantity and range of individual designs", and Hardman brought "the manufacturing acumen, organizational skills, and commitment" without which "the project could not have succeeded." [A. Eatwell and R. Gosling, 'Hardman Family', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, 2004, full citation below].

Hardman and Co. rapidly expanded, adding the manufacturer of stained glass to their activities in 1845. Advertisements for the business give an idea of the range of the company's products and services: 'John Hardman and Co., Artists, Glass Painters, Church Decorators & Embellishers; Workers in Gold, Silver, Brass and Iron; Makers of all kinds of Sacred Vessels, Chalices, Monstrances, & c.' ['Irish Builder', 1 February 1861] A further boost to the growth of the Hardman business was securing a large and prestigious commission to provide art metalware and stained glass for the new Palace of Westminster (Houses of Parliament). By 1848 the firm's turnover exceeded £12,000.

In 1851, the Hardman business was a major contributor to Pugin's Medieval Court at the Great Exhibition. The firm's huge display covered 560 square feet of floor space and 1360 square feet of wall space. This colossal investment of the Hardman firm's resources was rewarded with a council medal in the general hardware class, and a prize medal for church articles.

A year after this triumphant success, the firm suffered a major blow when A.W.N. Pugin collapsed and died. The job of principal designer now passed to John Hardman's nephew John Hardman Powell (1827–1895). He had studied modelling with George Elkington (of Elkington & Co., Birmingham), and was then a pupil of A.W.N. Pugin from 1844-52. John Hardman Powell was artistic director of both glass and metal departments until the business was divided in 1883. After that he focused on glass making.

In 1852, Thomas Earley (1819-93), one of the firm's employees was sent to Dublin to set up a branch of the business. In 1853 a shop was leased on Grafton Street and the firm exhibited at the 1853 Dublin Exhibition. A separate stone and woodcarving workshop was established in Upper Camden Street in 1857 which later became the firm's sole address. Thomas Earley's younger brother John Farrington Earley (1831-73) and two of John Hardman Powell's younger brothers, Edward Powell (1833-1876) and Henry Powell (1835-1882) were also involved in running Hardman's in Dublin. From 1864 the business traded as Earley and Powells (later Earley and Co.), although the connection to Hardman and Co. was retained.

In 1857 John Hardman ceased to play an active role in the business, and fully retired in 1863. He was succeeded as a senior partner by his oldest son, John Bernard Hardman (1843–1903). His younger son, Mary George Edward Hardman (1844–1904), was also involved in the firm. John Henry Powell (see above), and his two older brothers, William Powell (1820–1895) and James Powell (1825–1865) were also taken into partnership.

In this next phase of the business, new premises were established in Newhall Hill where the firm remained until 1970. In 1883 the glass making and metal working were separated. As noted above, John Hardman Powell focused on the stained glass until his retirement in the mid-1880s, while his brother William Powell took over the metalwork business, which operated under the name 'Hardman, Powell and Company'. However orders for metalwork gradually declined, and in 1914, Hardman, Powell and Company was reabsorbed into the main John Hardman business.

The last member of the family to be involved in the firm was John Tarleton Hardman (1872-1959). He retired in 1935. [See Ann Eatwell and Ruth Gosling in ODNB (2004) and 'Birmingham Daily Post', 2 November, 1909, in 'Birmingham Biography', vol. 4, p. 100].

Products & Services

Altars in wood and stone

Tabernacles, Banners

Figures in Ivory & Composition

Agents for Burns and Lambert's Publications and Rev. Formsby's Illustrated Works

Religious Prints and Engravings

Citing this record

'John Hardman and Company', 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=msib4_1213276455, accessed 02 Dec 2022]