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 in 1838 by John Hardman (1811-67) to manufacture ecclesiastical metal work as an offshoot of the family medal and button making business based in Paradise Street, Birmingham. John Hardman Senior (1767-1844) had turned the family firm into a thriving commercial concern and had used some of his wealth to support the local Roman Catholic community. His generous donations included a significant contribution to the cost of building St. Chad's cathedral and the foundation of the Convent of Mercy in Handsworth, Birmingham.

The spur to form the new ecclesiastical metal work company was a meeting between the Hardmans and Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin which took place in 1837. Pugin had had difficulty finding manufacturers to produce metalware to his exacting standards. John Hardman not only supplied the necessary expertise but also, crucially, shared the architect's religious convictions and so out of this meeting grew a long-standing friendship and a successful collaboration. Anne Eatwell's and Ruth Gosling's authoritative account of the Hardman family business credits Pugin with contributing "the inspiration for the astonishing quantity and range of individual designs" produced by the company, and Hardman with bringing "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, and added the manufacture of stained glass to the firm's output 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 commission to provide art metalwork and stained glass for the new Palace of Westminster (Houses of Parliament). The huge number of orders from this source meant that 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.

But 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) who was also known as John Powell. He had begun his training with George Elkington (of Elkington & Co., Birmingham) who taught him modelling, and attending classes at Birmingham School of Art. However, Powell's most formative studies were as a pupil of A.W.N. Pugin at the architect's home in Ramsgate between 1844 and 1852. Over this eight-year period, Powell became a trusted assistant to Pugin and was responsible for drawing cartoons for stained glass, as well as designing many pieces of metalwork. After Powell's return to Birmingham in 1852 he became the artistic director of the glass and metal departments at Hardman and Co. until the business was divided in 1883. After that he focused on glass making.

Despite these considerable changes, the Hardman Company continued to flourish. In 1852, a branch of the business was set up in Dublin by Thomas Earley (1819-93), who had been one of Hardman's employees since 1845. Within twelve months, the satellite firm had leased a shop on Grafton Street and exhibited at the 1853 Dublin Exhibition. A separate stone and woodcarving workshop was established in Upper Camden Street in 1857 and this 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.

Meanwhile back in Birmingham, John Hardman's health declined and he ceased to play an active role in the business from 1857 although he did not fully retire until 1863. He was succeeded as a senior partner of Hardman and Co. 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 26 Sep 2023]

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