H. H. Martyn & Co.
Other names: H.H. Martyn and Co. Ltd. (from 1900)
Active: 1888 - 1971
Function: Sculptors, monumental sculptors, carvers, gilders and modellers.
History or description: Herbert Henry Martyn founded the company in 1888. It began as a firm of stone, marble and wood carvers specialising in gravestones, memorials and ecclesiastical decoration. In 1898 Herbert took on two partners in the business, his son Alfred William Martyn and Henry Arthur Dutton.
On 28th May 1900, the partnership of H. H. Martyn and Co. was reformed and became a limited company. Herbert took a less active role in its management, the bulk of this passing to his son Alfred William and Henry Dutton. Over the next decade Martyn's diversified into decorative plaster work, joinery, cabinet making, wrought iron work and castings in bronze and gun metal. Later still the company became involved in the production of stained glass and pressed steel.
By 1920, H.H. Martyn and Co. was employing over a thousand men at its Sunningend Works in Lansdown, and it remained the largest employer in the Cheltenham area for many years. The company had premises in many cities, including London, Glasgow, Manchester and Newcastle-On-Tyne (see the Irish Builder). In 1934, the firm was acquired by the London furnishing company, Maples, and in 1971 declining demand compelled it to cease trading (annual general meetings continued after that date, since the firm remained in existence).
During the First World War H. H. Martyn & Co. sub-contracted work on aircraft from 1914. In 1917 the boards of Martyns and the Aircraft Manufacturing Company formed the Gloucestershire Aircraft Company (later the Gloster Aircraft Company) to carry on that branch of business at the Sunningend Works. Later the manufacture of car components and car assembly was also undertaken. The Gloster Aircraft Company was established in new premises in Hucclecote by 1930, but during the Second World War the production of aircraft components was resumed at Sunningend by H. H. Martyn (Aircraft) Ltd.
Other associated companies based at the Sunningend Works were the Cheltenham Manufacturing Co., a subsidiary of H. H. Martyn & Co. formed in 1936 to undertake furniture manufacture, Meigh High Tensile Alloys Ltd., and the Gloster Coach and Sheet Metal Co. Ltd.
Further information about the company's history to be found on the National Archives site http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/A2A/records.aspx?cat=040-d5922&cid=-1&Gsm=2008-06-18#-1 accessed 13 January 2010 and in Whitaker (1985)
Locations
Address 8A Munday Street Rochdale Road Manchester | View on map
Address Back Rosedale Terrace Shieldfield Newcastle-upon-Tyne | View on map
1916 (Circa) - 1930 (Circa)
Address 5 Grafton Street New Bond Street London | View on map
1930 (Circa)
Located at 18 Blythswood Square Glasgow | View on map
1910 (Circa) - 1921 (Circa)
p. 860
Located at 30 George Square Glasgow | View on map
1910 (Circa) - 1911 (Circa)
p. 491
Located at Sunningend Works Lansdown Cheltenham | View on map
1930 (Circa)
Used premises 93 West George Street Glasgow | View on map
1925
p. 491
Associated People
Employees included Robert Lindsey Clark
1893 (Circa) - 1924 (Presumed)
Head sculptor and art director
Founded by Herbert Henry Martyn
11 February 1888
see Whitaker (1985) p. 16
Manager was Walter Gilbert
1918 - 1940
He was an assistant manager at the company
Worked with Scott Sutherland
1952
Foundry for Sutherlands Commando Memorial at Spean Bridge, Scotland.
Descriptions of Business or Institution
Listed in The Glasgow Post-Office Annual Directory for 1910-1911 Eighty-Third Annual Publication
1910 - 1911
Listed as 'Sculptor' and 'Carver and Gilder'
Listed in The Glasgow Post-Office Annual Directory for 1920-1921 Ninety-Third Annual Publication
1920 - 1921
Listed as 'Carver and Gilder'
Listed in The London Directory, 1930 Post Office/Kelly London Directories
1930
p.200
Listed as 'Art Decorator;' 'Marble Mason;' 'Art Metal Worker'
Listed under Monumental Sculptors Edinburgh & Leith Post Office Directory 1920-1921
p. 860
Publications
Advertised in The Irish Builder, 1916 formerly The Dublin Builder
5 August 1916, p. 374.
23 December 1916, p. 642.
Sources
Edinburgh & Leith Post Office Directory 1920-1921
1920
p. 860
Public Sculpture of Glasgow Public Sculpture of Britain Volume Five
2002
p. 491
Slater's Manchester, Salford and Suburban Directory, 1911
1911
p. 1986
The Glasgow Post-Office Annual Directory for 1910-1911 Eighty-Third Annual Publication
1910
p.1125
The Glasgow Post-Office Annual Directory for 1920-1921 Ninety-Third Annual Publication
1920
p.1132 and p.1442
The Irish Builder, 1916 formerly The Dublin Builder
1916
5 August 1916, p. 374.
23 December 1916, p. 642.
The London Directory, 1930 Post Office/Kelly London Directories
1930
p.200
Citing this record
'H. H. Martyn & Co.', 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=msib6_1232025346, accessed 29 Jan 2023]