William Bainbridge Reynolds
Born 6 March 1855
Died 31 March 1935
Active: 1870 - 1932
Country of birth and death: England
Art metal worker, business owner, architect
Born in London. He was the son of William James Reynolds (born c.1826 in Surrey) headmaster of the Royal Military Asylum (a military school for orphans of British Army servicemen, later renamed the Duke of York's Royal Military School) in King's Road Chelsea, Chelsea. He was articled to John Dando Sedding c.1871 and then worked for George Edmund Street, probably from 1874. In Sedding's office he formed a lasting friendship with C.F.A. Voysey who later wrote Reynolds' obituary for 'The Times' (11 April 1935).
Possibly as a result of working on the iron work for the Law Courts he became interested in art metal work. However there was a delay in him taking up this line of work, during which time he was employed as a draughtsman for the Royal Engineers. Reynolds is said to have spent several years studying iron work and its applications in many countries and periods. He also worked for John Starkie Gardner, a successful metalworker [see separate entry]. One of Reynolds' first commissions was the interior furnishings for St Cuthbert's, Philbeach Gardens designed by the architect Hugh Rumieau Gough.
Around 1890 Reynolds set up his own business comprising a drawing office in Victoria Street and workshops in Walworth and Camberwell. In 1904 he established Manor House Metal Works at 7b Old Town, Clapham Common, near his home in Rectory Grove where he worked and took on pupils. The firm was highly successful. Gradually Reynolds designed less and worked for others. His patrons included almost every important architect of the period. In 1928 he went into semi-retirement and moved to Brighton where he died.
There is a folder of his drawings and designs in the RIBA drawings collection, Call/Ref. no. REYNOLDS.
Wealth at death: £16,940 10s. 11d.
Probate date: 21 May 1935
Works
Dates are usually the year a work was exhibited so may differ from date of production.
New entries have been made each time a work was exhibited. Click here for more information.
Contributed to making of Small altar cross in wrought and polished iron, with an enamel
made by artist's workshop
Contributed to making of Copper lantern
'Executed in his workshops' [1899 ACES exhibition catalogue].
Designed Copper lantern
The primatal cross of His Grace the Archbishop of York in silver and rock crystal
Contributed to production of Memorial Slab to Sir L. Alma Tadema, OM, RA, to be placed in the Crypt of St Paul's Cathedral
directed casting
Locations
Address 28 Victoria Street Westminster London England | View on map
1899 (Presumed) - 1904 (Presumed)
Address 16 Rectory Grove Clapham London England | View on map
1901 (Circa) - 1911 (Circa)
Address Manor House Metal Works 7B Old Town London SW England | View on map
1910 (Presumed) - 1932 (Presumed)
Exhibitions, Meetings, Awards and other Events
Exhibited at Second Exhibition of The International Society of Sculptors, Painters and Gravers (London), 1899
'Wrought Metal Stand'
Exhibited at Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society: Sixth Exhibition, 1899
Multiple works
Exhibited at Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society: Ninth Exhibition, 1910
Multiple works
Exhibited at Art Workers Guild, Third Exhibition, 1905
Institutional and Business Connections
Member of The Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society
1897 (Circa) - 1932 (Presumed)
As a Selection committee member in 1901, proposed changes to the rules of the society. Ones that might have affected sculptors included the development of a hanging committee(as a sub-committee of the selection committee), the suggestion that exhibitors should pay for the delivery and removal of their works, and that the exhibition was open to all artists, members or not, who were resident in the UK. The society would also reserve the right to invite foregin or non-resident British artists to exhibit. Of these ammendments, the first and last were carried, the second rejected.
Traded as W. Reynolds Bainbridge Ltd.
Personal and Professional Connections
Collaborated with W. Weedon
Collaborated with Emile Alfred Madeline
Collaborated with Reginald Theodore Blomfield
Collaborated with W. Sopher
1899 (Circa)
Employee of George Edmund Street
Reynolds worked for Street on the Law Courts from about 1874.
Employee of John Starkie Gardner
Probably in the early 1880s.
Friends with Charles Francis Annesley Voysey
They met when working in the office of George Edmund Street c.1874.
Studied under John Dando Sedding
Reynolds was articled to Sedding, probably in 1871.
Descriptions of Practice
Occupation given in Census Returns of England and Wales, 1891
'Architect'
Occupation given in Census Returns of England and Wales, 1901
'Art Metal Worker' employer
Occupation given in Census Returns of England and Wales, 1911
'Art Metal Worker and Bronze Founder' employer
Sources
Art Workers Guild Annual Reports, 1901-1912
1905, p.9.
Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society, Rules and Regulations, 1901 [draft, amended and final versions]
1901 (Probable)
Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society: List of Members, 1904
1904
Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society: List of Members, 1907
1907
Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society: List of Members, September 1932
September 1932
Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society: Rules and List of Members, 1920
1920
p.5.
Arts and Crafts Society: Catalogue of the Eleventh Exhibition.
1916
p.81, p.265.
Arts and Crafts Society: Catalogue of the Ninth Exhibition.
1910
p.137, p.163.
Arts and Crafts Society: Catalogue of the Sixth Exhibition.
1899
p.71, p.78, pp.83-84, p.138.
Census Returns of England and Wales, 1871
2004
RG10 piece 78 folio 81 page 2
Census Returns of England and Wales, 1891
2004
RG12 piece 644 folio 51 page 19
Census Returns of England and Wales, 1901
2005
RG13 piece 463 folio 6 page 3
Census Returns of England and Wales, 1911
2011
RG14PN2256 RG78PN77 RD26 SD4 ED6 SN78
England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1858-1966
2010
Name: William Bainbridge Reynolds
Probate Date: 21 May 1935
Death Date: 31 Mar 1935
Death Place: Sussex, England
Registry: London
London, England, Baptisms, Marriages, Burials 1538-1812
2010
Name: William Bainbridge Reynolds
Record Type: Baptism
Estimated Birth Date: abt 1855
Baptism Date: 15 May 1855
Father's Name: William James Reynolds
Mother's Name: Rosa Russell Reynolds
Parish or Poor Law Union: Chelsea St Jude
Borough: Kensington and Chelsea
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
2004
Rosemary Hill, ‘Reynolds, William Bainbridge (1855–1935)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Oct 2007 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/75303, accessed 2 June 2013]
The Times Digital Archive 1785-1985
2008
Mr. Bainbridge Reynolds.
Mr. C. F. Annesley Voysey.
The Times (London, England), Thursday, Apr 11, 1935; pg. 19; Issue 47036. (268 words)
Category: Obituaries
Citing this record
'William Bainbridge Reynolds', 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/person.php?id=msib2_1203113576, accessed 29 Sep 2023]
