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The Corpus of Percy Bacon

Percy Bacon and Brothers (1892-1917) and Percy Bacon Limited (1917-1933)
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Stained glass window by Percy Bacon & Brothers, depicting scenes in the early life of Christ, St Mary's Church, North Creake, Norfolk.
Episodes in the early life of Christ, St Mary's Church, North Creake, Norfolk

Episodes in the early life of Christ, by Percy Bacon Brothers, St Mary's Church, North Creake, Norfolk.
A Brief History of the Firm

 

The firm of Percy Bacon Brothers was set up by Percy Charles Haydon Bacon (1861-1935) who was born in Ipswich, Suffolk, the son of a boot maker. His father died in 1881 and Percy moved with some of the family to London where, despite his relatively youthful age set himself up in business, describing himself in the census of that year as a "Designer Stained Glass". His early practice operated from the family home at 65 Charlotte Street, Fitzrovia. At that address he lived with his mother, Elizabeth, brother Archibald, who in the 1881 census described himself as a cabinet maker despite his tender age of 15, and his niece, Alice who was described as an upholsteress. Little is known about his early training, though he was probably working for James Powell and Sons around that time, possibly as a freelance artist.1 Powell's books in the V&A archive list a number of designs or executions of others' designs by Bacon such as the east window for Tempo Church, County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland,2 Holt Trinity, Casterton, Cumbria (1891) ("charge for design - it is not clear if this was ever executed), St John the Baptist, Bishops Castle, Shropshire (1886) and the reredos at Yarcombe, Devon (1891). In an interview with The Advertiser, Adelaide in 1903 Percy Bacon reveals that he studied art in Munich, Milan, Venice and Paris.3 If nothing else this indicates that he (or his family) was financially sound, possibly funding his own education with earnings from his work for other studios. He was clearly an accomplished figurative artist by 1891, featuring a work, " The Four Evangelists The Four Evangelists, by Percy Bacon, published in "Acadamy Architecture" 1891 " in "Academy Architecture". His work for Powells in 1891 at St Patrick's Church, Colraine, Co. Antrim, The east window at St Patrick's Church, Colraine, Co. Antrim, Northern Ireland. 1891. The window was painted by Percy Bacon from a cartoon by Ada Currey and manufactured at James Powell & Sons workshops. Archives of James Powell & Sons, Victoria & Albert Museum, London.
Photo © Andreas F. Borchert; Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Germany" the east window from a cartoon by Ada Currey shows a style which was already well established as his own, and which he continued for much of the firm's life.4 In that year the firm is listed as being at York Buildings, Adelphi near to Charing Cross Station5 which is shown in Charles Booth's poverty map of 1898 as "Middle class - well to do" (Booth lived at 9 Adelphi Terrace not far from Bacon).

In 1888 and 1890 Percy C. H. Bacon was exhibiting work under his sole name at the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, "The Flagellation of Christ" and "Music" respectively. However, from 1892 through to 1897 (excepting two years) it was the company of Percy Bacon and Brothers which was listed as exhibiting.6 The RA exhibition of 1891 ended on the 3rd August and sometime between then and October of that year Percy set up the company, exhibiting under the company name at the Rhyl Ecclesiastical Art Exhibition in the Autumn of that year with the firm still being listed as occupying York Buildings, Adelphi.7 There he was joined by his younger brother, Archibald Arthur Bacon, and his older brother, Herbert.8 & 9 Sometime in 1892, the company opened a studio at 11 Newman Street, London, an address it would occupy until 1923. From here, the firm would design, and manufacture the greatest part of their output.

Small beginnings, growth, and big ambition

 

Stained glass window by Percy Bacon & Brothers, depicting the Archangels Gabriel, Raphael, Uriel and Michael, St Petroc's Church, Egloskerry, Cornwall.

Archangels, Gabriel, Raphael, Uriel and Michael; St Petroc & St Keri Church Egloskerry, Cornwall, 1906

Reviewing various sources of readily available information about Percy Bacon and Brothers shows that in the early years their output in terms of attributed work is relatively small, especially when compared to the output of the more established firms. From these sources, I have so far been able to collate around 600 works carried out in the British Isles between 1892 and 1934, comprising windows, wall paintings, reredos decoration and other ecclesiastical furnishings, and the list is constantly growing. In addition there are a good number from abroad from after the turn of the century when entries for Australia and Canada start appearing in periodicals of those countries. In common with contemporaries such as Herbert Bryans, in those early years of the business when sufficient revenues were needed to sustain a workshop and wages for at least three individuals (probably more), as well as the sub-contractors engaged to install the windows, it is likely that the company executed designs and possibly manufacturing of ecclesiastical art and furniture for other designers, suppliers or architects. For instance, the west windows of the baptistery of Manchester Cathedral, installed in 1893/4 were executed from designs by Joseph. S. Crowther, FRIBA, the well known ecclesiastical architect.10 Along with the fact that many of the works are unsigned, thereby making confirmation of attribution of the works of Percy Bacon Brothers somewhat difficult, compilation of a complete corpus will be an ongoing project as more information comes to hand. The earliest attributable windows were being installed in 1892 and 1893 in Northumberland (Blyth - 1892 - possibly the very first window), Surrey (Mickleham and Barnes - 1893), and Buckinghamshire (Hanslope and Hedsor - 1893). Interestingly, at that time there are scant examples of the firm's stained glass in London which was then at the epicentre of the Gothic Revival, but this is possibly because the market for a newcomer would have been difficult to break in to given the competition from established incumbents like Kempe, Ward & Hughes, and Powells. However, the following six years would show a significant increase in output. Of the nearly 600 individual works in the British Isles with verified dates so far collated, around 70 had been installed before the turn of the century. Work for the company was picking up in 1892/3, or at least ambitions of successful expansion were high, when it was actively recruiting young apprentices. The advertisement in The London Eveining Standard of October and November of 1892 reads;

To PARENTS and GUARDIANS - VACANCY for ONE PUPIL in Stained Glass Studio; knowledge of drawing imperative; premium. - Percy Bacon and Bros. 11, Newman Street, W.

Not long after another advert appeared in the same newspaper promising "articles for three or five years", adding, "pupils in same room with members of the firm" suggesting their premises were relatively small. By the summer of 1892, the firm was clearly intent on ambitious expansion advertising its offerings across the UK and Ireland with adverts appearing regularly in The Freeman's Journal in Dublin between April and July 1892.

Portrait of stained glass artists Percy Charles Haydon Bacon

Portrait of Percy C. H. Bacon about 1920

During these early years a particular artistic style had been developed, not unlike that of the Kempe Studios, and the Bacon Brothers seem to have had scant regard for the commercialism of the big stained glass firms who in their view were sacrificing art for mass production. By 1897 the company had clearly been extremely financially successful when it listed in March at Somerset House an offer of share capital of £30,000, a hugh sum in those days amounting to about £3.9 million in today's money.11 In a relatively short time the company had become a serious commercial force, and despite Bacon's earlier disdain for the commercialism of the big stained glass suppliers, he was not above taking advantage of his position with a view to raising venture capital. In their Somerset House listing, the company advertised 15,000 preference shares for subscription. Having been made offers by what the firm called "capitalists" whose offers to fund the company as "sleeping partners" had been declined, a clause was inserted in the prospectus accompanying the offer that, "[we] prefer the clergy, who have been our chief support in the past, and who are naturally inclined to ecclesiastical art, should have the opportunity of reaping the benefits of investment in a Company formed for the purposes of advancing a profession to which they are so closely allied." The offering then went on to offer clergy who subscribed a 5% cash bonus on all works introduced by them to the firm. This brought a scathing rebuke from the correspondent of The Truth magazine, calling the clause, "objectionable", going on to report a country vicar, "who writes to me that he thinks the clergy must be a bad lot if they tumble to Bacon & Co.'s 5% commission on jobs."12 How successful this offering was is moot due to lack of information, but the output of the firm increased dramatically in 1898, suggesting a modicum of success.

All that said, Percy Charles Haydon Bacon seems to have been an affable and generous man who was well regarded. He married Claire (Clara) Ellen Maria Vaughan in 1906, making their home in Romford close to Clara's relatives. He became well known in the area, where he went on in later life to become a magistrate and an Essex county councillor. His and his wife's charitable and community works were often reported in the local press. Having became involved in politics, he was elected the chairman of the Romford Conservative and Unionist Association in 1911.13 In 1919 he was elected as President of the local Chamber of Commerce.14 He would sometimes make windows at cost, such as the Izaak Walton Memorial Window in St Dunstan's-in-the-West, Fleet Street, London (1895) or donate them in their entirety such as to his parish church at Emmer Green, Berkshire, where in 1929 he gave the east window and a processional cross to the church.

Signalling their success, by 1903 the company's letterhead was advertising satellite agencies in Oxford (106 St Aldates) and Boston, USA (corner of Berkely Street). In the case of the Oxford agent, this was actually A. R. Mowbray and Co Ltd, a firm of ecclesiastical furnishers and religous book printers, founded by Arthur Richard Mowbray (1824 - 1875).15 This firm may have been responsible for executing some of Percy Bacon's non window designs. Mowbray & Co. was taken over by J. Wippell & Co. in 1969. Percy Bacon & Brothers also had agent's offices at 93 Hanover Street, Edinburgh, and Dublin. Neither of these seem to have elicited much work, there being only a few examples of the company's glass in Scotland or Ireland. Percy Bacon was very much a "hands-on" director, being the chief artist, who seems to have enjoyed direct supervision of the works, even to the extent of taking long excursions to personally supervise work in the colonies. In January 1903 he was in Adelaide, Australia being interviewed by The Advertiser the day before returning to England on the mail steamer Britannia, where Bacon reports on his recent itinerary:16

"Firstly, I had some important work to do for Mr Henry Dutton, of Anlaby estate, Kapunda, and I thought before completing that work that I had better come out to see for myself exactly what was required. When work is completed it will consist of a carved reredos in oak, in the fifteenth century style, a screen at the chancel arch in the same period, and the whole decoration, including stained windows for Hamilton Church, which has been built by Mr Dutton. The work has been so satisfactory that Mr Dutton has favoured me with further considerable commissions."

 

Frontispiece to Geldart's Manual of Church Decoration by Percy Bacon

Frontispiece by Percy Bacon to Rev Ernest Geldart's Manual of Church Decoration, 1899.

The dedication ceremony in Hamilton Church, at which Bacon was present, was conducted on 8th November 1902.17 Click here Interior of St Matthew's Church, Hamilton, SA. Approx. 1920. Screen and decoration by Percy Bacon.
Image Courtesy of State Library of South Australia, B-58658. to view a picture of the interior of St Matthew's Church, Hamilton, South Australia.

On that trip Bacon visited Melbourne, Sydney, Newcastle, Bendigo and Ballarat, not an inconsiderable itinerary given the huge distances involved and slow modes of transport available at the time. However, such investment in time and money seems to have bourne fruit, the firm carrying out commissions in several of those Australian cities including the windows for Newcastle Cathedral, St James Church, Sydney and a window for St John's, Adelaide, among others.

Percy probably made a number of trips to the United States. On 3rd November 1911, the manifest of arriving passengers at Ellis Island has him listed as going to New York on the Lusitania from Liverpool (see additional Notes below).

Percy Bacon & Brothers offering was wide-ranging by 1903 and probably as early as the end of the 19th century the firm was providing an extensive range of services including sculpted figures (it is often said that Percy Bacon was a sculptor by training), mural decoration, wood and stone carvings, brass tablets, wrought ironwork, embroidered vestments, tapestries and carpets. For many years the Bacons worked with architect George H F Prynne providing the stained glass, decorations and furnishings for his new church designs, as well as manufacturing to Prynne's glass designs. Examples include the wrought ironwork for the chancel screen at St John's, Sidcup (1902)18 and the stained glass in the baptistery of Holy Trinity Church, Roehampton (1898). In some cases, the firm would carry out commissions for the vast majority, or entirety of the decoration of a new or restored church, such as in 1898/9 for St Paul's, Pear Tree Lane, off Goswell Road, Clerkenwell19 and in 1878 the full complement of windows for St Peter's, Staines, which was designed and built by Prynne. At the former, Bacon executed figurative and diaper wall paintings, and ceiling painting in gold diaper patterns. St Paul's was badly damaged by bombing in 1940 and demolished circa 1953. The firm also provided many (if not all) of the windows in two Prynne churches in Devon, Holy Trinity, Exmouth (1907 onwards) and St Peter's, Budleigh Salterton (1891 onwards). For several years, and certainly up until 1899 the firm executed all the carved and painted work for the prolific "priest-architect" Ernest Geldart,20 including the Clarke memorial Pulpit for the Church of the Holy Innocents, Hammersmith.21 Incidentally, A R Mowbray was known to Geldart having published his "Manual of Church Decoration" for which Percy Bacon drew the frontispiece illustrated above.

The greatest output of the firm occurred during the first 20 years of the 20th century, due in great part to the increase in demand for memorial windows during and following the first World War. Quite a number of these windows depict the heroic deeds of saints, notably St Michael and St. George, and often include representations of allegorical warriors dressed in armour such as "Courage" and the more nebulous "Victory" and "Valour". It was not uncommon for Bacon to introduce the likeness of the dedicatee into one of these figures, a motif he introduced as early as 1893 in a window installed in St Peter's, Upton Cross, London, now demolished.

Liquidation and Re-birth, 1917.

 


Percy Bacon Stained Glass Commissions by Year
Episodes in the early life of Christ, St Mary's Church, North Creake, Norfolk

Stained glass commissions in England by year 1892 - 1935


Analysis of the output of the firm between 1912 and 1917 reveal an unpalatable truth. For whatever reason (and scant records have come to light to confirm such reasons) the firm of Percy Bacon and Brothers Limited was struggling.

In 1912 the firm appears to have been in robust health. That year was one of its best since the company’s inception, with 36 windows being installed in England alone. The following years were much less successful, possibly as a result of the start of the Great War, and its lead up. In 1913 only 13 windows were installed, a paltry 5 in 1914, 14 in 1915, and 13 in 1916. Unlike the larger firms, Percy Bacon and Brothers would not have been able to sustain a long-lasting drought in its order book, and not surprisingly (though the exact circumstances are not entirely clear) it went into voluntary liquidation in April 1917. The entries in The London Gazette for March, April and May of 1917 give some clues about the parlous state of affairs:

London Gazette 3rd April 1917. Issue 30008. Page 3253:
“PERCY BACON AND BROTHERS Limited: At an Extraordinary General Meeting of the above named Company, duly convened, and held at 11, Newman Street, Oxford-street, London, on Monday, 26th day of March 1917, the following Extraordinary Resolution was duly passed, namely :--‘
‘That it has been proved to the satisfaction of the Company that the Company cannot, by reason of its liabilities, continue its business, and that it is advisable to wind up the same, and accordingly that the Company be wound up voluntarily under the provisions of the Companies Acts 1908 and 1913; and that Mr Herbert W. Bacon be and is hereby appointed Liquidator for the purposes of such winding-up, at a remuneration of twenty guineas and out-of-pocket expenses.’
Dated this 26th day of March, 1917”, Signed; PERCY C. BACON, Chairman.

Further entries in the London Gazette, both signed by Herbert Bacon, give notice of a meeting of the creditors to be held on 11th April 1917, and a second meeting on the 21st May 1917 to have the accounts laid before the board showing the manner in which the company had been wound up, and how property was to be disposed of.

Despite this set-back, it is absolutely clear that Percy Bacon was not resting on his laurels. By early June 1917 he had already set up a new firm, Percy Bacon Ltd (No. 147,659), having dropped the “and Brothers” suffix, but still working out of 11 Newman Street, London W. He was going it alone. In the 22nd June 1917 edition of The Builder Bacon advertised his new company; “To manufacture, purchase, sell, or otherwise deal in ecclesiastical and other works in glass, stone, wood, metal fabrics and other materials, &c. Nominal capital, £1,000 in 1,000 £1 shares”. As there is no shareholder information, it is not clear from this whether he was proposing the sale of shares to subscribers, or whether he had put up the money himself, or jointly with friends and/or family. At the time, it was more than likely that he was financially sound, and fully capable of funding such a venture, with his own or his wife’s available capital.

It must have been a very slow start. Some of the windows installed in 1917 were likely to have been executed just prior to the firm’s liquidation, the last of which were those reported as being installed in St George’s, Perry Hill, London (now demolished) by the Lewisham Borough News on 6th April of that year. Some would doubtless have been in production running up to the liquidation, and have been completed after the new firm had been established. However, only 9 windows are recorded as being installed in 1917, all in England, and a total of just 5 in 1918. What is astonishing, however, is the Pheonix-like recovery of the firm in 1919, when a total of 35 windows were installed in English churches. This was by far the largest number of windows installed in a single year in the firm’s history, many of which were memorials to soldiers who fell in the Great War between 1914 and 1918. The largest commission undertaken in 1919 was also a result of enemy action; the re-glazing of St George’s Garrison Church in Woolwich, London. Although it may be rather unpalatable to suggest this, it is possible that the Great War saved Percy Bacon’s (errm) Bacon!

The 1920s.

 

In 1921 Percy C. H. Bacon was one of the founding subscribers to, and member of The British Society of Master Glass Painters along with, amongst others, his contemporaries John Hardman, Walter Tower (Kempe & Co), Arther Powell (J Powell & Sons) and Thomas Grylls (Burlison & Grylls).22 He was for some time the Hon. Sec. of the society.

In 1923, the firm moved to 4, Endsleigh Gardens WC1. coinciding with Percy and Clara moving to Reading, where they lived at "Springfield", Surly Row, Caversham. A notice in the The Builder's Journal and Architectural Engineer, suggested the move to much larger premesis was on account of a greatly increasing amount of work.23 However, the number of windows attributed to the firm after 1923 was, with a single exception, lower than all the years from 1898 until 1922. Indeed in 1923, the firm completed only six windows, the lowest output in four years. This could be explained by the firm carrying out contract work for other studios, but there is no evidence to support this. On the 10th October 1924 Percy C. H. Bacon was inaugurated as a magistrate in Reading. He was a church warden at, and benefactor of St Barnabas, Emmer Green, Berkshire until his death.

Throughout the 1920s the firm of Percy Bacon Limited continued to execute stained glass in the UK and abroad, averaging around 10-12 per year, sometimes engaging other companies to paint or install the commissions.

The 1930s. Decline and Fall.

 

As late as 1931-32 the company was providing windows for cathedrals and churches throughout the UK and in the colonies of the British Empire, albeit after 1930 on a small-scale basis, such as the Rose window with seven lights below and the Baptistery windows in Victoria Cathedral, British Columbia (1929).24 In a letter to The Times published on 1st November 1929, Percy Bacon describes the great rose window being installed at Christ Church Cathedral, Vancouver, showing that he is still very much involved in the design and execution of his windows at the age of nearly 70.25

Some sources suggest that the firm moved to Reading in the early 1930s. Percy and Clara had been living at "Springfield" on Surly Row, Caversham since 1923, but sources to confirm the location of the firm's premises after a supposed move to Reading or how involved Percy was in running the business at that time have not so far been unearthed for this project. It is quite possible that the firm never did actually move to Reading, but after the closure of the studio in Endsleigh Gardens, probably when the firm was finally wound-up in 1933, used Reading as a sort of accommodation address. In December 1931, for example, an article in the Reading Standard describing the installation of a new window at Holy Trinity, Reading, reported that Percy Bacon was still operating from Endsleigh Gardens.26 There is only one known window to contain the signature, "Percy Bacon, Reading" - at St Matthew's, Ipswich, Suffolk - and although the exact date of insertion has not been established it is certainly after 1930.

It is clear, however, that the stained glass output of the firm declined consideralbly after 1930, and only fifteen windows were produced between 1931 and 1935, though it is by no means certain that these were new windows, and more likely removed from other buildings and re-inserted elsewhere. The dates attributed to after the end of 1932 are therefore much in doubt due to the firm's liquidation. The company of Percy Bacon Limited was finally wound up in January of 1933 following a meeting to discuss matters of how to dispose of the company's assets, and importantly, by Extraordinary Resolution "..the manner in which the books, accounts and documents of the Company, and of the Liquidator thereof shall be disposed of".27 A great deal more about the company would come to light should those books and accounts still exist! Some sources suggest that the firm continued in business until after World War II, though there is no evidence of this. Also this is borne out by the fact that no records have yet surfaced to indicate that the firm produced any stained glass windows, or provided restoration or maintenance services after Percy Bacon's death in 1935, let alone after it's liquidation in 1933.

Percy C. H. Bacon died on 2nd January 1935, aged 74 at a nursing home in Reading after an operation.28 He was reported to have been in "indifferent" health for two years. This directly coincides with the date (January 1933) on which the firm was put into voluntary liquidation, and also shows that Percy had no deputy willing or able to take over the running of the business. He is buried in Caversham Cemetery. The grave of Percy and Clara Bacon in Caversham Cemetery. The grave of Percy and Clara Bacon in Caversham Cemetery. His wife, Claire Ellen Maria Bacon (aka Clara), who died in 1951, and his brother Archibald Arthur (d. 1944) were the executors of his estate. Clara continued to live in Reading up until her death, though later residing at a house in Cintra Avenue. She is buried with her husband.

 

 

 


Notes & References: Use your browser's Back button to return to text.

  1. Powell's books housed in the V&A (available online) list a "charge for a design" at Holy Trinity, Casterton, near Kirby Lonsdale which suggests that Bacon was employed as a freelance designer rather than an employee. However, Bacon does not seem to have carried out much work for Powells as there are only three entries under England which mention him, two under Ireland and none under USA and the rest of the world.
  2. Gloine; Stained Glass in the church of Ireland: Tempo Church: Website.
  3. The Advertiser, Adelaide (Australia) 14 January 1903. p6. "Ecclesiastical Art: A Chat With an Expert".
  4. Gloine; Stained Glass in the church of Ireland: St Patrick's, Colraine: Website
  5. Supplement to Academy Architecture 1891. Annual Architectural Review 1891, p4. Link.
  6. Royal Academy Exhibition Catalogues available here.
  7. The Guardian, London. 21 October 1891. The firm was exhibiting at the Rhyl Ecclesiastical Art Exhibition with "some specimens of a revival of the fifteenth century raised and engraved work in mahogany, after the style of Carlo Crivelli, suitable for reredos or Stations of the Cross".
  8. An entry in The Builder of 18th August 1894 mentions the reredos at Stonyhurst College, Blackburn being executed by "Messrs Percy, Herbert, and Archibald Bacon, acting together as Percy Bacon Brothers, London". A further entry in The Builder for 23 September 1893 also mentions Herbert as part of the trio, and he delivered a lecture to the Northern Architectural Association in Newcastle-upon-Tyne in January 1984, and the same in November of that year to the Manchester Society of Architects (see page 2). In 1903 in a letter to the Rev HC Windley first vicar of St Chad's in Bensham (Gatehead), in receipt of payment for the west window which was installed in 1903, the elaborate printed note paper included all three brothers names. Image here. See also Sussex Parish Churches. Architects and Artists.
  9. Image here. See also MacDonald's Scottish Directory & Gazetteer; 1908; Entry under "Glass Stainers".
  10. The Builder: 1st April 1893
  11. Reported in Eastern Morning News - Wednesday 14 April 1897 (Source: British News Archive)
  12. "Truth"; 11th March 1897; p598; (Source: British Library News Archive).
  13. Reported in Chelmsford Chronicle - Friday 03 February 1911; (Source: British News Archive).
  14. Reported in Chelmsford Chronicle - Friday 14 February 1919 (Source: British News Archive).
  15. A (undated) bookmark A bookmark from the firm of A. R. Mowbray & Co. Ltd. of 106 St Algate's Street, Oxford advertising itself as agent for Percy Bacon Bros. Undated. published in 1958. from A. R. Mowbray & Co. Ltd. gives addresses at 106 St Aldate's Street, Oxford. It states that the company are "Agents for Percy Bacon Bros, Artists in Stained Glass".
  16. The Advertiser, Adelaide (Australia) 14 January 1903. p6. "Ecclesiastical Art: A Chat With an Expert".
  17. Reported in The Express & Telegraph (Adelaide), 14th November 1902, p2.
  18. The Builder, 24 September 1898, p276. When rebuilt in 1902 to a design by G H F Prynne, the ornate carved stone chancel screen in St John's originally incorporated a set of wrought iron gates and short balustrade topping the walls by Percy Bacon Brothers (since removed). Image of the original screen here. Percy Bacon also provided a number of the windows for this church.
  19. The Builder, 7 January 1899, p23.
  20. Geldart, E; A Manual of Church Decoration and Symbolism, 1899; Acknowledgements. See also A Month in the Country .
  21. Torrance, B: A Tour of the Church of the Holy Innocents.
  22. Memorandum and Articles of Association of the British Society of Master Glass Painters, 1921; p10.
  23. Notice in The Builder's Journal and Architectural Engineer, 19 January 1923, p133. The notice stated that the move was, "to much larger premises on account of a greatly increasing amount of work".
  24. Victoria Daily Times, 29 January 1929, p11.
  25. The Times, 1st Novermber 1929, p17. Letter to the Editor dated 30th October 1929.
  26. Reading Standard - Wednesday 23 December 1931, p11.
  27. London Gazette, Issue 33890, 9th December 1932, p7876.
  28. Report on the death of Percy Bacon in Reading Standard - Friday 11 January 1935; (Source: British News Archive).

Notes from Census and other records:

All the census information below has been collated from Family Search.

Percy C. H. Bacon was born in Ipswich to Joshua D. and Elizabeth Bacon on the 23rd December 1860. In the 1861 census which was taken on 7th April Joshua is listed as a boot closer and Elizabeth as a dressmaker. At the time, one other brother Robert, aged 4 is listed. Elizabeth (nee Hawkins) is shown as having been born in Shoreditch, so perhaps the move back to her hometown after her husband's death around 1881 was not so surprising.

Rather surprisingly the record of Percy's christening at St Andrew's Church, Marylebone, gives the date as 5th October 1872 when he would have been approaching his 13th birthday! On the same day his brother Archibald Arthur, then aged 7 was also christened.

The 1881 census shows Elizabeth, Percy, Archibald and Alice (a cousin) living at 65 Charlotte Street. In that record Percy's occupation is listed as"Designer, Stained Glass".

The 1891 census shows Percy, Archibald and their mother living in Mountpelier Row, Twickenham which indicates that they had met with considerable success in the intervening years as this is a street with high quality middle class town houses. To underline their apparent wealth at the time a servant is listed as living with them. It would not be long before Percy opened the studios at 11 Newham Street, London.

The 1901 census lists Percy living in Upper Holloway, Islington with a "g" daughter, Clara A. Bacon, a niece, Edith Smith and "a friend" Elizabeth Thomas. The reference to Clara, aged 20 possibly refers to God-daughter.

In 1906 Percy married Clara Ellen Maria (nee Davies, 1862-1951) in Romford, Essex,1 where they made their home (see 1911 census), now with both a cook and housemaid. Percy and Clara would never have children.

Percy C. H. Bacon died on 2nd January 1935, aged 74 in Dunedin Nursing Home, Bath Road, Reading, and is buried in Caversham Cemetery. His wife, Clara Ellen Maria Bacon, who died in 1951, and his brother Archibald Arthur were the executors and beneficiaries of his estate.

References:

  1. Births, Deaths and Marriages Notices in Barking, East Ham & Ilford Advertiser, Upton Park and Dagenham Gazette - Saturday 28 April 1906 (Source: British Library News Archive). Clara is listed as being the second daughter of Vaughan Davies of Narborough, Leicestershire.
All text and photos © Alan Spencer, except where otherwise stated; All Rights Reserved