Georgina Evelyn Cave Gaskin (née France) (8 December 1866 – 29 October 1934), known as Georgie Gaskin, was an English

jewellery Jewellery ( UK) or jewelry (U.S.) consists of decorative items worn for personal adornment, such as brooches, rings, necklaces, earrings, pendants, bracelets, and cufflinks. Jewellery may be attached to the body or the clothes. From a wester ...

and

metalwork Metalworking is the process of shaping and reshaping metals to create useful objects, parts, assemblies, and large scale structures. As a term it covers a wide and diverse range of processes, skills, and tools for producing objects on every scale ...

designer, as well as an illustrator. With her husband Arthur Gaskin, Georgie was one of the original members of the Birmingham Group of Artist-Craftsmen which formed around

Joseph Southall Joseph Edward Southall RWS NEAC RBSA (23 August 1861 – 6 November 1944) was an English painter associated with the Arts and Crafts movement. A leading figure in the nineteenth and early twentieth-century revival of painting in tempera, Sout ...

in the 1890s, and reflected the influence of the Arts and Crafts movement at the Birmingham School of Art under the headmastership of

Edward R. Taylor __NOTOC__ Edward Richard Taylor RBSA (14 June 1838 – 11 January 1911) was an English artist and educator. He painted in both oils and watercolours. He became a member of the Royal Birmingham Society of Artists in 1879. Biography Taylor ta ...

. Georgie France was born in

Shrewsbury Shrewsbury ( , also ) is a market town, civil parish, and the county town of Shropshire, England, on the River Severn, north-west of London; at the 2021 census, it had a population of 76,782. The town's name can be pronounced as either 'Sh ...

, the elder daughter of William Hanmer France and Frances Emily Cave-Brown-Cave. She studied at the Birmingham School of Art, while there she met Arthur Gaskin, who also studied, as well as taught, there. They married on 21 March 1894. and had two daughters, Joscelyne (b. 1903) and Margaret (b. 1907). Arthur and Georgie Gaskin began their married life living in

Acocks Green Acocks Green is an area and ward of southeast Birmingham, England. It is named after the Acock family, who built a large house there in 1370. Acocks Green is one of four wards making up Yardley formal district. It is occasionally spelled "Acoc ...

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

, before moving to

Olton Olton is an area/suburban village within the Metropolitan Borough of Solihull in the West Midlands, England. In the 13th century, the Lords of the Manor moved their seat and formed a new settlement, at the junction of two major roads. It was t ...

Solihull Solihull (, or ) is a market town and the administrative centre of the wider Metropolitan Borough of Solihull in West Midlands County, England. The town had a population of 126,577 at the 2021 Census. Solihull is situated on the River Blythe i ...

. Another move, in 1924, took them to the High Street in

Chipping Campden Chipping Campden is a market town in the Cotswold district of Gloucestershire, England. It is notable for its terraced High Street, dating from the 14th century to the 17th century. ("Chipping" is from Old English ''cēping'', 'market', 'market- ...

. A few years after Arthur's death in 1928, Georgie moved to

West Malling West Malling ( , historically Town Malling) is a market town in the Tonbridge and Malling district of Kent, England. It has a population of 2,590. Landmarks West Malling contains several historic buildings, including St Leonard's Tower, a Norma ...

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

where she died in 1934. They are buried together, in the churchyard of St James's Church in Chipping Campden. The Gaskins were leading jewellers of the Arts and Crafts movement, mostly in the Birmingham area. In 1899 the Gaskins started producing jewellery together, under the name of Mr and Mrs Arthur Gaskin. Despite having no technical expertise initially, they learnt many skills and employed others where necessary. Georgie designed all of the jewellery that they made together, though both were involved in making it. They produced silver and enamel work, book illustrations and jewellery both independently and in partnership. Georgie's jewellery was initially quite simple, consisting of silver wirework set with coloured stones and enamel, as time went on it became more ornate, often being set with gems by the time of the First World War. She continued to design jewellery until shortly before her death. The

Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery (BM&AG) is a museum and art gallery in Birmingham, England. It has a collection of international importance covering fine art, ceramics, metalwork, jewellery, natural history, archaeology, ethnography, local ...

holds the largest collection of the Gaskins' work in all media. 1981M535 Necklace with pendant

References

1866 births 1934 deaths Arts and Crafts movement artists British jewellery designers English jewellers English designers 19th-century English people Alumni of the Birmingham School of Art Women jewellers` {{England-artist-stub