Karl Bergemann Parsons (23 January 1884 – 30 September 1934) was a British
stained glass artist associated with the
Arts and Crafts movement.
Early life, 1884 – 1898
Parsons was born in
Peckham in south London on 23 January 1884, the 12th and youngest child of Arthur William Parsons (1838–1901), a foreign language translator, and Emma Matilda Parsons, née Bergemann (1837–1914). He was christened with the names Charles Bergemann, though the family always called him Karl, the name he was to use in later life.
From 1893 to 1898 he attended
Haberdashers' Aske's Hatcham Boys School at
New Cross
New Cross is an area in south east London, England, south-east of Charing Cross in the London Borough of Lewisham and the SE14 postcode district. New Cross is near St Johns, Telegraph Hill, Nunhead, Peckham, Brockley, Deptford and Greenwic ...
in south London.
Introduction to Whall, 1898 – outbreak of war
One of Parsons’ older sisters was the artist
Beatrice Emma Parsons (1869–1955). Beatrice worked for a while in
Christopher Whall
Christopher Whitworth Whall (1849 – 23 December 1924) was a British stained-glass artist who worked from the 1880s and on into the 20th century. He is widely recognised as a leader in the Arts and Crafts Movement and a key figure in t ...
’s studio and when Parsons left school, Beatrice persuaded Whall to take him on as an apprentice. Whall it seems saw promise in Parsons'
sketches. Apart from starting with Whall as a pupil-apprentice at Whall’s
Hammersmith studio, he also worked at
Lowndes and Drury in Chelsea, this under Whall’s supervision. He also attended Whall’s classes at the
L.C.C. Central School of Arts & Crafts.
He completed his apprenticeship in the 1900s and then worked as one of Whall’s assistants. In September 1904 he began teaching at the Central School, initially as one of Whall’s assistants and then as principal teacher of stained glass. One pupil was
M. E. Aldrich Rope, cousin of
Margaret Agnes Rope. Another pupil was Joan
Fulleylove who worked with
Mabel Esplin and in fact continued Esplin's work for the
Anglican cathedral in
Khartoum
Khartoum or Khartum ( ; ar, الخرطوم, Al-Khurṭūm, din, Kaartuɔ̈m) is the capital of Sudan. With a population of 5,274,321, its metropolitan area is the largest in Sudan. It is located at the confluence of the White Nile, flowing n ...
when Esplin could no longer do so.
Throughout the 1900s he was to assist Whall on his major commissions and in 1905 drew some of the illustrations for Whall’s book ''Stained Glass Work'' this along with fellow student
. Parsons assisted Whall with the windows for
Gloucester Cathedral and also those for
Canterbury Cathedral,
Southwell Minster
Southwell Minster () is a minster and cathedral in Southwell, Nottinghamshire, England. It is situated miles from Newark-on-Trent and from Mansfield. It is the seat of the Bishop of Southwell and Nottingham and the Diocese of Southwell and N ...
,
Tonbridge School
(God Giveth the Increase)
, established =
, closed =
, type = Public schoolIndependent day and boarding
, religion =
, president =
, head_label ...
Chapel, and churches in
Ashbourne,
Ledbury and
Burford
Burford () is a town on the River Windrush, in the Cotswold hills, in the West Oxfordshire district of Oxfordshire, England. It is often referred to as the 'gateway' to the Cotswolds. Burford is located west of Oxford and southeast of Che ...
.
In 1907 he married Grace Millicent Simmons. She too studied at the Central School and became an Arts and Crafts
embroiderer.
In 1908 he worked with Whall on the design and execution of
apse
In architecture, an apse (plural apses; from Latin 'arch, vault' from Ancient Greek 'arch'; sometimes written apsis, plural apsides) is a semicircular recess covered with a hemispherical vault or semi-dome, also known as an '' exedra''. ...
windows for
Cape Town Cathedral and in that year set up his own studio at the Glass House in Fulham. In the same year he began work on his first independent commission, a series of windows for St Alban,
Hindhead
Hindhead is a village in Surrey, England. It is the highest village in Surrey, with buildings at between 185 and 253 metres above sea level. It is best known as the location of the Devil's Punch Bowl, a beauty spot and site of special scienti ...
. He also exhibited three designs at the
Royal Academy and 25 September 1908 saw the birth of his daughter Margaret Rosetta.
It was the architect
Herbert Baker
Sir Herbert Baker (9 June 1862 – 4 February 1946) was an English architect remembered as the dominant force in South African architecture for two decades, and a major designer of some of New Delhi's most notable government structures. He wa ...
who had asked Whall to take on the Cape Town windows and it was Baker’s associate Fleming, who in later years was to invite Parsons to undertake other commissions in South Africa. Close connections with architects were important to people like Parsons and he was to have a similar relationship with
Robert Lorimer
Sir Robert Stodart Lorimer, KBE (4 November 1864 – 13 September 1929) was a prolific Scottish architect and furniture designer noted for his sensitive restorations of historic houses and castles, for new work in Scots Baronial and Got ...
in Scotland which was to lead to his receiving important Scottish commissions. Other important contacts were John Duke Coleridge, and
Everard and Pick. Whall had similarly benefitted from close ties to the likes of the architects
John Dando Sedding and
Henry Wilson
Henry Wilson (born Jeremiah Jones Colbath; February 16, 1812 – November 22, 1875) was an American politician who was the 18th vice president of the United States from 1873 until his death in 1875 and a senator from Massachusetts from 1855 to ...
.
During the period 1909 to 1910, he worked for a short period with
Louis Davis, cartooning windows from Davis’ designs. In 1910 he exhibited designs at the Arts and Crafts Exhibition. Certainly Parsons worked closely with Davis in 1910 on the windows for St Anseln church (seven lancets for the Holy Spirit chapel) and
Holy Trinity in St Andrew’s Fife (a five-light Crucifixion window). It was Davis who had introduced Parsons to Robert Lorimer. In 1910, Parsons lived at 38 Gainsborough Road in
Bedford Park, London
Bedford Park is a suburban development in Chiswick, London, begun in 1875 under the direction of Jonathan Carr, with many large houses in British Queen Anne Revival style by Norman Shaw and other leading Victorian era architects including Ed ...
.
1911 saw the birth of his second daughter, Jacynth Mary, who became a
book illustrator.
In 1912 he received a commission for the Rolls and Grace memorial window at
Eastchurch
Eastchurch is a village and civil parish on the Isle of Sheppey, in the English county of Kent, two miles east of Minster. The village website claims the area has "a history steeped in stories of piracy and smugglers".
Aviation history
Eastch ...
on the Isle of Sheppey and in the next year his work was exhibited at the
Ghent International Exhibition. It was in 1913 that Parsons met the Irish artist
Harry Clarke
Henry Patrick Clarke (17 March 1889 – 6 January 1931) was an Irish stained-glass artist and book illustrator. Born in Dublin, he was a leading figure in the Irish Arts and Crafts Movement.
His work was influenced by both the Art Nouveau an ...
.
One was to influence the other.
1914 – 1930
The Great War
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
saw many of the Glass House staff leave to do military service and in 1916 Parsons himself was
conscripted
Conscription (also called the draft in the United States) is the state-mandated enlistment of people in a national service, mainly a military service. Conscription dates back to antiquity and it continues in some countries to the present day und ...
into the
Army
An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...
but was not posted overseas.
Demobilised in 1918, he resumed work at the Glass House and went back to teaching at the Central School. As a teacher, Parsons was, like Whall before him, to inspire several of his pupils to become stained glass artists, including
Lilian Pocock, Joseph E. Nuttgens and
Herbert Hendrie.
After the war there was a boom in demand for stained glass, particularly with many memorial windows being commissioned and Parsons appointed
Edward Liddall Armitage as an assistant and later Leonard Potter. Both were ex-pupils.
1924 saw Parsons make what was to prove a seminal visit to
Chartres where, with his brother Ambrose, he carried out a detailed study of medieval glass. Parsons wrote "So far as my knowledge goes, this world cannot show anything made by men so amazingly beautiful".
In 1927 he was commissioned to make the apse windows for the new
St Mary’s Cathedral in Johannesburg.
1929 saw a collection of
poem
Poetry (derived from the Greek ''poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meanings in ...
s that he had written published by the
Medici Society
The House of Medici ( , ) was an Italian banking family and political dynasty that first began to gather prominence under Cosimo de' Medici, in the Republic of Florence during the first half of the 15th century. The family originated in the Mu ...
under the title ''Ann’s Book''. His daughter Jacynth provided the illustrations. (The previous year she had illustrated ''Forty Nine Poems'' by
W. H. Davies, also for Medici). Over the years Parsons had several of his poems published in anthologies and periodicals. In the same year he resigned from his teaching post at the Central School.
1930 to 1934 – final years
In 1930 Parsons moved from
Northwood, where he had lived for many years, to
Shalbourne
Shalbourne is a village and civil parish in the English county of Wiltshire, about southwest of Hungerford, Berkshire. The parish has a number of widely spaced small settlements including Bagshot and Stype, to the north, and Rivar and Oxenwood t ...
in Wiltshire. There he set up a studio at Ropewind Farm where he converted a mid-18th century
three-bay barn, adding a large, porch-like window to let in natural light on the north side. He also incorporated a small
granary
A granary is a storehouse or room in a barn for threshed grain or animal feed. Ancient or primitive granaries are most often made of pottery. Granaries are often built above the ground to keep the stored food away from mice and other animals ...
on unusual brick and timber
staddles thus converting it into a larger purpose-built storage building and garage, giving access directly from Rivar Road. The house he lived in adjoined the site. It should have been an idyllic time for Parsons but his health deteriorated and finally, in 1933, he had to return to London, took a flat in
Putney
Putney () is a district of southwest London, England, in the London Borough of Wandsworth, southwest of Charing Cross. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London.
History
Putney is an ancient paris ...
and worked for a while with his great friend
. He died there the following year at the young age of 50. After his death on 30 September 1934, the cause of death being given as
cerebral thrombosis and
arteriosclerosis
Arteriosclerosis is the thickening, hardening, and loss of elasticity of the walls of arteries. This process gradually restricts the blood flow to one's organs and tissues and can lead to severe health risks brought on by atherosclerosis, which ...
, existing commissions were taken over or completed by Woore.
Works
Gallery
File:Karl Parsons St. Margaret window, St Giles Cathedral.jpg, ''St. Margaret'', St Giles' Cathedral
St Giles' Cathedral ( gd, Cathair-eaglais Naomh Giles), or the High Kirk of Edinburgh, is a parish church of the Church of Scotland in the Old Town of Edinburgh. The current building was begun in the 14th century and extended until the early 1 ...
, Edinburgh
Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian on the southern shore of t ...
(1915)
File:Karl Parsons Pangbourne St. James.jpg, ''St. George, St. Michael and Nativity'' (1919) St. James Church, Pangbourne
Pangbourne is a large village and civil parishes in England, civil parish on the River Thames in Berkshire, England. Pangbourne has its own shops, schools, Pangbourne railway station, a railway station on the Great Western main line and a vill ...
, Berkshire
File:Fortitude and Hope window 1912.jpg, ''Fortitude and Hope'' (1912), All Saints Church, Eastchurch
Eastchurch is a village and civil parish on the Isle of Sheppey, in the English county of Kent, two miles east of Minster. The village website claims the area has "a history steeped in stories of piracy and smugglers".
Aviation history
Eastch ...
, Sheppey, 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 ...
File:Porthcawl.jpg, Detail from east window, All Saints Church, Porthcawl
File:Parsons, Waterford detail.jpg, ''St Cecilia and Angel'', St Michael and All Angels Church, Waterford, Hertfordshire (1929)
Notes
References
External links
Flickr photographers' pool of Karl Parsons' work
{{DEFAULTSORT:Parsons, Karl
1884 births
1934 deaths
British stained glass artists and manufacturers
People from Shalbourne
People from Hillingdon
People from Peckham
Military personnel from Surrey
British Army personnel of World War I
British Army soldiers