Glass in Nineteenth Century Public Spaces: An Online Talk by Sally Haden

Sally Haden discusses the impact of good quality glass on public spaces in Victorian London

Glass in Nineteenth Century Public Spaces: The Shock of the New

Amongst the great technological advances of the nineteenth century, one is usually forgotten - the mastery of good quality glass. Clear, relatively unblemished glass for windows, mirrors and lighting burst upon nineteenth century public spaces even before Queen Victoria ascended the throne. Lamps lit up dark streets, display mirrors enabled women to see themselves at full length, often for the first time, and vast windows spanned city shop fronts. High streets bustled even after sunset; pubs opened on every street corner sporting highly decorated mirrors, windows and glass partitions; townsfolk could stroll through tropical glasshouses in their local park, and glazed exhibition halls grew to extravagant proportions. There were even plans to glass over a few discrete parts of London.

But as Sally Haden’s talk will explain, opinions were mixed. While Ruskin was caustic and women complained the new lighting showed up their wrinkles, political malcontents had a field day with window-breaking. Besides, people with bad intentions always prefer dark corners. So, in many ways, glass was the era’s Shock of the New.

Sally Haden is an independent scholar with a first degree in Sociology and Social Anthropology, Hull University, 1975. Her involvement in glassmaking history started with research into her Scottish great-grandfather, James Speed (1834-1908), one of four British glassmakers who helped the Japanese develop their first truly Western-style glass factory in the early-Meiji period. She has subsequently traced the lives of many other 19th-century glassmakers, including dozens of Haden glass-cutters and glassmakers, and written and lectured about various aspects of glassmaking for the Glass Society, the Society of Glass Technology and others, in the UK and Japan. Her blog can be found at whomadethatglass.com

Image: The Shop Girl, James Tissot, 1883-1885, detail Art Gallery of Ontario, Wikimedia Commons