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A topic for recording information regarding the partnership of Omar Ramsden (b.1873-d.1939) and Alwyn Charles Ellison Carr (b.1872-d.1940), and any details of their individual lives and careers.
Silver, ivory, and enamel trowel used for the laying of the foundation stone of the rebuilt Old Bailey, by Omar Ramsden and Alwyn Carr:
If you have any details of the above pair, advertisements, examples of their work, markings, etc., anything that you are willing to share, then here's the place to post it.
Announcement has been made in The Medical Press and Circular that as a memento of the work done in cooperation by American and British surgeons during the war, a number of the latter have had made a silver-gilt mace, which is to be presented to the American College of Surgeons (which includes Canada as well as the United States). The mace is the work of a well-known worker in metal, Mr. Omar Ramsden. A surgeon's mortar dug up in a Salonika trench was the model for the head, which is surrounded by maple leaves and American eagles. The badges of the British and American Army Medical Corps and the serpents of Æsculapius are prominent, the name of Philip Syng, the father of American surgery (who was at St. George's Hospital before he went across the Atlantic), is introduced, and the roll of subscribers will be engraved in due course. An inscription on the mace reads: "From the consulting surgeons of the British Armies to the American College of Surgeons in memory of mutual work and good fellowship in the Great War."
Source: The Boston Medical and Surgical Journal - 16th September 1920
1891 England Census Omar Ramsden listed as a Silver Modeller, Designer, & Chaser at 70 Fir Street Nether Hallam York.
1901 England Census Omar Ramsden listed as a Designer & an Employer of Craftsmen in Metals with the Joint Occupant Alwyn C E Carr both at 6 Albert Studios Battersea London.
1911 England Census Omar Ramsden listed as a Designer & an Employer of Craftsmen in Metals with his partner Alwyn Charles Ellison Carr at 3 Seymour Place South Kennsington SW.
28 August 1927 Omar Ramsden Bachelor of Seymour Place West Brompton married Annie Emily Downs-Butcher Widow of the Parish of Saint Augustine Queens Gate. Marriage place West Brompton Kennsington and Chelsea.
12 March 1929 Omar Ramsden born 21 August 1873 at 16 Fir Street Nether Hallam York, son of Benjamin Woolhouse Ramsden late of 70 Fir Street Walkley Sheffield a Silversmith decd, occupying premises at Saint Dunstans Seymour Place West Brompton SW10 Middlesex a Silversmith made free by redemption in the Company of Goldsmiths.
State Entrance Gates to Newgate Sessions House, Old Bailey:
Designed and wrought in iron and bronze by Omar Ramsden and Alwyn Carr.
Outside the building the metal-worker has still bigger opportunities to express his craft, his sense of the meaning and possibility of the fabric. An important recent example is in the State entrance-gates in wrought-iron and bronze designed and executed by Messrs. Ramsden and Carr for the New Old Bailey. The whole of the artistic metalwork in the building is the work of the same artists, but the gate, from its position and use, is the biggest opportunity given to the smith in this undertaking. Messrs. Ramsden and Carr have used it well. The gates have the strength and solemnity fitting their place. By a device that is admirable imaginatively as well as artistically, the boldly wrought design of the City arms and supporters on the lunette grille remains in position when the gates open, or, rather, slide into the wall.
A beautiful silver Chalice and Paten have recently been presented to the Cathedral by Mr. and Mrs. Sannyer Atkin, of London, England, visitors to Quebec this summer. The Chalice and Paten are the work of the late Mr. Omar Ramsden, of London. The Chalice is 8½ in. high. The knob is adorned with beautifully chased bunches of grapes alternating with vine leaves and set with six cabochon sapphires.
Underneath the foot is the following inscription:
To the Greater Glory of God
and for use in the
Cathedral of the Holy Trinity,
Quebec.
The Gift of
Margaret and Sannyer Atkin, 1939.
The following reference to Mr. Ramsden is taken from Saturday Night, of September 19th, 1939:
“Ramsden was born in Sheffield. He spent his youth abroad, but returned to England to devote himself to the revival of the almost lost art of the English ceremonial goldsmith. The beauty of his designs and workmanship made him world-famous. Indeed many of his pieces are regarded as among the finest in existence.
The mazar bowl he made in 1937, to commemorate the fact that this country had three kings in one year, is said to be among the world’s greatest masterpieces in pure gold.
In this day of mass production, of easy and quick results, there is something very pleasing, almost inspiring, in the thought of this great
craftsman patiently working out his beautiful designs with tools and methods that have hardly changed since the days of the Pharaohs. There
are still things that cannot be done by machines.”
The kind Donors, who have recently given four mercurial gilt silver chalices, of Mr. Ramsden’s craftsmanship, to Westminster Abbey as thank-offering for their Majesties’ safe return from their North American Tour, have expressed the wish to regard this gift as thank- offering for their Majesties’ landing at Quebec last May. Thus does our most recent gift rightly take its place among the plate given in 1766 and 1804 by his Majesty’s ancestor King George III.
The London garden of Omar Ramsden. This was originally part of the old Mulberry garden of Nell Gwynne in the time of Charles I. Two large mulberry trees shade most of the area, resisting the London gases on one hand and making the growing of grass quite impossible on the other. Consequently grass has been eliminated and the interest found in the varying levels of the garden, the use of red broken tile, the built-up beds and the grouping of white bench, table, and chairs. A brick wall of about two feet has been built to support the raised garden; in that way it is easier to keep the earth sweet and fresh. At the end of the garden opposite the entrance to the house is a little platform up two steps which reveals a delightful little fountain which splashes into a small pool below the old Della Robbia placque. Four old terra cotta urns with their red color help to give light to the garden, while under the enormous old mulberry tree where Nell Gwynne used to sit is placed the circular wooden garden bench and chairs with a table ready for tea. Such a happy little garden!
At the four angles of the garden are four acacia trees, and the owner assured me he cut the tops off each spring to make them grow round and fat. There is also the fig tree, mulberry, syringa, fire thorn, red Crataegus or hawthorne, clematis, Virginia creeper, ivy of several kinds, small common grapevine, which grows beautifully in these city gardens, and the pear tree, which seems to be represented more or less in every London city garden, and, for foliage, the shiny castor oil plant. Also I found here iris, yellow day-lily, Michaelmas daisy, evening primrose, various American lilies, and annual larkspur.
Against the house clambers the fire thorn, a beautiful covering for this purpose.
This is a delightful and practical solution of the back-yard problem. We cannot all have large beautiful mulberry trees in our backyard, but we can build up our gardens two feet higher and in that way make the planting seem much higher and denser than planting on the ordinary level.
The treatment of the wall space here is particularly attractive. The little bit of color introduced by the blue and green of the Della Robbia placque at the end of the garden made a delightful little feature.
Source: Gardens In and About Town - Minga Pope Duryea - 1923
Among the business matters transacted by the Council of the Pharmaceutical Society at the meeting held at Bloomsbury Square, London, W.C.1, on Tuesday, May 3, were the following items : —
Replacement of the Presidential Badge.—The president reported that the insurance company had paid to the Society the value of the badge and considered that its recovery was unlikely. It was agreed that Mr. Omar Ramsden should be requested to submit a design for a new badge based on the Grant of Arms.
Messrs. Omar Ramsden & Alwyn C. Carr held an Exhibition on December 3rd, at 12, Old Burlington Street. The display consisted of a selection of work designed and executed by those gentlemen, in hand-beaten silver and gold, enamels, wrought iron, and so forth. Some of the most interesting exhibits were the maces and chains, from which section the illustrations are taken. They included the mayoral chain of Woolwich, in hand-beaten gold and enamels, the mace executed for the Duke of Norfolk for presentation to the City of Sheffield, and the civic mace of Woolwich in hand-beaten silver.
The design on the Sheffield mace has been founded on the traditional lines of the best maces of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, while the ornament applied has a distinct symbolical or historical meaning to the city to which it is to belong.
The head is surmounted by a Royal crown of rich but chaste design. On the arches of the crown rest the orb and cross symbolising the dominion of Christianity. Below the crown, and inside the head, fitting as a lid, are the Royal arms in rich repousse'. These, together with the other arms and symbolism displayed, have been worked out under the advice of Mr. H. St. John Hope, M.A., the eminent authority on maces and heraldry. On one side of the head are the arms of Sheffield, on the other those of the Duke of Norfolk, the donor. Midway between these are two York roses. The intervening space is entirely covered with the oak leaves and acorns, the badge of the Duke of Norfolk. Between two brightly burnished mouldings in base runs the motto of the city, “ Deo adjuvante labor proficit.” And underneath is the quaint inscription: Omar Ramsden and Alwyn C. E. Carr made me in the year of our Lord 1899.
Owing to the fact that hand processes alone have been used in its execution, the University of London mace shown has much of the individuality of old work. The legitimate markings of the hammer are merely the result of the working, and not applied afterwards as ornament. The head is surmounted by a Royal crown, the orb of which is of lapis lazuli, carefully guarded by protecting bands of wrought metal. The crown is a new rendering of the old and traditional motif of alternating fleur-de-lys and Maltese crosses. Inside the crown, fitting as a lid, incised in a line of medieval character, are the Royal arms with the letters “ E. R. VII.” The head is formed by four crowned and winged figures, kneeling and holding shields of Champleve enamel. Two of these portray respectively the arms and the badge of the University, and the other two set forth the dates of its foundation (1836) and its re-organisation (1900). Between the figures, which represent the triumph of Light and Education, rises the Tree of Knowledge, among the knotted roots of which the figures kneel. Immediately below is a knot of struggling figures representing darkness and ignorance enslaved and aspiring to light. All the figures are different, and portray different notes in the scale of pathetic woe. Around them swirl bands of wrought metal, typifying the rush and whirl of the present day. On a moulding appears in small incised characters the legend “ Omar Ramsden et Alwyn C. E. Carr me fecerunt Anno Domini 1902.”
The shaft, which is of great length, is divided into five unequal parts by four knots, each set with oblong panels of brilliant enamel, wherein fiery gleams of orange appear in conflict with dusky ruby. The panels are protected by wrought straps of metal. A pleasant grip is afforded to the shaft by its being overlaid with cables of twisted silver. Above the foot knob is a band of incised lettering, setting forth the gift of the mace—“ UNIVERSITATI LONDINENSI D.D. Henricus E. Roscoe, Soc. Reg. Soc. Vice-Cancellarius MDCCCCVI—MCMII.” Underneath, in rich bold repousse', are four renderings of the University badge, the crowned rose with rays in all directions. These badges are displayed inverted, as at times this end is borne uppermost. The finial is completed by a solid spike for resting on the floor. The mace is enclosed in an oaken box, which is bound with hammered bronze mounts, and has a shield with the University arms in repousse'
Source: The House: The Journal of Home Arts & Crafts - January 1903
PRESENTED TO THE AMERICAN COLLEGE OF SURGEONS BY THE CONSULTING SURGEONS OF THE BRITISH ARMIES
This Mace has been designed so as to tell in a symbolic way of the close union between British and American Surgery, and of the ties which unite Great Britain to Canada and to the United States of America. It retains the traditional shape and proportions of the Civic Mace of the Seventeenth Century, and is of hand-wrought, chiseled and repousse' silver gilt. It was made by Omar Ramsden, who embodied in his design some suggestions of the donors.
The Crown-Shaped Finial is formed of six rich scroll buttresses upholding the " Sacred Flame of Science" issuing from a mortar of antique pattern, the model of which was recently found on the field of battle near Salonika. These buttresses spring from a cresting composed of alternating Maple leaves and American Eagles intertwined with the Serpents of Æsculapius, while the position usually occupied by a band of jewels in a monarchical crown is filled with the words " The American College of Surgeons."
The Body or Head is divided into six panels by the Winged Caduceus, being an ornamental rendering of the badge of the United States Army Medical Corps. The panels set forth the following " Achievements at Arms " in delicate and finely detailed repousse' work :
1. The full Blazon of the United States of America.
2. The Dominion of Canada.
3. The Royal College of Surgeons of England.
4. The Badge of the Royal Army Medical Corps.
5. The Shields of Arms of John Hunter and Lord Lister.
6. A Cartouche bearing the words " Philip Syng Physick 1 768-1 837, Father of American Surgery."
The lower portion of the Head is decorated with a symbolic band of water indicating the ocean which both unites and separates America and the Mother Country. The latter is symbolized by the British Lion Brackets of highly chiseled work which support the head and terminate the upper part of the staff. The talons of the lion's feet grip the hammered decoration of the upper knop, which consists of a design of American and Canadian Maple seed-pods and heart-shaped spaces. This hammered work is protected by boldly projecting, solid, jewel-like bosses of chiseled work.
The Staff is decorated with a free design of the national floral emblems of the United Kingdom—The Rose, the Thistle, the Shamrock, and the Leek. Inter-twined among these are a number of ribbon scrolls, each one of which bears the name of one of the donors.
The Foot bears, as decoration, the root form from which the above spring and a series of six small shields which may be used for possible future arms of inscriptions. The extreme bottom knop is fluted with leaves of Isatis tinctoria.
The various parts are held together, in the traditional manner, by a rod of British Oak cut from a tree grown at Wytham, Berks. The extreme length is 3 feet 11 ¼ inches, and the weight of silver is 140 ounces troy.
The Dedicatory Inscription engraved on the plate under the Crown sets forth that the Mace is a gift " From the Consulting Surgeons of the British Armies to the American College of Surgeons, in memory of mutual work and good-fellowship in the Great War, 1914-1918."
Source: Lister Centenary Celebration - American College of Surgeons - 1927
Connoisseurs who have seen Mr. Omar Ramsden's design for the gold and richly jewelled badge and chain of office to be worn by the Master of the Honorable Company of Master Mariners agree that this insignia will be the finest work of art of its kind in existence.
It is being presented to the company by Lord Rothermere, and a model of it will be worn by the Prince of Wales, as first Master, at the company's third annual banquet at the Guildhall.
Mr. Ramsden told a 'Daily Mail' reporter: I shall have been at work on the badge and chain for a whole year by the time it is finished. This means that I have still nine months' work to do. Lord Rothermere most generously insisted that neither time nor money should be limited, and so I have been given an absolutely free hand. Therefore I am able to devote all my efforts to the making of the most beautiful thing it is possible for me to make. Work quite as fine as any done in the past can be done today, but only with the help and interest of wise and wealthy patrons, and not hastily and in a commercially competitive spirit.
DESIGN IN WAX
Mr. Ramsden has modelled his design in wax, and he will carve the gold very much in the same way as a sculptor carves stone. His task is a far more delicate one, however, than any sculptor is called upon to perform.
'I have to use over 1000 chisels and other tools,' he said, 'and many of them are minute.'
King George has sent to the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York a wonderful alms dish, which has been designed and made by Mr. Omar Ramsden, in consultation with the British Institute of Industrial Art. The Governments of France, Belgium, Sweden, Roumania and Czecho-SIovakia have also sent gifts, The Kings dish, which is of silver-gilt, measures 16½ inches in diameter, is 2 inches deep, and weighs 51 oz. troy. In the centre are designed the Royal arms, in repousse and chiselled work round which runs the inscription:— "Eeclesiae Cathedrali D. Johannis Evang. Apud Novo-Eboracenses, d.d. Georgius V. Rex, Imperator, A.S., MDCCCCXXVI." On a wide outer flange is moulded St. John's symbol, the eagle.
Britain's Prime Minister has a new inkstand of gold and silver. It stands on the desk in his study, not at No. 10 Downing Street, but at Chequers, his country home, where amid the peace of the Chilterns he may occasionally seek respite from the burden of his office. The inkstand, fashioned in 1931 by the distinguished goldsmith Omar Ramsden, is 10 inches long and bears the coat-of-arms of its donor, Lord Leo of Fareham, to whose inspired beneficence Chequers itself and all its treasures are an abiding memorial. Inscribed on, the lid in Latin and in English are words that may well be remembered by us all:
To stand on the ancient ways,
To see which is the right and the good way
And in that to walk.
They are noble words on a noble gift! Many treasures has Chequers, and Cromwell's own sword hangs by a fireplace there; but this inkstand, token of a mightier weapon, is worthy company for them all.
The casket presented to the Queen on behalf of John Brown and Co., Ltd., by Lord Aberconway, is of hand-wrought and chiselled Staybrite steel, mounted in gold and silver-gilt. It was designed and made by Mr Omar Ramsden, the Kensington goldsmith. The body and feet of the casket are in Staybrite steel, the arms of her Majesty in chiselled gold, the mouldings and the lid in wrought and chiselled silver-gilt. The principal design motif consists of an ornamental map surrounded by boldly modelled and chased waves in turbulent motion. The centre of the lid bears a representation of No. 534 crossing the Atlantic, leaving behind her a great wake stretching back to the English Channel, as she heads for New York. The right hand of the map shows the European coast from Scotland to Spain, while the left-hand side shows the Atlantic seaboard of North America, in the north of which are seen Polar bears, icebergs and the Aurora Borealis. In addition to the inscription, there is the legend "The largest vessel that ever took the water," and the house flags of the united Cunard and White Star Companies. The southern waters are enlivened by a bevy of mermaids, dolphins, etc., while on the right hand is the coat of arms of John Brown and Co. The, interior of the casket has a detachable tray of wrought silver, which will hold a specially bound book. The coat of arms of her Majesty, which appears on the front of the casket in pierced and chiselled gold, has been worked from correct details provided by the Heralds College. The Queen, it is related, is very fond of Mr Ramsden's work. Not long ago her Majesty, who has many pieces by him, gave one of his silver dishes to the Victoria and Albert Museum. Mr Ramsden is a bluff, hearty, Yorkshireman, and his home in Seymour place, off Fulham road, was built with his own hands.
The English papers which arrived yesterday report a decision of the British Court of Appeal on the question of an architect's right to order goods for a building, and so pledge the credit of the builder. In the lower Court the plaintiffs, Messrs. Ramsden and Carr, metal workers, claimed £142 13s alternately for goods sold and delivered to Messrs. Chessum and Sons, builders, or as money held in trust for them. The latter denied liability, but the judge held that though the plaintiffs had failed to show that any money was received by defendants that should be allocated to the account for the goods plaintiffs succeeded in respect of tho Issue as to goods sold and delivered.
The defendant builders now appealed, and the Court, by a majority of two to one, sustained the appeal and dismissed a cross appeal. Lord Justice Williams, giving judgment, said there was no evidence that the architect had power to order goods either for the builders or the building owners. Neither was it proved that the contractors knew that the goods had been supplied, and that they were to be held liable for them. Agency had not been proved, nor had it been proved that any money had been paid by the building owners to the contractor for the benefit of the plaintiffs. The appeal of the defendants, therefore, would be allowed, and the cross appeal dismissed.
Lord Justice Buckley concurred.
Lord Justice Kennedy dissented. The defendants (the builders), said his Lordship, had accepted the goods and used them, and they were therefore liable, it was quite optional on their part. Had they liked they could have rejected the goods.
The first of a series of lantern lectures will be given at Goldsmiths' Hall on Thursday, the 8th March, at 7 o'clock, by Mr. Omar Ramsden, who will show a number of slides dealing with some aspects of modern silverwork; an informal discussion will follow. As these meetings are designed to enable salesmen and craftsmen to meet, firms are specially asked to bring them to the notice of their staffs.
Source: The Jeweller and Metalworker - 1st February 1928
Omar Ramsden has highly distinguished himself this year in the examinations by obtaining two prizes for special excellence in advanced work. The department's examiner, Mr. David M'Gill, in reporting on his design for an electric bell says it 'is perhaps the best example of good and distinctive treatment of two materials; the panel, bronze, and the mouldings, stone, are perfect treatments of both materials, while at the same time they are so well designed together that one enhances the other in the highest degree.'
Source: The Sheffield and Rotherham Independent - 24th November 1896
Three pieces of silverware by Omar Ramsden that were exhibited at Queen Charlotte's Silver Exhibition held at Seaford House, Belgrave Square, London from the 1st May to 8th June 1929 in aid of the rebuilding and enlarging of Queen Charlotte's Maternity Hospital at Hammersmith, London:
