COLE, Henry (1808-1882)

Identity Statement

Reference code(s)	: GB 1134 Cole
Held at	: Royal College of Art   Click here to find out how to view this collection at https://www.rca.ac.uk/studying-at-the-rca/facilities/college-wide-facilities/library/ ›
Full title	: COLE, Henry (1808-1882)
Date(s)	: 1858-1859
Level of description	: Collection (fonds)
Extent	: 1 volume
Name of creator(s)	: Cole | Sir | Henry | 1808-1882 | Knight | Public Servant

Context

Administrative/Biographical history:

Henry Cole was born in Bath in 1808, at the age of 15 he began working for the public records historian and eventually became assistant keeper of the Public Records Office. In response to Prince Albert's Society of Arts competition in 1845, Cole designed a tea service using the pseudonym Felix Summerley which was subsequently manufactured by Minton and embodied his ideas of combining form with function. Following the success of the tea service, in 1847 Cole founded Summerley's Art Manufactures which enabled artists and sculptors to design for industry. Two years later, in 1849, Cole and the painter Richard Redgrave founded The Journal of Design and Manufactures. By this time Cole was involved in the arrangements for the Great Exhibition of 1851 which would display "art applied to industry" through exhibits from around the world. The success of the Great Exhibition encouraged better design schooling in England and in 1852 the Board of Trade set up a department of practical art with Cole as joint secretary, with Lyon Playfair (1818-1898), in this capacity he formed the nucleus of the collections of the Victoria and Albert Museum. In 1858 he became sole secretary and in 1873 resigned his secretaryship. He was made Knight Commander of the Bath in 1875 and died in London in 1882.

Content

Scope and content/abstract:

Diary of Henry Cole,1858-1859, during which time he became sole secretary of the Department of Practical Art, established by the Board of Trade to capitalise on the success of the Great Exhibition by promoting the teaching of design for industry.

Access & Use

Language/scripts of material:
English.

System of arrangement:

Single item

Conditions governing access:

Open to all researchers by appointment

Conditions governing reproduction:

Copying is not allowed.

Finding aids:

Archival Information

Archival history:

Unknown

Immediate source of acquisition:

Unknown

Allied Materials

Related material:

The National Art Library of the Victoria and Albert Museum holds the main collection of Henry Cole papers.

National Register of Archives: Click here to view NRA record

Publication note:

Description Notes

Archivist's note:
Compiled by Janet Foster as part of the RSLP AIM25 Project.

Rules or conventions:
NCA rules for construction of personal, place and corporate names (1997), and ISAD (G), Second edition.

Date(s) of descriptions:
November 2000