A HISTORY OF DURHAM 



8,000 ; thus only Dixon and Cookson were left 

 in the firm. John Cookson died in 17837 



The extensive foreign trade done by the firm 

 is shown by an old day book, 1745-47,* in which 

 'adventures' to Hamburg, New York, Rotter- 

 dam, Copenhagen, Dantzic, Lisbon, Edinburgh, 

 and Rhode Island are of frequent occurrence. 

 As John Dagnia appears as a purchaser in this 

 day book, the popular idea that he was a partner 

 in the Cookson firm is disposed of. The Cess 

 Books of St. Hilda's from 1760 to 1797 contain 

 each year returns of the payment of the Cookson 

 glass-houses; in 1760 Cookson and Deer paid 

 i os. 3^., John Cookson 15*. 6d., but by 1766 

 Cookson and Deer were paying at i Js. y John 

 Cookson had become Cookson & Co. and was 



As Deer was a son-in-law of Dagnia, his con- 

 nexion with the glass trade is easily explained. 

 Apparently these were the old glass and bottle 

 works in East Holborn ; unfortunately all the 

 books and papers concerning these works were 

 destroyed a few years ago, and the works having 

 been carried on by a limited liability company 

 were then taken over by Lamberts and eventually 

 closed in 1873. In 1823 Mackenzie says that 

 they employed about IOO men. Perhaps nothing 

 can give a more vivid impression of the extent of 

 the glass trade in the north than the description 

 given in the Newcastle Courant of 2O September, 

 1823: 



On Friday last the flint glass makers employed in 

 the houses on the Tyne and Wear walked in proces- 

 sion in this town, and the elegant and magnificent 

 display of workmanship exhibited on that occasion 

 evinced the perfection this art has attained, as it may 

 safely be affirmed that in the number of objects, the 

 variety of the forms, the excellency of the workman- 

 ship and the difficulty of their execution it has seldom 

 been equalled. The men all wore sashes, and glass 

 stars suspended from their necks, by chains or drops of 

 variegated colour, the great majority of them had glass 

 feathers in their hats, and each individual carried a 

 glass ornament in his hand. The men from six glass 

 houses composed the procession. 



South Shields, flag ; large cut glass upon pillars, 

 supported by two swords ; bugle ; wind mill ; a fort 

 mounted with seven cannon; violin and bow; the men 

 wore white sashes trimmed with blue. 



Sunderland, Wear. Silk banner with " Wear " and 

 the arms of Messrs White and Young ; large cut vase 

 and cover ; two chandeliers with branches, ornamented 

 with coloured button drops ; bearing cut decanters, 

 wines &c. and a wind mill at work, at the top ; 2 

 goblets with an engraving from Burns' song of ' Willie 

 brew'd,' &c. ; a bible lying open with 2 verses from 

 Proverbs ; a glass case containing a ship, the Henry, 

 mounting 64 guns ; a curious tube representing by 

 means of the action of different fluids the circulation 



1 From deeds kindly lent me by Mr. N. C. Cook- 

 son, and leases in the Durham Treasury. 



8 In the possession of Mr. N. C. Cookson. 



9 Cess Books of St. Hilda's, South Shields ; i, 1690- 

 1716; ii (missing), 1716-60; iii, 1760-97. 



of the blood in the human body .... 3 glass cases, 

 one containing a Coss.ick ; another a gentleman driv- 

 ing a gig, with his dog fol!owing him ; and the third 

 a representation of his infernal majesty. 



The men had pink sashes trimmed with blue, with 

 the word " Wear " upon them, the cutters had a cut 

 rose, thistle and shamrock supporting the feathers in 

 the cap. 



Durham, flag. Gateshead arms on on: side ; Dur- 

 ham and British Pint glass works in the circle, and 

 " By honourable exertion " in the garter on the other. 

 Large Prussian lamp ; obscured and painted figure of 

 Justice stained ; 28 words; crown gilded glass, with 

 2 tassels, supported by 2 persons carrying white wands ; 

 2 cut candlesticks, mounted with spangles and icicles ; 

 crown borne by a person wearing a glass hat, with the 

 Motto " Industry and Unity " ; a representation in 

 stained, painted and engraved glass of Samuel declaring 

 the judgements of God upon Eli's house ; 2 variegated 

 pedestal lamps with painted shades. The men 

 of these works had blue silk sashes trimmed with 

 orange, with the letters D. G. W. on them and all cut 

 rosettes below. 



But the glass-works on the east side of the 

 Mill Dam, where blown plate glass was manu- 

 factured, continued to flourish ; in 1833 Mr. 

 Isaac Cookson, in evidence given in to a Govern- 

 ment Commission of Inquiry sitting at Newcastle 

 on the glass trade, stated that the eighteen glass- 

 houses at Sunderland and South Shields paid in 

 all 133,196 in duty out of 680,004 P a 'd in- 

 all England, and five years later Mr. Shortridge, 

 himself a South Shields glass-maker, in giving 

 evidence before a Royal Commission says that he 

 thought the firm had been in existence for about 

 a century and a half and that they were the largest 

 glass-makers in the kingdom. 10 The works re- 

 mained in the hands of the Cookson family until 

 the year 1845, when the returns of the excise duty 

 show that there was more plate glass made at 

 South Shields than at any other manufactory in 

 the kingdom. 11 Possibly these were the original 

 Cookson glass-works. The Cooksons then re- 

 tired from the trade ; the firm became R. W. 

 Swinburne & Co. In 1858 a syndicate took 

 over almost all the plate glass manufactures of 

 England, the managing director was R. W. 

 Swinburne of South Shields ; many of the works 

 were stopped, but the South Shields were kept at 

 full work; in 1862 they were paying 30,000 

 in wages annually. In 1868 the syndicate dis- 

 solved, and the limited liability company who took 

 over the works failed in 1891. 



Another important firm established in 1797 

 was that of Shortridge & Co. 12 Possibly these 

 early works were the flint glass-works in West 

 Holborn, but later the firm had crown and bottle 

 works near the Mill Dam. In 1827 the glass 



10 Rep. from the Select Com. on Church Leases, 1838, 

 p. 123 ; Evidence of Richard Shortridge. 



11 R. Swinburne, 'Glass,' Industrial Resources of Tyne, 

 Tees, and Wear, 198. 



11 St. Hilda's Cess Book, iii. 



310 



