James Powell & Sons

The firm of James Powell and Sons, also known as Whitefriars Glass, were English glassmakers, leadlighters and stained glass window manufacturers. As Whitefriars Glass, the company existed from the 17th century, but became well known as a result of the 19th century Gothic Revival and the demand for stained glass windows.

James Powell was born on 14th October, 1774 in Homerton, Hackney, East London. He was the twelfth child of 14, and the sixth son (though two had died before his birth); his parents were David Powell (13 Dec 1725 - 31 Jan 1810) and Laetitia Clark (25 Dec 1741 - 27 Apt 1801). On 28 Jan 1807, James Powell married Catherine Cotton (25 Apr 1774 - 24 Dec 1840), and they had four daughters and four sons, the Rev. James Cotton Powell (24 Feb 1809 - 29 Mar 1851), Arthur Powell (4 Feb 1812 - 28 Apr 1894), Nathanael Powell (15 Oct 1813 - 23 Jan 1906) and the Rev. John Cotton Powell (22 Mar 1817 - 28 Nov 1907). James Powell died on 5 Aug 1840 at Clapton House, Hackney.

In 1834 James Powell (1774–1840), then a 60-year-old London wine merchant and entrepreneur, purchased the Whitefriars Glass Company, a small glassworks off Fleet Street in London, believed to have been established in 1680. Powell, and his sons Arthur (then 22) and Nathanael (21), were newcomers to glass making, but soon acquired the necessary expertise. They experimented and developed new techniques, devoting a large part of their production to the creating of church stained glass windows. The firm acquired a large number of patents for their new ideas and became world leaders in their field, business being boosted by the building of hundreds of new churches during the Victorian era. While Powell manufactured stained glass windows, it also provided glass to other stained glass firms.

A major product of the factory was decorative quarry glass which was mass-produced by moulding and printing, rather than hand-cutting and painting. This product could be used in church windows as a cheap substitute for stained glass. It was often installed in new churches, to be later replaced by pictorial windows. Most of this quarry glass was clear, printed in black and detailed in bright yellow silver stain. Occasionally the quarries were produced in red, blue or pink glass, but these are rare. Surprisingly few entire windows of Powell quarries are to be seen in English churches, although they survive in little-seen locations such as vestries, ringing chambers and behind pipe organs. St Philip's Church, Sydney, retains a full set of Powell quarry windows, as does St Matthew's Church in Surbiton which was built in 1875 - a relatively late date for quarry windows, which may account for their survival. Powell also produced many windows in which pictorial mandorlas or roundels are set against a background of quarries.

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