Ravenhead glass
Ravenhead Glass was a glassworks near Ravenhead Colliery, Lancashire, North West England. It was founded in 1850 by Frances Dixon and John Merson after a move from their earlier (1842) factory at Thatto Heath near St Helens. In 1852, this factory was sold to the Pilkington Brothers and Frances Dixon then acquired a 13-acre (53,000 m2) site at Ravenhead, building a new gas-powered glassworks.
In 1913 the company merged with five other glass manufacturers, forming UGB (United Glass Bottle Manufacturers Limited).
Until 1931 these companies were primarily bottle makers but they branched out into domestic tableware in the 1930s making bowls, jugs and drinking glasses, many of these showing Art Deco influences.
From 1947, Alexander Hardie Williamson (1907–1994) was employed as consultant designer and during the 27 years he was with the company, he created over 1700 designs. Some of these were produced in their millions for public houses and restaurants and included the Paris goblet, the Nonik beer mug and the Babycham-style Champagne glass. He also designed a range of tableware, the Kilner jar and a collectable range of decorated tumblers. In 1972 Alexander Williamson retired.
Up until 1972 the company had been called United Glass Tableware Ltd but in that year Ronald Andrew Murphy was recruited from BOC's Sparklets Division to develop and market the retail business. A marketer with strong brand and product design expertise, he initiated the company name change to The Ravenhead Company Ltd., and appointed McBain, Noel-Johnson design company to design the now familiar Ravenhead bird logo and its application on products and packaging. The new brand name was quite simply created from the works location in Ravenhead, St Helens. The outstretched Raven logo had a strong resemblance to a champagne glass, so the brand met the characteristics desirable in a strong brand - distinctive, memorable and product relevant.
The retail range was rapidly expanded initially using John Clappison an existing freelance designer (John designed Barmasters, Elegance, White Fire, Topaz, Icelantic, Olympiad etc. and also refined and developed Hardie Williamson’s Siesta range). Ronald Murphy also arranged the sponsoring and formation of The Glassshouse in Covent Garden in conjunction with the Royal College of Art, The Glasshouse was a place where talented graduates could develop their glass and ceramic designs. Notable was Annette Meech (who designed the RosyTumblers, Apollo and Solar range for Ravenhead). Design awards followed and several products were featured in the London Design Centre.
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