In our previous post we gave you a
bit of an overview to the Crofts Collection.
But who is ‘Crofts’? And what do
we know about his collecting?
The collection was originally
collected by Arthur Edward Hastings Crofts (b.1849; d.1912) who actively collected
objects from 1905 until 1909. He amassed
his collection in just four years.
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| Pinched spout lamp from Cyprus |
Arthur was a timber merchant in
Bradford, working his way up from cashier to manager (by 1901) and then to business
owner (by 1911). His collecting
coincided with his career progression which is quite interesting… Although we’ll
never know how much one influenced the other and whether collecting was part of
establishing a ‘middle class identity’ (a big topic for another day – but worth
thinking about!).
William Cudworth
One of Arthur Crofts key
correspondents was William Cudworth.
Cudworth also lived in Bradford and was a retired journalist. He was involved in the Bradford Literary and
Philosophical Society, a local historian and an antiquarian. Looking at the letters in the paper archive,
it’s clear that Cudworth took Crofts under his wing and provided advice on
specific collecting areas (he suggested Roman glassware, objects from Cyprus
and Roman lamps). From the objects in
our collection you can tell Crofts took Cudworth’s advice!
Arthur Crofts bought some of
Cudworth’s collection, either arranged with Cudworth or his family after
William Cudworth’s death in 1906 (there is an invoice signed by one of his sons,
that’s dated to after his death).
George F. Lawrence (“Stoney Jack”)
Cudworth also got Crofts in touch
with George F. Lawrence (known as “Stoney Jack”) - an antiquities dealer based
in London. Crofts bought some objects
for his collection from G.F. Lawrence and also asked Lawrence for his opinion
on objects he was thinking of buying.
Cleanthes Pierides
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| Pricket oil lamp from Italy (possibly Sicily) |
Some of the objects Crofts had wanted
an opinion on belonged to Cleanthes Pierides.
Cleanthes was an antiquities dealer based in Limmasol, Cyprus. He sent through letters and photographs of
objects for Crofts to look at, for him to decide what he would like to buy.
All of these correspondents give an
insight into how Crofts formed his collection and the wealth of advice he drew upon. It also shows the significant process,
sending letters and objects through the post, which all contributed to the
collection that we have at Hull and East Riding Museum.
But hang on a second. Arthur Crofts was from Bradford. His collection is in Hull. How did that happen?
…find out in our next post!
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