2016-02

The Turner Museum o
Sheffield’s Turner Museum of
Glass is one of the UK’s most
comprehensive collections of 19th
and 20th Century glass. We asked
Emeritus Professor John M Parker to
tell us more.
Everyone knows Sheffield as a
centre for the metals industries.
W.E.S. Turner, arriving
in 1904 from humble
roots in Birmingham,
was no exception and he
set about applying his
university education to
make a difference. His
desire was to serve
and he was determined
to break down those
barriers of secrecy
holding industry back.
Based in what was soon
to be the University of
Sheffield he was well
placed. In 1914 he was
elected President of the
Sheffield Society of Applied
Metallurgy.
The granting of a university charter
in 1905 added impetus to change as
Sheffield sought to identify its place
among the new civic universities.
Turner circulated a questionnaire to
local industry but to his surprise many
replies came from small glass firms.
The glassmakers Wood Brothers in
Barnsley were typical and notably
Barnsley includes a glassmaker in
its coat of arms. All needed help and
Turner did not look away. He set up a
whole university department and created
a society with members drawn from
industry and university working together
to solve problems. The First World War
and associated shortages of glass-based
products such as laboratory-ware gave
yet another push to such developments.
He later commented ‘For better or
worse I am part and parcel of the glass
industry’.
In 1933 he expanded his horizons to
form an international community
of people interested in glassmaking,
using contacts in
Germany, Italy, Spain,
France, Russia and the
US. This organisation still
exists.
While principally a
technologist he also
appreciated good
design. Indeed his
second wife was
a renowned glass
artist and among
his colleagues was
Frederick Carder, who set
up the US firm Steuben
Glassworks, famous
for its innovative designs.
Such connections resulted in a
major personal collection of glass art,
including many unique items bequeathed
to him on his world travels. In 1943 he
gifted it to the university. Its 400 pieces
have since been boosted by a collection
of fine wine glasses and many individual
gifts.
You can visit the Turner Museum
of Glass on weekdays apart from
public holidays. It’s rarely busy in the
afternoons or during university holidays.
Access is from Portobello Street
opposite the entrance to the multi-storey
car park at the junction with Rockingham
Street. We are close to the West Street
St Chad’s Church, Linden Avenue, Woodseats
Church Office: 9 Linden Avenue, Sheffield S8 0GA
Tel: (0114) 274 5086
Page 10
email: office@stchads.org
website: www.stchads.org