Apsley Pellatt (27 November 1791 – 17 August 1863) was an English glassware manufacturer and politician.

He was the son of glassware maker Apsley Pellatt (1763–1826) and Mary (née Maberly) Pellatt.

Glassmaking career

He joined the family glass-making company of Pellatt and Green in 1811. He took over the London-based glass-works on his father's death, renaming it Apsley Pellatt & Co.[1]

His main interest lay in the chemistry of glass-making. In 1819, he took out his first patent for the manufacture of "sulfides" or Cameo Incrustations. Pellatt originally called them "Crystallo-Ceramie," reflecting their French origin.[2] The process involved the embedding of ceramic figurines into the glass sides of paperweights, jugs, decanters, etc., by cutting a hole in the hot glass, sliding in the insert, and resealing the glass afterward.

Pellatt became the most famous and successful producers of sulfides in England from 1819 to the mid-century rivalled only by Baccarat in France. He described their manufacture in a book on glass-making entitled "Curiosities of Glassmaking" published in 1849. After his retirement around 1850, the glass-works went into decline in the hands of his brother Frederic.

Political career

Pellatt was a public-spirited man who for some years served on the Common Council of the City of London. He unsuccessfully contested Bristol at the 1847 general election,[3] and was elected at the 1852 general election as a Member of Parliament (MP) for Southwark.[4] He held the seat until his defeat[5] at the 1857 general election,[6] and was unsuccessful when he stood again in 1859.[5]

He died in Balham in 1863 and was buried at Staines, where he had lived in later life. He had married twice, firstly in 1814 to Sophronia, daughter of Thomas Kemp; she died in 1815 aged only 23.[7] He married secondly, in Streatham in 1816, to Margaret Elizabeth, daughter of George Evans, of Balham, with whom he had one son, Apsley (who died young) and four daughters. His second wife died in 1874 and was buried alongside him. His younger brother, Mill Pellatt (1795-1863) was grandfather of Canadian financier Sir Henry Pellatt.[8]

References

  1. ^ "Morton D. Barker Paperweights: British Manufacturers - Apsley Pellatt -- Illinois State Museum".
  2. ^ "Glass notes: manufacturers, N to P". Great-glass.co.uk. 5 February 1907. Retrieved 14 May 2022.
  3. ^ Craig, F. W. S. (1989) [First published 1977]. British parliamentary election results 1832–1885 (2nd ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. p. 67. ISBN 0-900178-26-4.
  4. ^ "No. 21345". The London Gazette. 3 August 1852. p. 2129.
  5. ^ a b Craig 1989, pp. 16–17.
  6. ^ Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "S" (part 4)
  7. ^ Visitation of England and Wales, vol. 9., 1901, ed. Joseph Jackson Howard and Frederick Arthur Crisp, pp. 161-167, Pellatt pedigree
  8. ^ Visitation of England and Wales vol. 9, 1901, ed. Joseph Jackson Howard and Frederick Arthur Crisp, pp. 161-167, Pellatt pedigree

Further reading

External links

Parliament of the United Kingdom Preceded byJohn HumpherySir William Molesworth, Bt Member of Parliament for Southwark 1852 – 1857 With: Sir William Molesworth, Bt to 1855Sir Charles Napier from 1855 Succeeded byJohn LockeSir Charles Napier
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