Northwood's Town Pump - The Story Behind The Glass
Based on our original material first published in February, 2011
Northwood’s famous Town Pump
Town Pump, purple, Northwood
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The Richardson Pump, Stourbridge, 1880 (*)
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First made in Carnival Glass in 1912, Northwood’s Town Pump is a very desirable object. Intended as a novelty flower holder, it stands approx. 6” (15 cm) tall and features a moulded design of ivy leaves. The delicate spout and sinuously curving handle, although prone to damage, are a nod to the Richardson original. The Carnival colours known are amethyst, green (rare) and marigold.
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When Harry Northwood created his first version of the Town Pump, it’s unlikely that he was thinking about creaking, old water pumps on leafy lanes. What is much more likely is that Harry's inspiration was the magnificent Town Pump created by the renowned Stourbridge glassworks of Benjamin Richardson in 1880, shown above right. The similarity of the handle and spout are unmistakeable. * Photo is courtesy of and copyright Broadfield House Glass Museum, Kingswinford, Benjamin Richardson III Bequest It’s a splendid item, described by the Dudley Museums Service as a “novelty flower holder in the form of a pump with handle and bucket; frosted decoration, oval mirror base”. When the Richardson Pump was first created, the twenty year old Harry Northwood was still living in Stourbridge, honing his skills in the glass industry and finishing his studies at Art School. The following year Harry emigrated to the USA to make his own way in a new glass industry. |
Village Pump at Lord’s Stone, near Hope, Shropshire. Copyright Dave Croker and licensed for re-use under the Creative Commons License. Note the ivy obligingly curling around the Pump.
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Town Pump, marigold, Northwood.
Courtesy of Seeck Auctions. Marigold is a hard-to-find colour for a Town Pump. |
Harry Northwood's initial version of a Town Pump in glass was first devised in 1894 at his Ellwood City factory in Pennsylvania. As the 1894 advert shown below illustrates very clearly, his first design was inspired by the earlier Richardson original (including the bucket!) that Harry would have seen while he was working and training in England.
Harry Northwood's initial version of a Town Pump in glass was first devised in 1894 at his Ellwood City factory in Pennsylvania. As the 1894 advert shown below illustrates very clearly, his first design was inspired by the earlier Richardson original (including the bucket!) that Harry would have seen while he was working and training in England.
Extract from Northwood's ad in the December 1894 "Crockery and Glass
Journal".
Northwood's first Pump was blown art glass. Then, five years later, in 1899, Harry Northwood made a second version of the Town Pump, but this time his aim was almost certainly to create a machine-made article that could be mass produced, and yet would resemble the art glass rarity that had inspired it.
Harry’s new version was pressed glass and had a moulded tree bark design and a matching trough; but that version wasn’t made in Carnival Glass.
Just over a decade later in 1912, however, the Carnival Glass Town Pump as we know it, was born at Northwood’s factory in Wheeling, Ohio.
Read more of The Stories Behind The Glass in Carnival Glass Times
Harry’s new version was pressed glass and had a moulded tree bark design and a matching trough; but that version wasn’t made in Carnival Glass.
Just over a decade later in 1912, however, the Carnival Glass Town Pump as we know it, was born at Northwood’s factory in Wheeling, Ohio.
Read more of The Stories Behind The Glass in Carnival Glass Times