Paul Archibald 14 February 2000
In this well attended lecture Paul Archibald gave an account of the history of Mauchline Ware. Paul explained that in the 18th Century snuff taking was very popular and that the invention of the hidden hinge in Alyth in northern Scotland was very significant. It allowed precious stuff to be preserve much better than the previous boxes. The manufacture of these boxes became common all over Scotland. The first Ayrshire snuffboxes can be attributed, with reasonable certainty, to William Crawford of Cumnock. The secret eventually spread to other Ayrshire locations, including Mauchline, and it was from these beginnings that the vast range of products now known as Mauchline Ware owe their origins.
As snuff-taking started to decline in the 19th century many box makers ceased production. But W. & A. Smith saw the writing on the wall and realised that they had to diversify. They began making other items using similar techniques and grew into a highly successful business.
Paul described the life of Archibald Brown, who brought the craft to Lanark in the 1850's. Brown was born in Douglas and his wife was from Mauchline and Brown learned the craft in that town. After spending a period in the north of Scotland Archibald Brown came to Lanark to open the the Caledonian Box and Fancy Goods Works. This factory was in production until the end of the century and at one time employed over a hundred townsfolk. Detailed census research has shown that a good proportion of the workforce was originally from Mauchline. The factory made many diverse products including conventional Mauchline ware, tartan ware, fern ware and photographic ware.
Brown was an artist and innovator who had many licensed designs and patents. One of his staple techniques was fern ware. This finish could be applied to quite large pieces of furniture such as wardrobes, tables and screens as well as the more usual smaller items. Brown is also credited for being the originator of the development of photographic ware. Brown was a keen amateur photographer and could see the potential of using photographs as an alternative to transfer prints. Brown travelled all over Europe taking photographs and eventually gave up the management of the Caledonian Box Works to concentrate all of his efforts on his photographic studio. The studio was still trading into the 1960s and Paul revealed that he had a photograph of himself in infancy bearing their name.
After his talk Paul showed many pieces from his own collection and discussed the various objects which had been brought in by many members of the audience. Ann Clark gave a vote of thanks for what had been a very interesting and entertaining talk.