GENERAL NOTESAuthor(s): DAVID JEREMIAHSource: Journal of the Royal Society of Arts, Vol. 117, No. 5153 (APRIL 1969), pp. 365-367Published by: Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and CommerceStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/41370342 .

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GENERAL NOTES

New Commemorative plaques in j the London Area The Greater London Council has recently announced its intention to erect three new plaques on buildings in the London area to com- memorate famous men: for A. E. Housman (1859-1936), the poet, at Byron Cottage, 17 North Road, Haringey, where he wrote much of A Shropshire Lad ; for Hector Berlioz (1803-69), the French composer, whose centenary is cele- brated this year, at 58 Queen Anne Street, West- minster, where he stayed in the summer of 1851 ; and for Philip Webb (1831-1915), the architect, and William Morris (1834-96), the poet and craftsman, at the Red House, Bexleyheath, their joint creation, built by Webb for his friend in 1 859-60, and described in a paper presented to this Society many years ago as 'the first [house] in England of the nineteenth century to be arranged and decorated in a departure from the hideous- ness' of contemporary taste.

The erection of these memorials, which serve the dual purpose of celebrating the eminent and indicating houses of historical interest, is of par- ticular note to the Society, for it originated the practice in London in 1867, and was responsible for arranging all the tablets put up between that year and 1901, when, by agreement, the work was assumed by the London County Council. The most recent occasion when the Society took the initiative in this way was in 1961, to mark the centenary of the birth of the Indian sage, Rabindranath Tagore.

Formation of the Computer Arts Society A recent development of interest to Fellows is the formation of the Computer Arts Society, a specialist group of the British Computer Society, to promote the creative use of computers in the arts and to encourage the interchange of informa- tion on this subject. The term 'creative', it is stated, 'will be applied with some strictness : the use of computers in the analysis of works of art, important though this is, will not usually be included, except where it leads to some syn- thesis of new works. The term computer will be applied broadly, to include machines and tech- niques with computer-like functions providing scope for programming, which explore new creative possibilities. All arts, pure and applied, are included'.

The long-term object of the Society is to establish 'a permanent workshop where artists can co-operate with computer experts in the pro- duction of computer-generated and computer- aided art'. In the short term, a function has been planned, called 'Event One', consisting of demonstrations and discussions, which will be

taking place at the Royal College of Art as this Journal is being published, on 29th-30th March.

Further information about the new body may be obtained from Alan Sutcliffe, International Computers Ltd, Brandon House, Bracknell, Berkshire.

Studies in the Society's Archives, LXXIII

The Society of Arts and the National Drawing Education Campaign

(ii) The Working of the Drawing Committee The first action of the newly formed Drawing Committee was to ask other organizations about their approach to the problem of providing elementary drawing education. It would now appear that the patience of Committee members was exhausted, for within a week of writing to these various learned bodies, they had prepared their report and course of action.

This report was made public on 15th January 1851 by Henry Cole, prophesying that the Great Exhibition would reveal that such a plan was essential for the successful education of the masses in the perception and practice of art. It was a plan based on mutai co-operation. The Society's aid was only to be given after a local Committee had guaranteed the provision of suitable premises, a sum of not less than £50 per annum for the school and a willingness to 'adopt the general Rules framed by the Society'.1 For its own part, the Society was to provide a trained instructor for two hours on each of the three evenings, suitable drawing models and examples, a system of inspectorships, and an annual prize giving.

The Society was not alone in this work. One of the most significant contributions had been made by the North London Drawing School, opened in May 1850. The Art Journal ranked its work as so important that in the issue of March 1852, the Society and the Mayors of Bradford, Halifax and Exeter, were advised to consult with the North London Drawing School. From its earliest days the school had received the patronage of Prince Albert as a place 'highly beneficial to the artisans'.2 It was therefore not surprising that Neville Warren, Honorary Sec- retary to the Committee of the Suburban Artisan Schools, wrote to The Times criticizing the Society of Arts for trying to 'take to them- selves the credit of plans the main feature of which have been successfully arranged and introduced by others'.3 This allegation was un- true, although the Society did rather think of itself as a pioneer answering a great national need. It was unfortunate that the two Com- mittees failed to co-operate at this stage.

The controversy was only part of the much wider public interest, roused by the impact of

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JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF ARTS

the Great Exhibition, in the organizing of an artisan drawing education, and for the Society of Arts, freed from its obligations to the Exhibition, this was an opportune moment to reiterate its intention of aiding the establishment of elementary drawing schools. The Drawing School Committee was re-formed with thirteen members, including such distinguished men as the Earl of Carlisle, Charles Dickens and, of course, the irrepressible Henry Cole. Their task was to bring before the public, particularly in large manufacturing towns, the Society's pro- posal to aid in establishing artisans' drawing and modelling schools, and the directive suggested that they should commence with Bradford, a town possessing no school of design. The general response was favourable. Halifax and Marylebone were willing to co-operate with the Society in any proceeding that would tend to promote art education in the locality, and the Council also received applications for advice and assistance of the kind offered, from Exeter, Ripon and Kensington.

In answer to an invitation, dated 26th January 1852, from Henry Forbes, a personal friend of Henry Cole and a member of the Society since 1842, a deputation of prominent men from the Society, consisting of General Sir Charles Pasley, Henry Cole, Owen Jones and W. G. Yapp, attended a public meeting in Bradford on the night of 2nd February to discuss the statements of the Council with the inhabitants of the borough. Cole and Jones have already figured prominently in this work, but what claims had the other two members to act as promoters of art applied to manufacture ? General Pasley had a life-long interest in educa- tion, particularly in relation to military en- gineering, a subject on which he was a most prolific writer. His many published pamphlets included such topics as practical architecture and practical geometry, and through the similar treatment of the science of geometry and elemen- tary drawing it becomes evident that Pasley realized the close affinity that existed between the subjects as they were then interpreted. So convinced was he of this association that he donated to the Drawing Committee fifty copies of his book Practical Geometry for distribution to schools associated with the Society's venture. Since 1837 W. G. Yapp had been a regular contributor to the Penny Cyclopaedia , but it would appear that his work as compiler of the Great Exhibition Catalogue was responsible for bringing his literary and organizing capabilities to the attention of the Society's Drawing Com- mittee. Confident in Yapp's abilities, the Draw- ing Committee delegated him to explain the Society's plan to a public meeting at Halifax, while the rest of the deputation studied the situation in Bradford. On his return to London, Yapp's qualities were recognized by the Council, who elected him a full member of the Drawing Committee.

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APRIL 1969

As part of his opening speech to the meeting at Bradford, Cole referred to the fact that the town already possessed a drawing school, run by the Mechanics Institute. In other words, as Cole indicated, 'the point at which the deputa- tion had intended to begin, was rendered super- fluous as soon as they came here'.4 Nevertheless, in Cole's opinion the meeting had been a great success ; it had agreed that the already existing drawing school should merge with the new one, and that it should open both in the morning and in the evening. However, in reporting back to Committee, the deputation was a little more sceptical, posing the question of whether the Committee was prepared to embark on a venture of much greater proportions than originally intended. There were doubts - possibly accen- tuated by withdrawal of the Halifax request for aid to establish a drawing school - that were never allayed, and were contributory to the eventual dissolution of the plan on 30th June 1852, even though throughout June the Com- mittee was receiving letters requesting assistance for the formation of drawing classes, and a net- work of contacts was being established through the newly formed Union of Institutes. The Drawing School Committee presented the Council with a resolution stating that, because of government action, 'all applications for masters, examples etc. be referred to the Department of Practical Art'.5 For its own part, the Society would simply provide drawing materials and books. It may be added that Fine Art premiums were also reintroduced after being held in abeyance for two years.

Did the government's action warrant such a hasty retreat ? In its Annual Report, following the publication of the 1849 Select Committee Report, the Central School of Design showed a willingness to accept the rôle played by privately established elementary drawing schools; indeed the School was willing to help those already established in Mechanics Institutes and Literary Institutions, in addition to any it might itself open. However, not until the School of Design came under the guiding hand of Cole, at the beginning of 1852, were any positive plans drawn up. These bore fruit in the opening of an elementary drawing school in London on 2nd June 1852. In his opening speech, Cole went to great length to clarify the position from the point of view of the School. It was not competing against other organizations, but rather hoped that it could encourage and aid Mechanics Insti- tutes, public schools, and other educational institutions to do likewise.

These were words that need not necessarily have spelled the end of action by the Society; but its inadequate organization and hasty preparation had been exposed by the Bradford fiasco and by its underestimate of the demand for trained teachers6 which showed that the Society had not the resources to fulfil its own

I promises. Such inefficiency must have contri-

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APRIL 1969

buted to the failure of this venture, and it seems more than coincidence that the Society's interest in elementary drawing schools should begin in the year in which Henry Cole gained control of Í the Council, and end when he, realizing the | Society's inadequacy, had found a seemingly i more efficient machine to carry out his project. : It also seems plausible, remembering that at the ! same time as Cole was formulating his plan for a Government Elementary Drawing School he was giving the Society of Arts his full co- operation in the publication of a drawing book, that the Society, having realized the magnitude of the operation with which it was faced, was j only too willing to accept the new rôle of publisher and vendor of educational materials, j Therefore, the opening of the Government s

GENERAL NOTES

Elementary Drawing School was not the death blow to the Society's scheme, but a suitable basis for staging a retreat from promises already made.

DAVID JEREMIAH {To be continued)

i. Min. Comm. (Misc.), 30th Oct. 1850. 2. Journal of Design, May 1850, p. 121. 3. lhe Times , 19th Nov. 1851. 4. The Bradford Observer , 5th Feb. 1852. 5. Min. Council, 40th Tune i8s2, d. <>8. 6. Many of the large Northern towns could and did organize drawing classes, but found difficulty in arranging adequate staffing. This point cannot be over-emphasized. Any source was considered: one Mechanics Institute even suggested that the Journal of Design should make up for this deficiency by publishing some information on the groundwork demanded for ornamentation.

OBITUARY

Sir Charles Colston Sir Charles Colston, cbe, mc, dcm, who died on 14th February, aged 77, was formerly Chairman j of Hoover Ltd, and founded the washing-up I machine business bearing his name. He was j trained as an electrical engineer and served with the Engineers in the First World War, being twice decorated. He joined Hoover in 19 19, and his rise in the firm was rapid. Within a year he was appointed a director and in 1928 he became managing director. Under his direction during the next decade the size and turnover of the com- pany increased enormously, outgrowing its ¡

American counterpart. He was Chairman from 1937 to 1954, when he gave way to Herbert Hoover, and entered into partnership with Mr. John Bloom to form Rolls-Colston Appliances, subsequently Colston Appliances. He retired from business in 1964.

During the 1939-45 war Colston was a Regional Controller at the Ministry of Produc- tion and Chairman of the London and South- East Regional Board. He was made CBE in 1946 and Knighted in 1950. He had been a Fellow of the Society since 1948.

CORRESPONDENCE

Roads and Traffic Problems I From J. A. C. Williams , College of Aeronautical

& Automobile Engineering , Chelsea Mr. A. C. Durie has drawn attention [see above, p. 349] to the important results published by the British Road Federation on the effect of different types of roads on the speeds of vehicles operating from the Midlands: this study was necessarily restricted. Of course, from a viewpoint of economics of goods transport, a measure such as the time from Seller's Goods Outwards Depart- ment to Buyer's Goods Inwards Department is a much more useful figure. It takes into account the considerable amount of waiting and handling time imposed on vehicles by inadequate goods handling facilities at terminal points, which contribute considerably to transport costs and often to road congestion. It is becoming more and more apparent that with the increased number of vehicles on the road, transport costs could increase at a far greater rate than by direct proportion to vehicle numbers, owing to interaction effects. Operational research tech-

niques show that large savings can be made to cover fleet size for a given level of deliveries and, indeed, this has happened in a few cases. The introduction of a more analytical approach to solving some of our operational problems in commercial vehicle transport is becoming more and more necessary, especially now that the introduction of the Road Safety Act is raising the general level of expenditure on vehicle testing and maintenance. Discussions, to which the Institute of Road Transport Engineers have been a party, with the Ministry and other bodies regarding the Transport Managers Licence, do show a need for a far more professional attitude to operation.

My experience in dealing with road transport operators, managers and engineers in the train- ing and educational field is that there is a general lack of appreciation by non-engineers of the fact that engineers can differ widely in their general field of operation, education and training. There is a tendency to identify engineering required in road transport and traffic studies with civil en- gineering, and indeed most of the university

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