English Stuart Crystal Vase. Etched signature near base. 

Size: 6 1/4 x 6 1/4 x 13 1/4 in. 

#4273 . 

In 1827 an eleven year old orphan named Frederick Stuart was sent to work at the Red House Glassworks on the “crystal mile,” an area just outside Stourbridge, England that generations of local craftsmen had already made the center of glassmaking. He eventually rose through the ranks to be considered one of their most accomplished glass makers, leaving the company at twenty-four to become an independent glass salesman. The next year, he purchased the Glassworks, moving into the iconic 18th Century cone building that had become a national landmark. In 1853 Stuart entered into a partnership with two other companies, forming Mills, Webb & Stuart. With the capital from this they soon bought the Wordsley Iron Foundry, which was adjacent to the glassworks, and renamed it the Albert Glassworks. In the early 1870s the company was renamed Stuart and Mills after Webb passed away, and they became one of the primary suppliers of glassware to the growing ocean liner industry. They were the sole provider of crystal stemware to the White Star Line, with their largest shipment lost in the sinking of the Titanic in 1912. In 1883 Stuart consolidated the business into Stuart & Sons, dividing it evenly between himself and his seven sons. Stuart retired in 1897 and passed away in 1900. Stuart & Sons was incorporated as a limited company in 1911, and in 1936 all glass production was transferred from the Red House factory to new facilities at White House Glassworks. The original glassworks inside the cone is now a museum open to the public. In 1966 Stuart & Sons opened a second factory in South Wales. In 1979, due to safety issues, the White House factory was demolished, and a new company was formed in Scotland called Stuart Strathearn Glass. In 1995 the company and all its assets were acquired in a takeover by Waterford Wedgwood, and glass production ceased altogether in 2001. Today it is known as Stuart Crystal, and the name is used on a nostalgic giftware collection line.