William Beilby was a British

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 glassworker known to have produced eminent enamelled glass during the later half of the 18th century.

Beilby's father William senior was a goldsmith and jeweller in Durham

Durham

Durham is a city in north east England. It is within the County Durham local government district, and is the county town of the larger ceremonial county...

. Beilby, along with his brothers Richard, Ralph

Ralph Beilby

Ralph Beilby was an English engraver, working chiefly on silver and copper.He was the son of William Beilby, a jeweller and goldsmith of Durham who later moved to Newcastle upon Tyne to look for better opportunities. Ralph became a silversmith, jeweller, and seal-engraver under his father and...

 and Thomas were sent to grammar school during their childhood. Richard and Beilby, the oldest two, later went as apprentices to Birmingham

Birmingham

Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...

, the former learning seal engraving and the latter enamelling and drawing. Soon the business of William senior failed, and in 1757 the whole family moved to Newcastle upon Tyne

Newcastle upon Tyne

Newcastle upon Tyne is a city and metropolitan borough of Tyne and Wear, in North East England. Historically a part of Northumberland, it is situated on the north bank of the River Tyne...

 to start again. William senior died eight years later. Richard also died afterwards. Beilby and his sister Mary (1749-97) worked as enamellers for local glass makers.

As Ralph emerged as the business head of the family, Mary spent much of her time with Beilby, who had fallen in love with medieval Newcastle. Beilby was at once fascinated by the thriving glass industry about him, and it seems that it was at the Closegate in 1761 that Beilby became the first man in England, possibly the world, to fire enamels into glass, so that they became virtually part of the glass itself.

Beilby taught Mary to paint in enamels at the family workshop in Amen Corner by St Nicholas' Cathedral, though she never matched the skill of her brother. As he achieved greater recognition, Beilby was often called upon to create glasses with fictitious heraldry

Heraldry

Heraldry is the profession, study, or art of creating, granting, and blazoning arms and ruling on questions of rank or protocol, as exercised by an officer of arms. Heraldry comes from Anglo-Norman herald, from the Germanic compound harja-waldaz, "army commander"...

 on them, or pieces commemorating particular events like the election of the Lord Mayor or the launching of a ship. A superb example of the latter is the 'Margaret and Winneford' bowl in the Laing Art Gallery

Laing Art Gallery

The Laing Art Gallery in Newcastle upon Tyne, England is located on New Bridge Street. It was opened in 1904 and is now managed by Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums and sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. In front of the gallery is the Blue Carpet.The gallery holds oil paintings,...

. Beilby glasses can be found in great museums all over the world, and even when damaged are worth tens of thousands of pounds.

Beilby and Mary worked together from 1760 to 1778. In 1767 the young Thomas Bewick

Thomas Bewick

Thomas Bewick was an English wood engraver and ornithologist.- Early life and apprenticeship :Bewick was born at Cherryburn House in the village of Mickley, in the parish of Ovingham, Northumberland, England, near Newcastle upon Tyne on 12 August 1753...

 joined the family as an apprentice to Ralph. Bewick and Mary developed an affection for each other, though Ralph did all he could to put obstacles in the way of the young pair. After Mary had a stroke in 1774, however, Bewick's ardour cooled.

The family moved from Newcastle to London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

 in 1778 and then to Scotland

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

, where Mary died. Over this last period, the family produced no more glass, but Beilby painted more of his exquisite water colours. Eventually, he moved back to the family roots in Hull

Kingston upon Hull

Kingston upon Hull , usually referred to as Hull, is a city and unitary authority area in the ceremonial county of the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It stands on the River Hull at its junction with the Humber estuary, 25 miles inland from the North Sea. Hull has a resident population of...

in 1810.

External links

• Julius Kaplan, "A Short History of Eighteenth-century English Glass"