Ernest William Gimson [commonly known as Ernest Gimson] was was born in Leicester, Leicestershire, England, on 21 December 1864 and was articled to Isaac Barradale (1845-1902) in Leicester. He also attended Leicester School of Art. In 1884 he met William Morris following a lecture he gave at the Leicester Secular Society on 'Art and socialism'. He encouraged Gimson to go to London and recommended him to the architect John Dando Sedding (1838-1891). He subsequently worked in Sedding's office from 1886 to 1888. He met Ernest Barnsley (1863-1926) at Seddings studio and through him, his brother Sidney Barnsley (1865-1926), with whom he formed a lasting friendship. Gimson however was not a socialist. He called himself an individualist, inspired by the nineteenth-century writer and philosopher Herbert Spencer whose work was influential in France and the United States as well as in Britain. Annette Carruthers worked as a curator with the Gimson collections at Leicestershire and Cheltenham Museums. Mary Greensted has been curator and deputy director at Cheltenham Museum. Barley Roscoe is a freelance curator and writer and formerly director of the Holburne Museum and Crafts Study Centre in Bath. Sydney Gimson owned an iron foundry in Leicester and wanted a summer retreat in the idyllic countryside setting of Charnwood Forest where he, his wife Jeannie and their two children could escape from the noise and smoke of the industrial city. He turned to his brother Ernest, one of the most influential artists in the Arts and Crafts Movement. The welcome Mr and Mrs Gimson gave on those winter evenings had the magical quality of their home. Ernest Gimson combined sympathy and humour with knowledge about everything. He was a kindly wizard, who could tell us all about plants and animals, stars and cathedrals, politics and history, art and books. Little snorts of appreciation and of fun were characteristic of him, as he told. We sat, listening and talking, by candles and log-fire light.’

Gimson and the Barnsley brothers moved to the rural region of the Cotswolds in Gloucestershire in 1893 "to live near to nature". They soon settled at Pinbury Park, near Sapperton, on the Cirencester estate, under the patronage of the Bathurst family. In 1900, he set up a small furniture workshop in Cirencester, moving to larger workshops at Daneway House, a small medieval manor house at Sapperton, where he stayed until his death in 1919. He strove to invigorate the village community and, encouraged by his success, planned to found a Utopian craft village. He concentrated on designing furniture, made by craftsmen, under his chief cabinet-maker, Peter van der Waals, whom he engaged in 1901. Sapperton Farm, (fn. 34) was a small 18th-century farmhouse to which a large, gabled, Cotswold-style south Nicholas Mander, Owlpen Manor, Gloucestershire: a short history and guide (Owlpen Press, current edition, 2006) OCLC 57576417 ISBN 0-9546056-1-6 He had strong convictions throughout his life. These led him to cut short his articles to Isaac Barradale early in 1884 and to break off the partnership with Ernest Barnsley in about 1903. It was probably the volume of his correspondence as a young student which drove William Morris to write to his daughter, May, in 1885: Mrs Gimson is a very nice little person with very brilliant blue eyes and does all she can think of to spoil me with comforts external and internal. I sit in a nice porch and have my meals and write etc. and in front of me is a great bank of yew trees beyond the lawn, with glimpses through to the wooded hill behind.’In 1884 Gimson heard William Morris deliver a lecture and had the opportunity to meet him afterwards. Morris encouraged Gimson to move to London and helped him secure a position at the offices of J.D. Sedding, a church architect. Gimson was fascinated by traditional crafts and learned practical skills such as rush-seated chair making and moulded and modelled plasterwork. In the middle of our talk Gimson suddenly seized the iron fire clippers. “There,” said he “Can any smith of yours make a piece like that? Oh yes, you may well pore over it - it is the most difficult double joint you can forge’ Two years later, aged 21, Gimson had both architectural experience and a first class result from classes at Leicester School of Art. He moved to London to gain wider experience, and William Morris wrote him letters of recommendation. The first architectural practice he approached was John Dando Sedding, where he was taken on, and stayed for two years.[4] From Sedding, Gimson derived his interest in craft techniques, the stress on textures and surfaces, naturalistic detail of flowers, leaves and animals, always drawn from life, the close involvement of the architect in the simple processes of building and in the supervision of a team of craftsmen employed direct. Seddings offices were next door to the showrooms of Morris & Co., providing opportunity to see first hand the first flourishing of Arts and Crafts design. He met Ernest Barnsley at Sedding's studio, and through him, Sidney Barnsley, a friendship that was to last the rest of his life.[5] Although many friends and colleagues commented on the pleasure they took in the company of children, Ernest and Emily Gimson were childless. Emily Gimson was very musical with a good singing voice. She used to play the piano for the Sunday night dances at the village hall at Sapperton. Margaret James, a pioneer of the English Folk Dance movement alongside Emily Gimson in the first decade of the 20th century, described her as:

Godfrey Blount was a painter who was deeply influenced by the ideas of leading art critic of the Victorian era, John Ruskin. In 1896 Blount and his wife Ethel moved to Haslemere in Surrey to join Ethel's sister, Maud, and her husband Joseph, who had established the Haslemere Peasant Industries. This group of workshop-based craft enterprises together formed an artistic community that aimed at obtaining 'the double pleasure of lovely surroundings and happy work'. The Blounts later set up their own enterprise called the Peasant Arts Society, which used local women to produce hand-woven pile carpets and simple embroidered appliqués on linen known as 'peasant tapestries'. Made to Blount's designs, the tapestries were used as door curtains, casement curtains, bed spreads and bed hangings, and became very fashionable in artistic circles. I certainly take Mr Gimson's view, at least as much as I have ever thought of it. That it would be fearful to imagine in a world to come an everlasting time that would go on for ever. It appals me quite.’ Ground Floor - Front entrance vestibule giving access through to the reception hall, beam ceilings, feature Porcelanosa marble tiled flooring and a magnificent original stone staircase leading to the first floor. Another highlight at Marchmont House was the personal and moving short film The Chairmaker: Lawrence Nealby Falcon Productions for Marchmont Farms Ltd. The last in line from Gimson’s chair-making enterprise, Neal is now being supported to train two apprentices who will carry on the craft in new workshops at Marchmont. Some of Lawrence Neal’s chairs, and those of his father Neville Neal, are in regular use at Bedales School in Hampshire, and a new addendum to the film was shown for the first time – a series of interviews with current and ex-students who treasure their formative experiences studying in the school’s Gimson-designed library. Ernest Gimson and the Legacy of Sustainability Originality and initiative: the Arts and Crafts archives at Cheltenham. Edited by Mary Greensted and Sophie Wilson. Cheltenham, England: Cheltenham Art Gallery and Museums in association with Lund Humphries, 2003And then, of course, there was the venue to luxuriate in. Marchmont House is an impressive Palladian mansion with a wing designed by Sir Robert Lorimer, the Scottish Arts and Crafts architect and a contemporary of Gimson who admired his work. The house is in a beautiful rural location near the town of Duns with extensive grounds seen possibly at their best in the spring sunshine we were blessed with. We were able to appreciate new projects including a fresco painter at work at a mural using the newly-unearthed Marchmont red. From our extremely comfortable bedrooms to the dining area we were surrounded by contemporary art and 19th-century to Arts & Crafts furniture from Pugin through to Gordon Russell. The official part to the day ended with an informal but hands-on look at some of these pieces. Garden room, French door to the rear elevation with stunning views, wood strip flooring and further French doors to the side elevation. Ernest Barnsley and his younger brother Sidney both trained as architects. After graduation Sidney completed his training at London architect Norman Shaw, a proponent of 'Old English' style, and Ernest at John Dando Sedding, an influential Arts and Crafts designer. It was through Ernest working for Sedding that he and later Sidney met Ernest Gimson [see below], a fellow trainee architect. In 1893 Gimson and Sidney Barnsley persuaded Ernest to leave his accelerating architectural career to join them in setting up a craft community in Sapperton in Gloucestershire, that was to focus on working with local people and materials. Here the Barnsley brothers produced furniture that adhered to the Arts and Crafts ideal: visible construction, simple structures and limited decoration. Yours of Nov. 10th to hand. Mr. Pugsley has, I suppose, informed you about the conditions. We pay 8d. per hour and offer a permanency to good men. We make high-class furniture only, therefore, we want first-class cabinetmaker.

It is fascinating to speculate whether Gimson’s uncompromising stance could have survived the upheavals of post-war society had he not died in August 1919. His views on standardised housing (‘Wrong, wrong’) reveal the growing gulf between his view of essential human needs and the practical requirements of the modern world. Nonetheless, his legacy continued through the incomparable craftsmanship of his furniture and the interest it aroused in European designers of the next generation, such as Josef Frank and Carl Malmsten. This book, similar in scope and importance to Sheila Kirk’s 2005 biography of Philip Webb, is an invaluable resource for those interested in Gimson’s life and work – and for understanding the impossibility of separating the two.The room was quiet, restful and dignified; in 1892, when the crowding and fussiness of the Victorian period still lingered in many homes, it might have seemed almost austere. First one noted the proportions of the room, which measured ten by seven of my paces without the bay, and was lofty, the top of the door only coming about two-thirds of the way up to the ceiling. Then one became aware that the room was well lit by its two windows on the north and the bay on the south, but not over-lit, so as to give and unsheltered feeling; one should surely feel an interior as such, unless it is a kind of garden-room or a sun-bathing annexe of the house. Annette Carruthers, Mary Greensted and Barley Roscoe discuss the life and legacy of Ernest Gimson on the 100th anniversary of his death …

Utility/laundry room, marble tiled flooring, range of base units with oak work surfaces, Belfast style sink unit, plumbing for washer and tumble dryer. The family remained closely involved with the Secular Movement. In August 1884 Ernest Gimson wrote to his elder brother saying: Family bathroom, a refitted suite with freestanding roll edge bath with shower attachment, pedestal wash hand basin, high level WC, chrome towel radiator, feature tiling, beamed ceiling, and built-in cupboards.The Leicester School of Art was built next to New Walk Museum and became part of the museum in the 1890s.