Records of Scott Morton and Company, woodwork designers, Edinburgh, Scotland

Description Records of Scott Morton and Company, woodwork designers, Edinburgh, Scotland

Date 1860 to 1989

Collection Records of Scott Morton and Company, woodwork designers, Edinburgh, Scotland

Catalogue Number 551 233

Category All Other

Scope and Content At the time of SAPPP there were approximately 4,680 items in the Collection, including working drawings, presentation drawings, nineteen sketchbooks, acquired books, source material, 11 plaster models, a press cuttings book and approximately 1,300 photographs. There are also 11 hard-backed letter books containing copies of correspondence dating from 1881 to 1924 with a job book for Scott Morton Ltd. Since then, additional accessions include a scale copy of the Parthenon Frieze, a set of headed stationery, a collection of design and source material and further photographic documentation. The range of commissions include cabinets, chairs, bookcases, mantelpieces, panelling, pedestals, tables, wardrobes, bedsteads, screens, desks, elder's chairs, kneelers, hymn boards, pulpits, pews, notice boards, memorials, organ cases, and miscellaneous woodwork such as heraldic carving and trophies. The Collection relates predominantly to the work of the Scott Morton Company rather than Tynecastle Tapestry, although trade catalogues, samples and assorted advertising pamphlets from the latter business are included. The Collection also features some work by the Whytock & Reid firm of woodworkers.

Archive History The Scott Morton Collection of designs for architectural woodwork and furniture was deposited in two principle accessions, the first being a donation by Peter Miller to the RIAS in the latter half of the 1980s. This material was subsequently presented to RCAHMS as part of the McKean Collection in 1999 (Accession Number 2002/179). The second part of the Collection was presented to RCAHMS by Elspeth Hardie, granddaughter of William Scott Morton, in 1991 (Accession Number 1991/11). There have been a number of significant additions from a variety of sources since then, including a collection of design and source material relating to Scott Morton & Co (Accession Number 2000/197); a scale copy of the Parthenon Frieze (Accession Number 2000/199); A set of headed stationery from the 1950s or 1960s (Accession Number 2002/151); and photographs of an eagle lectern and a panel depicting Christ and the three Marys in the Scott Morton workshop Accession Number (2004/193). The Collection was catalogued and conserved as part of the Scottish Architects' Papers Preservation Project (SAPPP) between 1999 and 2004. Of the above accessions, only the first two were included in SAPPP. The majority of these drawings and photographs arrived in brown paper folders labelled either by furniture type or by subject matter (i.e. ‘chairs;, ‘fonts’, ‘carvings’, ‘running ornament’ etc). This information was retained during cataloguing.

System of Arrangement The two accessions included in SAPPP (Accession Nos. 1991/11 and 2002/179) were physically amalgamated into one and items were catalogued primarily by the location for which the woodwork was intended. However, many of the drawings and photographs in the Collection were not identifiable, as they feature neither location nor date. These were catalogued according to type (i.e. ‘chairs, ‘tables’, and ‘religious art and design elements’). A thesaurus of terminology was created to inform the cataloguing the Collection, this can be consulted in the public search room along with a hand-list of the Collection.

Related Material Eight photographic albums documenting the work of Scott Morton & Company can be consulted at the University of Edinburgh Library Special Collections. There is a facsimile copy of the Scott Morton press cuttings book available in the public search room at RCAHMS. A survey of a Private Collection of manuscripts relating to the work of Scott Morton & Co was carried out in 2000 (Accession Number 2000/198). A large Collection of glass plate negatives showing furniture made by Whytock & Reid (Accession Number 1994/92), and a Collection of carpet and tapestry designs from the same firm (Accession Number 1996/13) are held at RCAHMS. Further related papers can be found in the Lorimer & Matthew, Dick Peddie & McKay and J & F Johnston & Partners Collections.

Access Conditions Access is unrestricted, except where conservation concerns exist.

Administrative History The Lanarkshire-born architect, artist, craftsman and decorator William Scott Morton (1840-1903) studied decorative design in Glasgow during the 1850s. He was then apprenticed, along with William Leiper (1839-1916) and William Forrest Salmon (1843-1911), to the Glasgow architect James Smith (1808-1863). Towards the end of the decade Morton moved to London, where he earned money selling designs to carpet and lace warehouses as well as painting architectural backgrounds for leading contemporary artists. He was employed by the furnishing house of Johnstone Jeanes & Co, New Bond Street, London for a time during the 1860s, and it is likely this experience inspired his future endeavours. By 1870 Morton had returned to Scotland and started the business of Morton & Co, Tynecastle, Edinburgh with his brother John (1842-1904). In addition to the manufacture of ‘art furniture,’ the practice designed complete building interiors and utilised other skilled craft makers, such as the carpet manufacturer Templeton’s of Glasgow and the stained glass firm Shrigley & Hunt of Lancaster, to execute Morton’s designs. The firm also stocked oriental carpets and other upholstery items, and was renowned for the invention of ‘Tynecastle Tapestry’, a lighter, cheaper yet durable alternative to plasterwork that sought to emulate 15th and 16th century Spanish and Italian embossed leather wall hangings using moulded canvas. This side of the business was listed as a separate entity until 1920, when the two sides merged to form Scott Morton & Tynecastle Co Ltd. In 1958 the business was renamed Scott Morton Ltd. Following Scott Morton’s death in 1903, three of Scott Morton’s four sons – William Stewart (1868-1933), Robert (1870-1905) and Alexander (1877-1965) – continued the running of the business. David Ramsay, an apprentice at the start of the century, became a director during the 1930s and 1940s. On Ramsay’s retirement in 1948, Peter Miller (b. c. 1915), an apprentice and then employee from 1931 to 1946, became director and designer of the firm. A skilled draughtsman, Miller also provided freelance perspective drawings for architects such as J & F Johnston. In the early 1950s he won a trip to Scandinavia in a Danish furniture design competition and c. 1951 carved the winning model for Basil Spence (1907-1976) in the competition to rebuild Coventry Cathedral. In 1966 Scott Morton Ltd went into receivership and another Edinburgh company of woodworkers, Whytock & Reid, 7 Charlotte Square bought the goodwill of the company. Whytock & Reid utilised Scott Morton Ltd standard designs and employed Peter Miller until his retirement. The company ceased trading in July 2004.

Accruals No further accruals are expected.

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/collection/1176532