92:"Hundreds of thousands of citizens live their working lives in bondage. They are machine minders and no call is ever made on them to use their skill, their initiative or their intelligence." It was, he felt, "more important that industry should turn out excellent men and women than a flood of cheap and useful goods." He looked forward to "a new and better order of society which looks towards a better welfare of the people rather than towards national riches in the material sense."
17:
99:
In 1931 Stanley's older brother Percy, a prominent Quaker and
Socialist, invited Mohandas K. Gandhi, the Mahatma (Great Soul), to Darwen to witness at first hand the plight of Lancashire textile workers who had been badly hit by the Indian boycott of British goods. Police had expected trouble but the
61:
He was there in the spring of 1916 when he got his call-up papers. He applied for absolute exemption but was turned down. Instead he joined the
Friends (Quakers) war victims relief team and worked in France making wooden houses for the poor peasants. He was there for three years and his health never
103:
A group of weavers met him the following morning as he went for a stroll around Garden
Village which the Davies family had built for their workers. They told him how hard they were finding things. The Mahatma smiled and told them gently: "My dears, you have no idea what poverty is."
68:
He left there in 1922 and began to set up his business in
Windermere where he built a workshop and had a new house, Gatesbield, built off New Road. He and his wife Emily lived there for over 40 years and his reputation steadily grew. Like all of the artisans in the
95:
Stanley Davies died in 1978, five years after the death of Emily, and he bequeathed
Gatesbield to the Quakers for whom he had worked tirelessly. Set in beautiful grounds, it is now a haven and peace and tranquility as a Quaker Housing Association centre.
84:
In a 1940s letter to the
Manchester Guardian, during a lively debate on a national policy for industry, he wrote of "probably the chief evil of our present industrial age – the tyranny of the machine." He was a member of the
110:
In 2019 a large collection of
Stanley Webb Davies furniture was sold at auction by Dawsons Auctioneers. Consigned directly by the Webb Davies family, the highlight of the sale was an Oak Secretaire that sold for £4,500.
107:
Today the work of
Stanley Davies and his small team of assistants grace museums and grand houses, churches and auction centres, galleries and municipal buildings throughout the country.
65:
After the war he turned his back on the family's thriving textile interests and spent two years learning his craft with Arthur Romney Green in
Christchurch on the South Coast.
81:, his work was a direct backlash to the mechanisation and automation of Victorian times. His approach was for simple but elegant furniture, handmade to a high standard.
222:
132:
202:
177:
227:
161:
217:
32:
70:
212:
207:
8:
58:
tells of his education at Quaker
Schools Sidcot and Bootham before going on to Oxford.
157:
128:
28:
86:
74:
196:
36:
78:
47:
125:
is published by the Friends of Darwen Library and Naylor Publishing
51:
178:"The Stanley Webb Davies Collection | Dawsons Auctioneers"
43:
100:
Indian spiritual leader received a warm, Northern welcome.
16:
27:(1894–1978) was one of Great Britain's premier makers of
123:
Stanley Webb Davies; Family, Friends & Furniture
114:Percy Davies became the first Lord Darwen in 1946.
56:Stanley Webb Davies; Family, Friends and Furniture
194:
154:The crafts in Britain in the 20th Century
15:
50:, into a wealthy mill-owning family of
195:
151:
20:Stanley Webb Davies, pictured in 1935.
156:. London: C T Branford. p. 109.
13:
117:
14:
239:
188:
223:People from Windermere, Cumbria
31:furniture from his workshop in
170:
145:
1:
138:
7:
203:English furniture designers
10:
244:
127:(naylorpublishing.co.uk)
228:Member of Red Rose Guild
71:Arts and Crafts movement
152:Harrod, Tanya (1999).
21:
19:
54:. A 2016 biography,
42:Stanley was born in
25:Stanley Webb Davies
218:People from Darwen
22:
133:978-0-9954655-0-3
235:
182:
181:
174:
168:
167:
149:
243:
242:
238:
237:
236:
234:
233:
232:
193:
192:
191:
186:
185:
176:
175:
171:
164:
150:
146:
141:
120:
118:Further reading
29:Arts and Crafts
12:
11:
5:
241:
231:
230:
225:
220:
215:
210:
205:
190:
189:External links
187:
184:
183:
169:
162:
143:
142:
140:
137:
119:
116:
87:Red Rose Guild
75:William Morris
9:
6:
4:
3:
2:
240:
229:
226:
224:
221:
219:
216:
214:
211:
209:
206:
204:
201:
200:
198:
179:
173:
165:
163:9780263517293
159:
155:
148:
144:
136:
135:
134:
130:
124:
115:
112:
108:
105:
101:
97:
93:
90:
88:
82:
80:
76:
72:
66:
63:
59:
57:
53:
49:
45:
40:
38:
37:Lake District
34:
30:
26:
18:
172:
153:
147:
126:
122:
121:
113:
109:
106:
102:
98:
94:
91:
83:
67:
64:
60:
55:
41:
24:
23:
213:1978 deaths
208:1894 births
79:John Ruskin
62:recovered.
197:Categories
139:References
73:, such as
48:Lancashire
33:Windermere
52:Quakers
35:in the
160:
131:
44:Darwen
158:ISBN
129:ISBN
77:and
199::
89:.
46:,
39:.
180:.
166:.
Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Additional terms may apply.
