Rowland Ward
Rowland Ward Ltd. Of Piccadilly became and remained for many years the largest and most famous taxidermy firm in the world.
They specialized in, and were renowned for, their work on big game trophies, but their output covered all aspects of taxidermy. Rowland Ward was trained by his father Henry, himself a very well-known taxidermist in his day, to whom he dedicated his book on taxidermy, The Sportsman's Handbook.
We know rather more about Rowland Ward (1848-1912), the youngest and most famous member of the family, than we do about the father or brother, partly through countless references to his business in magazines and newspapers, but more particularly through his autobiography A Naturalist's Life Study in the Art of Taxidermy. This was published in 1913, the year following his death, by his own publishing company for private circulation. It was printed in a very small edition, possibly as few as fifty copies. Not only is the book therefore rare, it is also a rare kind of book, and is indeed unique in being the only autobiography of a commercial British taxidermist of this era.
During the time he worked with his father, he began producing things on his own account. Early on in his career, he modeled two Horse heads which were seen by someone he described as 'A very wealthy man who had acquired riches during the American War'. As a result he was commissioned to mount a series of animal heads which were to adorn the walls of a large house his customer was at that time having built. The capital acquired from this project enabled him to leave his fathers employment, as his brother Edwin had already done, and go into business in his own right. He began, around 1872, at 27, Harley Street trading as 'J Rowland Ward'. He moved to 158, Piccadilly after a few years, at which time his business became known as 'Ward & Co. Ltd', although he retained his Harley Street premises until his death.
In 1879, the year his brother Edwin retired and a year after his fathers death, he transferred his studios from 158, Piccadilly to larger premises at number 166; 167 also came into his possession, perhaps at a slightly later date. In 1898, the business became, and remained, 'Rowland Ward Ltd.'. He says of his early days : "My ambition was to begin at that point in taxidermy where the old-school had left off. Instead of merely stuffing the skins of animals with quite a secondary regard to shape, I determined to study nature and adapt it, in connection with modelling, to the taxidermists' art."
Old references to members of the Ward family are occasionally ambiguous, for Henry Ward was actually Edwin Henry Ward, as was Edwin; a reference merely to E.Ward does not therefore necessarily imply it is Edwin. Rowland was actually James Rowland Ward, and used his first name at the beginning of his career (although not for long). The earliest case, so far as is known, by Rowland Ward is of a pair of Peregrine Falcons. It resides now in Glasgow Museum, and is signed 'James Ward' on one of the leaves inside the case, and dated 1868; it was thus executed when he was 20 years old. At the Colonial and Indian Exhibition at South Kensington in 1886 for example, he had four separate exhibits. The first of these represented a hunting scene in a dense jungle: an Elephant had come upon a group of Tigers, one of which was depicted in making a ferocious attack upon it. Other Tigers were nearby amidst the tall grasses and bamboo copses. ("I had been at great disadvantage in arranging this for want of space.") Ward tells us that he spent 30 hours at a stretch on the preparation of one particularly fierce Tiger in this group. ("It is a curious fact, not generally known, that most of the expression of a Tigers face is gained by the disposition of the whiskers."). He visited the zoo specifically to study a Tigers face. He made one snarl by rattling the bars of its cage, noted the effect this had on the disposition of its whiskers, and arranged those on his mounted Tiger in precisely the same way. The second of his four displays at this exhibition was much larger, and was entitled 'Jungle Life'. The display included an Elephant, more Tigers, Antelopes and Alligators. (The latter do not, of course, occur in India, and he probably meant to say Crocodiles, unless the latter were unobtainable at the time, in which case scientific accuracy may have become secondary to the overall effect.) Weeks of work went into setting it up in the exhibition hall, and the whole area was enclosed in sheets of plate glass covered in banyan, both real and painted on a canvas. Ward had been promised a load of Indian grasses, but when it became apparent that they were not going to arrive in time, he went up to Norfolk and collected 'loads of Norfolk reeds and rushes, dead trees and things of that description' to take their place. The Indian grasses in fact arrived shortly after he had completed the display, so he put one of them in as well. The Indian palms, which also arrived late, were placed in position around the perimeter of the group, but the authorities had them sprayed with silica as a fire precaution. They unfortunately could not avoid also spraying the plate glass which made it look as if it had been raining - not at all the effect intended - so this had at the last minute to be polished from top to bottom. This was his first 'Jungle', and made a great impression, with over 10,000 people visiting the exhibition on August Bank Holiday alone. Ward introduced two other 'Jungles' both at Earl's Court in 1895 and 1896, one which produced £10,000 in gate money. Some of the other international exhibitions at which he appeared are listed in his advertisement. As a result principally of the 1886 exhibition, 'The Jungle' came and remained the Rowland Ward trademark, as illustrated by the label commonly found on his cases.
Rowland Ward was in the habit of claiming to have invented practically everything with which he was in any way connected. One such invention was what he called 'Wardian furniture', this being the transformation of animals, or parts of animals, into useful or ornamental everyday articles. He began by introducing 'zoological lamps' in 1872, which were lamps made from birds or animals in various attitudes. Birds of Paradise, Scarlet Ibises and Monkeys lent themselves - less than willingly, one assumes - particularly well to this purpose. Other creations included giant Indian Tortoises with hollowed out backs as musical boxes, Alligators with hollowed out stomachs standing erect on their hind legs as cigar boxes, Tigers skulls as bedroom lamps, Emu egg sugar basins and Stag antler cutlery. George Butt, the former manager, and by then proprietor, of Edwin Wards establishment in Wigmore Street was still producing 'animal furniture' of his own in a very similar vein at this time, which may have been a reason for Ward registering his designs. Practically any species could be usefully employed in this slightly bizarre branch of taxidermy, as Ward explains: "Elephants do not at first glance seem to lend themselves as articles for household decoration, and yet I have found them most adaptable for that purpose." The head of the Elephant would normally be mounted as a trophy, the hide could be turned into table tops or trays, and the feet converted into drinks cabinets, sewing boxes, waste paper baskets or stools. Ward even turned an entire famous small Elephant called 'Tiny' into a hall porter's chair, hollowing out the inside to form the seat. Other eccentric furniture designs included Crocodile umbrella stands, Snake tables and Elephant skin or rib-bone chairs. One of the Prince and Princesses of Wales silver wedding presents in 1888 was a Crocodile mounted as a dumb waiter. He also mounted Bears as dumb waiters, his designs for which, he tells us, were copied in all directions following his introduction of them to the public in 1876, but of course his brother Edwin, and doubtless others, was manufacturing them long before him in reality. Horses hooves were particularly adaptable: they would usually be mounted in silver or bronze in a choice of nearly a hundred different designs, including ink pots, tobacco jars, bells, cigar stands, spirit lamps, card and match boxes and trinket cases.
He formed his own publishing company, 'Rowland Ward Ltd.', and between 1880 and 1911 published over 30 books, practically all on big game animals and hunting. One of their most interesting books published in 1908, was The Sportsman's British Bird Book. This contained over 300 illustrations of birds which had been mounted in the Rowland Ward Studios specifically to be photographed for the book. Ward himself personally supervised the photography, and afterwards presented many of the specimens to the Natural History Museum. 1898 saw the appearance of The English Angler in Florida, his account, illustrated with his own photographs, of the trip he had made to America the previous year. He went principally to fish for the Giant Tarpon, specimens of which he had been asked to mount over the years but he also wanted to see for himself the places his father had visited some 60 years earlier in the company of Audubon. He took the opportunity to visit the New York Natural History Museum, which contained Audubon's collection of birds, many of which had been prepared by his father. His wife, to whom he often refers, but only ever as Mrs.Ward accompanied him.
In 1892 he published Horn Measurements and Weights of the Great Game of the World which became in subsequent editions Records of Big Game. This listed horn and tusk measurements, weight and dimensions of the largest specimens recorded of each species, together with information on their distribution and characteristics, and was illustrated with photographs of mounted specimens and heads. A typical case, whether of birds or mammals, has glass all round, joined by means of a thin framework right angle moulding and taped with a kind of cartridge paper (it's usually green). The groundwork is usually fairly low key, and the overall style simple but effective. Many cases have a distinct small circular label set into the groundwork, and sometimes there is an ordinary paper label beneath the base as well. Sometimes one of the glass panels is inscribed on the inside with what looks like engraving, but was actually applied by stencil.
After the Second World War, the firm moved from Piccadilly to Mayfair. It later moved again, this time to North London and effectively ceased taxidermy shortly afterwards.
