By the 1820s, there were no fewer than forty glassworks within half a mile of Newcastle city centre and one of the highlights of the year was the annual procession when some 7,000 glass-makers took part wearing glass top-hats and carrying glass walking-sticks, swords and pistols - which actually fired blanks. Many of the glass objects carried in the parade can be seen in the Laing Art Gallery in Newcastle and the Shipley Art Gallery in Gateshead. The finest period of Newcastle glass, however, was in the eighteenth century when the city was the largest glass producing centre in the world, and the beautiful and elegant Newcastle Light Baluster was created. About seven inches tall and lighter than other glasses, hence the name. No two glasses are the same, except by matched design; the examples in the Laing are a splendid sight - and there are many others in the great museums of the world.
It was to this centre of artistic activity that the elder William Beilby and his family came in 1760, after a depressing spell in Gateshead, where the family had occupied one room in Swinburne street. They had previously lived in Durham after William had emigrated there from his native Yorkshire. His remarkable wife Mary taught English in Gateshead for threepence an hour at this period.
Young Mary Beilby (1749-97) was now eleven and while Ralph emerged as the business head of the family, she spent much of her time with William the dreamer, who had fallen in love with mediaeval Newcastle. They were often to be seen together on the battlements of the castle and the steep stone stairways leading to the river. All around were glassworks, and William was at once fascinated. According to James Rush, it was at Closegate in 1761 that William became the first man in England, possibly the world, to fire enamels into glass, so that they became virtually part of the glass itself.
William taught his sister Mary to paint in enamels at the family workshop in Amen Corner by St Nicholas Cathedral, but she never matched the skill of her brother. As he achieved greater recognition, William was often called upon to create glasses with fictitious heraldry 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. This was made in honour of the brig of that name, launched by Henry Foster, the Gateshead boat-builder in 1764. Beilby glasses can be found in great museums all over the world, and are worth tens of thousands of pounds.
William and Mary worked together from 1760 to 1778. It was in 1767 that young Thomas Bewick (q.v.), whose fame was to eclipse that of the Beilbys, joined the family at Amen Corner as an apprentice. Thomas and Mary developed an affection for each other, though Ralph Beilby 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.
Following the death of the redoubtable Mrs Beilby, the Beilbys moved from Newcastle to London in 1778 and then to Scotland, where Mary died. Over this last period, the Beilbys produced no more glass, but William painted more of his exquisite water colours. Eventually, he moved back to the family roots in Hull in 1810.
Ralph Beilby was the only member of the family to remain in Newcastle after 1778, and married Ellen Hawthorne at All Saints Church in 1780. Ellen's father was a watch and clock-maker in Deans Court and Ralph turned to this branch of business. His partnership with Thomas Bewick, however, lasted until 6 January 1798. Ralph became, in fact, a dominant figure in the cultural life of Newcastle, and was among those who established the Literary and Philosophical Society in 1793. Perhaps his finest achievement was the engraving of a silver-gilt punchbowl by John Langlands and John Robertson in 1791 (now also in the Laing Gallery). Ralph Beilby died on 4 January 1817, and his funeral cortege was among the longest and most impressive of his time. he was buried in St Andrew's churchyard.
Squadron Leader James Rush has written two beautiful books about the Beilby family - The Ingenious Beilbys and A Beilby Odyssey. The royalties from both books went to the Cheshire Home at Matfen Hall, Northumberland.