William Christmas Codman (December 25, 1839 – December 7, 1921) was a prominent silver and jewelry designer for

Gorham Manufacturing Company The Gorham Manufacturing Company was one of the largest American manufacturers of sterling and silverplate and a foundry for bronze sculpture. History Gorham Silver was founded in 1831 in Providence, Rhode Island by Jabez Gorham, a master cr ...

Providence, Rhode Island Providence () is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Rhode Island, most populous city of the U.S. state of Rhode Island. The county seat of Providence County, Rhode Island, Providence County, it is o ...

. Codman was born in Norfolk, England, where he studied painting and drawing. He began his career at

Ely Cathedral Ely Cathedral, formally the Cathedral Church of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Ely, is an Church of England, Anglican cathedral in the city of Ely, Cambridgeshire, England. The cathedral can trace its origin to the abbey founded in Ely in 67 ...

, working under Thomas Gambier Parry during the cathedral’s restoration from 1858 to 1862. He then worked as a designer for abbeys and cathedrals, probably for Sir

Gilbert Scott Gilbert Scott commonly refers to Sir George Gilbert Scott (1811–1878), a British architect principally known for his church buildings. Gilbert Scott may also refer to several other British architects: * George Gilbert Scott, Jr. (1839–1897), s ...

, in the

Gothic Revival Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic or neo-Gothic) is an Architectural style, architectural movement that after a gradual build-up beginning in the second half of the 17th century became a widespread movement in the first half ...

style. His church designs included communion plate for the See of Liverpool and the Memorial Chapel in Delhi, India; candelabra for St. Paul's in London; and lighting fixtures for the

Notre-Dame Cathedral, Luxembourg Notre Dame Cathedral (, , ) is the Catholic cathedral of the Archdiocese of Luxembourg, located in Luxembourg City in southern Luxembourg. It was originally a Jesuit church, and its cornerstone was laid in 1613. It is the only cathedral in Luxemb ...

. He subsequently worked for the Birmingham firm of Elkington & Co., and the London silversmithing company Cox and Son, then from 1884 to 1887 supervised the construction of furniture designed by the English painter Sir

Lawrence Alma-Tadema Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema ( ; born Lourens Alma Tadema, ; 8 January 1836 – 25 June 1912) was a Dutch people, Dutch painter who later settled in the United Kingdom, becoming the last officially recognised Denization, denizen in 1873. Born in ...

for Messrs. Johnstone, Norman & Company of London. Codman married Emma Rolle in 1865; they had six children. When in 1891 Gorham Manufacturing Company began their ecclesiastical design department, they hired Codman as their chief designer. He spent two years designing objects for Gorham's display at the 1893

World's Columbian Exposition The World's Columbian Exposition, also known as the Chicago World's Fair, was a world's fair held in Chicago from May 5 to October 31, 1893, to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus's arrival in the New World in 1492. The ...

in Chicago, and afterwards designed most objects that Gorham displayed in subsequent world's fairs. He was particularly active in designing Gorham silverware, and is credited with fifty-five flatware patterns. His most famous Gorham work, however, was Martelé, a line of

Art Nouveau Art Nouveau ( ; ; ), Jugendstil and Sezessionstil in German, is an international style of art, architecture, and applied art, especially the decorative arts. It was often inspired by natural forms such as the sinuous curves of plants and ...

style furniture unveiled in 1900 at the Exposition Universelle in Paris. In 1914, at age seventy-five, Codman retired from Gorham and returned to England, where he died in 1921 at his home in

Woking, Surrey Woking ( ) is a town and borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in north-west Surrey, England, around from central London. It appears in Domesday Book as ''Wochinges'', and its name probably derives from that of a Anglo-Saxon settleme ...

References

* "Death of William Codman", ''The Jewelers' Circular'', Volume 87, Issue 2, December 12, 1923, page 81.
"Codman, William Christmas"
American National Biography.
"WILLIAM C. CODMAN (1839-1921)"
Dallas Museum of Art. {{DEFAULTSORT:Codman, William Christmas American designers American silversmiths 1839 births 1921 deaths