I've been going through the material David and I collected during our visit to the Alexander Hardie Williamson collection at Broadfield House earlier this year, and I think I can shed some new light on the connections between Clayton Mayers, Johnsen & Jorgensen and United Glass/ Sherdley mentioned in previous threads here (search on Clayton Mayers) and in Chris Stewart's excellent article on Davidson and Clayton Mayers:
http://www.cloudglass.com/ClaytonMayers.htm.
Clayton Mayers were a firm of importers and distributors. One of their best known and most successful ranges was Jacobean, produced in what is now the Czech Republic by Vienna-based company Josef Inwald, which they started importing to the UK in 1923. In 1932, when currency fluctuations and new tariffs made imported glass unsustainably expensive, Clayton Mayers commissioned Davidson to make Jacobean in the UK. More detail in Chris's article and also in Glen's article here:
http://www.geocities.com/carni_glass_uk_2000/Jacob2.html. Chris says that:
In 1962 big changes occurred at Clayton Mayers. H. G. Mayers retired as chairman at the age of 76. Johnsen & Jorgensen, another wholesale supplier of glass (founded 1906), bought a substantial stake in Clayton Mayers. Johnsen & Jorgensen sold a wide range of glassware including Sherdley. It the early years of the century they were best known for making jars and decanters; some of their designs were registered ... The company announced that it was to expand into the new field of high quality decoration of domestic glassware ... New lehrs were also introduced to improve the enamelling process of decorating glass.
Intriguingly, there are some Jacobean items in the AHW collection: photos of jug, tumblers, bowls and sundaes among a set of photos of AHW designs for Sherdley and Ravenhead (see below), plus some items of glassware and some design work.
There is also another connection. A March 1963 article in PGGTR on
Revolutionary production methods at Clayton Mayers' factory shows a picture of two goblets decorated with screen-printed stars captioned
'Stardust' in the new 'Monarch' range, as well as some pictures of the glasses being decorated using a new and very advanced lehr. The distinctive shape is identical to Sherdley's Merrymaker range, almost certainly designed by AHW and produced from 1960 - 1962, both plain and screen-printed with fleur de lys and later vine motifs: pics at
http://glassgallery.yobunny.org.uk/displayimage.php?pos=-9312,
http://glassgallery.yobunny.org.uk/displayimage.php?pos=-7324,
http://glassgallery.yobunny.org.uk/displayimage.php?pos=-9271 and
http://glassgallery.yobunny.org.uk/displayimage.php?pos=-9213. Although Merrymaker was marketed by Sherdley and the decoration most likely applied at the Sherdley factory, the blanks were almost certainly produced by United Glass' other subsidiary Ravenhead, which was set up after WWII to produce stemware.
The text of the Clayton Mayers article says that:
New designs of tumblers and wine glasses have been devised by Mr. A.H. Williamson, A.R.C.A., M.S.I.A., and will be produced exclusively for the company by United Glass Ltd. It is these high quality lines which will mostly be used as blanks in the decorating shops.
So it sounds like J&J used their stake in CM to establish a link between CM and AHW (who was actually employed by J&J rather than United Glass/ Sherdley/ Ravenhead until the late 1960s) and United Glass/ Sherdley/ Ravenhead.
One question this raises is whether after 1962 United Glass also produced Jacobean and possibly other glassware for CM? Any views from the Davidson experts?