Meteyard, Sidney
Sidney Harold Meteyard (1868–1947) was born in Stourbridge in the West Midlands, and became a designer, illustrator, painter, and stained glass designer. He studied at the Birmingham Municipal Central School of Art under Edward Taylor, who promoted the ideals of authenticity in labour and beauty in craft, promoted by William Morris and John Ruskin. He probably met Edward Burne-Jones when he visited the School of Art in 1885 and his influence permeates his work.
Professionally belonged to the rather nebulous Birmingham Group – for example, he was among those who painted murals for Birmingham Town Hall, and who worked at Madresfield chapel. He was also a member of the Bromsgrove Guild.
Meteyard taught life drawing and design and lettering at the Birmingham School of Art from 1889 to 1933. He exhibited several times at the Royal Academy, but he preferred the Royal Birmingham Society of Artists where he was a member from 1908, and vice-president (1932-4) and secretary (1935-47). He also contributed illustrations to the short lived Yellow Book (1894-97)
Meteyard designed stained glass for Harvey & Ashby of Birmingham, which flourished between c.1905-40, and H. H. Martyn & Co. of Cheltenham. Martyn’s was a well-known firm of sculptors and carvers, which established a stained glass studio in 1919. Meteyard was appointed designer, despite his continuing to work from his Birmingham base.
Windows designed by Meteyard can be found at St Alban the Martyr, Highgate, Birmingham; St. Mary’s, Moseley; Holy Nativity, Knowle, Bristol; St. Winifred, Holbeck; St. Peter’s, Maney, Sutton Coldfield; St. Saviour’s, Scarborough; and Portland Parish Church, Troon.
Sources:
Stained Glass Window Makers of Birmingham School of Art by Roy Albutt (2013)
Sidney Meteyard’s obituary in The Birmingham Post Monday April 7th, 1947
Sidney Harold Meteyard (1868-1947) by Nancy Rose Marshall and Stephen Wildman in Yellow nineties 2.0 Edited by Lorraine Janzen Kooistra
