Pearce, Walter J
Walter J. Pearce (1856-1942) was orphaned at 10, and apprenticed to a painter and decorator in Somerset at 14, worked in his twenties at a church furnishers, Cox, Sons, Buckley & Co., who by 1862 had a stained glass works in Covent Garden, where it is thought Pearce trained. He moved to Manchester around 1890: by 1899 he was described as ‘Stained Glass Artist’.
He was a founder member of the Northern Art Workers Guild (NAWG) (1896-1912) alongside Edgar Wood, architect of Middleton Methodist church (which also has interesting glass, albeit on a small scale). From 1898 to 1917 Pearce taught in the Painting and Decorating Department of Manchester Municipal School of Art, latterly becoming its Head. He published two books: Stencils and Stencilling (1895) and Painting and Decorating (1898), which ran to seven editions. Pearce was Master of the NAWG in 1903. He was a Fellow of the British Society of Master Glass Painters. There is a complete scheme of elaborate flower windows by Pearce at Didsbury URC church.