Reid, James Eadie
James Eadie Reid (1868-1928) was from Forfar, Angus. He had started working as a commercial artist and illustrator in Dundee by the time he was 20, before undertaking art training in Edinburgh. He then travelled to London and worked with Henry Holiday, and joined C. R. Ashbee’s Guild of Handicraft from 1890-91. From there he became the pupil and assistant of William Blake Richmond, working with him on a number of commissions including the mosaics of St. Paul’s cathedral, London.
At the turn of the century he was working as a tutor at Cheltenham Ladies’ College, possibly thanks to the stained glass and mural work he was doing with Richmond at All Saints’, Pittville, in the town. His work can be found in several locations in and around Gloucester, Cheltenham and Bishop’s Cleeve.
Around 1900 he started working with The Gateshead Stained Glass Company, being their chief designer between 1900 and 1908, and remaining involved as a shareholder, director and designer, until the business closed in 1926.
One of his most important commissions was for the fifteen history windows (1916 – c.1927) in the cloister at Worcester Cathedral, telling the history of the church in Britain from the earliest times until the end of the Middle Ages. A further six history windows were added after Eadie Reid’s death cut short his commission. Five by A. J. Davies of the Bromsgrove Guild (1933-50), and one designed by Ernest Waldron West and made by Camm & Co., (1956-57).
Sources:
‘The Artist James Eadie Reid (1868-1928)’ on the website of St Columba’s Church, Southwick, Sunderland
‘James Eadie Reid’ by Alec Hamilton, 2014 (via pers. comm. with Kirsty Hartsiotis)
The Arts and Crafts Movement in the North East of England: A Handbook by Barrie and Wendy Armstrong (Wetherby: Oblong, 2013)
200 Scottish Stained Glass Artists by Rona H Moody in The Journal of Stained Glass, Scotland Issue, Vol XXX (2006)
