Matthew Turnbull & Co., of the Cornhill Glass Works in Sunderland, produced a range of glass in pattern number 504, named Windsor. The Tyne and Wear archives hold several catalogue pages for Matthew Turnbull and Co., dating back to around 1951 [1]. These pages include images for the posy vase with a flower block, plus various table items. Unfortunately the pages did not specify the available colours. Three of the items in the catalogue pages appear to have an additional decoration, which appears to be either a hobnail or lens type pattern. This can be seen in the examples at the bottom of the page.
The posy vase is commonly referred to as the “Towers” vase. After Turnbull & Co. closed down in 1954, the moulds found their way to George Davidson & Co. of the Teams glass works in Gateshead [2]. Davidson’s continued producing the posy vase, as pattern MT1, until at least the 1960’s as evidenced by a trade leaflet, which shows the vase available in flint and ruby [3].
Matthew Turnbull supplied glass to Woolworths [2] and through Jules Lang. Several of Jules Lang advertisments through the 1940’s and 1950’s feature items produced by Matthew Turnbull, including the Windsor range [4]. During this time period, the Pottery Gazette Reference Book & Directories list Jules Lang as a wholesale agent [5]. Whilst Jules Lang did operate factories in France [6], the advertisement they placed for the Windsor suite in the March 1949 edition of the Pottery Gazette emphasises that the table glass is British made. This indicates that Jules Lang were acting as an agent for the manufacturer of the Windsor suite and that Jules Lang were not producing this range of glassware.
Known Available Shapes
Product Type
Source
Image
Celery Vase
Jules Lang advert in January 1950 Pottery Gazette
Jules Lang advert in March 1949 Pottery Gazette (see above) shows vase with crimp top
Dish
Turnbull Catalogue c.1951
Jules Lang advert in March 1949 Pottery Gazette (see above) shows dish with flared top minus hobnail-type decoration
Posy Set
Turnbull Catalogue c.1951
Cream
Turnbull Catalogue c.1951 (with additional hobnail-type decoration)
Jules Lang advert in March 1949 Pottery Gazette (see above) shows cream without hobnail decoration
Crimp Sugar
Turnbull Catalogue c.1951 (with additional hobnail-type decoration)
Jules Lang advert in March 1949 Pottery Gazette (see above) shows sugar with a cupped top and without hobnail-type decoration
Crimp Sugar
Turnbull Catalogue c.1951
Water Jug & Tumblers
Turnbull Catalogue c.1951
Jules Lang advert in March 1949 Pottery Gazette (see above)
References
- Tyne & Wear Archives
- National Glass Centre, Sunderland; Stories of Glass in Sunderland exhibit
- Trade leaflet image courtesy of http://www.victorianpressedglass.com
- Various editions of the Pottery Gazette and Glass Trades Review magazine
- The Pottery Gazette and Glass Trades Review Directory and Reference Book 1950
- Glass Fact File A-Z, Ivo Haanstra. ISBN 1840004290
Heart Of Glass 
Brilliant, thank you. This helped me identify a blue glass posy vase in the windsor 504 towers design that i bought recently in a charity shop.
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Lindsey, thank you for posting this very revealing additional research information about this pattern. I’m delighted to hear that the posy mould actually passed from Turnbull to Davidson, because it resolves some speculation. I’ve come across examples of the Ruby glass version with original Davidson labels intact, which always raised the question of did they also produce the iridised Marigold Carnival Glass examples, because if so this would be proof that Davidson actually produced a line of iridised glass. It’s now clear that the iridised examples are by Turnbull which fits with the know fact that they produced a whole range of iridised Carnival glass items.
This may be pure coincidence: Ruby Davidson towers posy vases were produced with transfers applied as tourist souvenirs for various places, and I’ve seen one labelled as Souvenir of Windsor Castle – quite appropriate given that the range name was originally Windsor.
The other shapes are very interesting, especially the ones with hobnails added. I haven’t seen any of these in Carnival glass, but will search through unidentified items to check.
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