Osler's was established in 1807 when Thomas Osler, aged 24, joined Mr. Shakespeare who had a glasshouse at Hockley, near Birmingham. They established themselves at Great Charles Street in the centre of the city. 710
Perhaps the best known maker of the 19th century was the Birmingham firm of F & C Osler, founded in 1807. Thomas Osler and his two sons, Follet and Clarkson created crystal chandeliers fountains and furniture. Much of their production, exuberantly colourful and lavishly decorated with gold leaf, was made to be shipped to the palaces of the Indian subcontinent. In 1850, Osler made the giant crystal fountain, over eight metres high containing four tons of crystal, for the 1851 Great Exhibition in Hyde Park. An early, c.1860, candle-bearing chandelier by Osler, at a specialist dealer such as John Hobbs, might set you back £42,000. 711
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AN ANTIQUE ENGLISH VICTORIAN CUT GLASS CHANDELIER

An elaborate Victorian chandelier, suspended by five metal rods cased in flute cut glass from a starburst coronet. Ten leaf-cut arms, with cut arms and drip pans hung with prism drops, rise out of a heavily cut receiver bowl. In the centre of the chandelier rises a rod supporting two drop hung pans and a finial.

English, circa 1850

Height: 4ft 5in (134.5cm)
Diameter: 3ft 2in (96.5cm)

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The Development of the Glass Chandelier

Brass was the usual material for both ecclesiastical and secular chandeliers during the first half of the eighteenth century. The glass chandelier developed in England in the 1720s but their demand did not gain momentum until the Adam period. Large facet cut chandeliers became popular in assembly rooms, such as those in Bath and in the music rooms of great houses.

The eighteenth century style for a central stem evolved in the Regency period to long rows of drops connected by a ring. The effect created was that of a waterfall. By the time of the Great Exhibition in 1851, the fashion was for large pieces of glass that created a more lavish, dense and heavier effect. The English tradition of all glass chandeliers continued while on the Continent, there was a preference for metal work with glass drops.


An English Victorian Chandelier
This particular glass chandelier with its elaborate form would have been a very expensive one-off commission rather than stock. The glass is deeply cut to reflect the light with five arms and ten candleholders. The very large and rare central glass bowl would have required great skill to be fired in one section.
Chandeliers of this period were not typically signed, so unless the original bill or drawings exist, it is difficult to ascertain the maker. It was normal practice for chandelier assemblers in the nineteenth century to start with the large glass central section, then outsource the metal frame to specialist metal workers, and then buy their drops in from specialist suppliers. It is recorded that Thomas Osler supplied the Waterford Glass Company with drops for their chandeliers and this practice continues today”712
Link to: The international Guild of Lamp Researchers: http://www.lampguild.org/QandApage/archives/Q0002331.htm

BRITISH HISTORY ONLINE
Economic and Social History
Industry and Trade, 1500-1880
Sponsor: Victoria County History
Publication: A History of the County of Warwickshire: Volume VII
Year published: 1964
The Medium-sized Firm
Directories provide the names of ever-increasing numbers of firms, but little clue as to their size, importance, or markets. Since trade became more specialized, the term 'leading manufacturer', which was often employed, had little meaning. Some information is provided, however, by the minutes of evidence of the Commons committee hearing petitions against the Orders in Council of 1812. (Footnote 90)
The chief witness for the Birmingham men was Thomas Attwood, who claimed that the orders had affected 50,000 people engaged in the iron and allied trades, and in the manufacturing of brass buttons, jewellery, gold and silver plate, and hardware. Ten thousand of these were said to be in brassfoundry alone and 30,000 in the nail trade within fifteen miles of Birmingham. Attwood was later closely questioned on his statistical information: much of it was clearly guesswork or at least exaggerated. More reliable evidence on the deployment of the labour force was provided by the men who came to back up Attwood's general statements by a description of their own business. ..
Thomas Osler, glass toy and buttonmaker, had between 80 and 100 workpeople.713
Sotheby’s Loondon - archived Sales June 30 2004:
A SUITE OF THREE CUT-GLASS AND GILT-BRASS CHANDELIERS LATE 19TH CENTURY, ATTRIBUTED TO F & C OSLER the principal chandelier 140cm. high, 90cm. diameter; 3ft. 8in., 3ft; the pair of subsidiary chandeliers 140cm. high, 80cm. diameter; 3ft. 8in., 2ft. 8in. comprising a large night light chandelier and a pair of slightly smaller five light chandeliers Note: The present suite of chandeliers has close affinities with the work of the leading Birmingham based firm F & C Osler who specialised in the production of glass light fittings and spectacular decorative objects. In particular they appear to be of very similar form to a chandelier in the foreground of a 1904 view of their London Showrooms (illustrated in John P. Smith, Osler's Chrystal for Royalty and Rajahs, 1991, p. 70). Established in Broad Street, Birmingham, 1807 by Thomas Osler, the business specialised in selling drops and spangles, but by the time his son Follet Osler took over in 1831, they were severely hampered by the high duties payable on glass in England. Fortunately in 1845 the duties were repealed owing to pressure from the trade, by which time Follett had begun making innovative designs, had successfully encouraged his brother to join the firm, and had expanded his business into Calcutta sharing showrooms with the silversmiths and jewellers Hamilton and Co. When Ibraham Pacha the ruler of Egypt commissioned four enormous candelabra from Osler for the tomb of the prophet Mahomet at Mecca, the company took the opportunity to display them in their London showroom attracting the attention of such important visitors as Prince Albert, the Duke of Wellington and Sir Robert Peel. By the time of the Great Exhibition in 1851 their reputation was sufficient to secure them a space at the centre of the transept of the great Crystal Palace in which to display their breathtakingly and ambitious twenty foot high crystal fountain. A few years later the Art Journal noted, `No other producer attempts to compete with them in large pieces; in these they stand alone and have done so for upwards of a quarter of a century. But they do not rest their fame soley on the purity of their glass: they obtain the aid of a high order, and their designs are invariably of great excellence.' At this point the combination of their desire for eyecatching pieces for their exhibition stands as well as the lucrative markets in India and the Middle East where the coolness of the appearance of the glass was so suitable, led to the creation of a small number of pieces of furniture, many of the designs for which are held in the Osler Archive at Birmingham Museums & Art Gallery. The `Design Book of Large Fittings' c.1858-1896 (Ref: M12.77) includes ink and watercolour drawings of chairs, stools, bedsteads, settees, cribs and even a design for a glass staircase. Estimate - 50000-70000 714