Basic Biographical Details

Name: Crawford & Denny
Designation:  
Born: June 1900
Died: June 1903
Bio Notes: John McLean Crawford, who signed his name thus but was generally referred to by others as John Maclean Crawford, was born in 1854 in Parliamentary Road, Glasgow, the son of John Crawford, sculptor (who died aged 30 on 11 February 1861). Educated at Hamilton Academy, he was apprenticed in 1872 to John Burnet senior who had commissioned his father to do the figures of Hope on the Seaman's Chapel and figures on the Bank of Scotland at Carlton Place and Bridge Street (he also did the sculpture on McIntyre's corner at The Cross). Thereafter the younger Crawford spent some time in London with Sir George Gilbert Scott, Sir Arthur Blomfield and William Flockhart followed by a period in the office of Charles Lynam in Stoke-on-Trent. He returned to Scotland c.1885 to work briefly in the office of John Burnet & Son under John James Burnet, before commencing practice on his own account in 1886 in Dumbarton. A second office was opened in Glasgow in 1896, and the practice specialised in the design of first-class passenger steamer interiors - of which Crawford had designed over thirty by 1906, at least some of these being for the prominent Dumbarton shipbuilding firm of William Denny & Bros - in addition to the usual repertoire of church, school, commercial and domestic buildings.

Crawford took his former apprentice Alexander Cochran Denny into partnership in the Dumbarton office in June 1900. Denny had been born c.1876, the son of Alexander Denny, writer of Dumbarton, who came of the prominent shipbuilding family of William Denny & Bros there, and his wife Marion Chalmers Mitchell. He had been articled to Crawford in April 1893. At the end of his apprenticeship in March 1899 he had sought experience in Glasgow with Peter Macgregor Chalmers and in November of the same year moved to the office of Hippolyte Jean Blanc in Edinburgh. At some point during these early years he studied at the Glasgow & West of Scotland Technical College, although he never sat the exams.

The Crawford & Denny partnership was dissolved in June 1903 when Crawford gave up the Dumbarton branch office, working thereafter in Glasgow whilst Denny continued the Dumbarton practice independently.

Private and Business Addresses

The following private or business addresses are associated with this :
 AddressTypeDate fromDate toNotes
Item 1 of 137, Church Street, Dumbarton, Dunbartonshire, ScotlandBusiness19001903 

Employment and Training

Employees or Pupils

The following individuals were employed or trained by this (click on an item to view details):
 NameDate fromDate toPositionNotes
Item 1 of 4William RankinMarch 19001902Apprentice 
Item 2 of 4John McLean (or Maclean) CrawfordJune 1900June 1903Partner 
Item 3 of 4Alexander Cochran DennyJune 1900June 1903Partner 
Item 4 of 4William Rankin19021903Assistant 

Buildings and Designs

This was involved with the following buildings or structures from the date specified (click on an item to view details):
 Date startedBuilding nameTown, district or villageIslandCity or countyCountryNotes
Item 1 of 11900129 High StreetDumbarton DunbartonshireScotlandAlterations?

References

Archive References

The following archives hold material relating to this :
 SourceArchive NameSource Catalogue No.Notes
Item 1 of 1RIBA Archive, Victoria & Albert MuseumRIBA Nomination Papers F v17 p61 no1127 (microfilm reel 12) (Crawford); A v17 p60 (microfilm reel 19) (Denny)