Catalogue Number
NMLH.1992.360
Object Name
Emblem
Title
BE UNITED AND INDUSTRIOUS. AMALGAMATED SOCIETY OF ENGINEERS, MACHINISTS ... ... 1890
Place
Stratford & London & England & UK
People
Sharples, James; artisans; craftsmen
Date
1852
Description
Emblem designed by James Sharples in 1852. Sharples was a Blackburn forgesmith and lifelong member of the Amalgamated Society Of Engineers, Machinists, Millwrights, Smiths and Pattern Makers.
James Sharples was a self-taught artist, learning drawing, perspective and painting from popular art books and journals of the time. This emblem, with its classical figures and architecture and dignified images of the skilled Victorian engineer and his heroes (British inventors of the Industrial Revolution), influenced the emblem designs of other trade unions over the next forty or more years.
Emblems images derived from the popular emblem books of the late Renaissance period in Europe.
The cornucopia, or horn of plenty, between the two engineers at top stands for the fruits or rewards of industry and international trade, to which the engineers made a crucial contribution. The Co-operative movement and other organizations were also to adopt the cornucopia image.
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