Lights onboard can anyone name the manufactor

[Daniel Cox]

Gday all

Just wondering can anyone name who actually made the lights (ceiling/lamps) for onboard the Lusitania.I have Mark D warrens book but it actually does'nt name who made the lamps.I was hoping a expert on these boards could help me out.Many thanks Linerdan

 

[Bob Godfrey]

They probably came from more than one manufacturer, but at least some (if not all) of the ormoulu light fittings (ceiling and wall lamps) were made by N Burt & Co, whose works were at Berwick Street in Soho, London. The same company supplied lamps for the Mauretania, Titanic and Olympic.

 

[Daniel Cox]

Thankyou Bob , i now have something to work off

Regards linerdan

 

[Daniel Cox]

The main reason for my request was that there is a light fitting offered on ebay.The seller says it was removed pre WW1 and thats how it finnished up in the family.After looking at numerous pictures and web sites ive come to the conclusion that the light is not from the ship.

 

[Bob Godfrey]

Even if you find one that does look right, keep in mind that companies like Burts produced stock catalogues and sold their standard lines to many customers who ordered them for use in ships, hotels, whatever. When these items are removed from their original settings there may be no way to tell the difference between a lamp which once hung in a great liner and another which came from a demolished Edwardian pub!

 

[Eric Longo]

Hi,
The hanging fixtures on Mauretania, in the Lounge anyway, were actually "fixed" and did not "swing". I do not know if the same applies to Lusitania.

Best,
Eric Longo

 

[Lucy Burkhill]

Eric, I have in front of me the Mark Warren "Lusitania" engineering book and looking at the light fittings in the 1st class lounge, they too appear to be fixed. They are completely different in style to those on the Mauretania, they are of a glass "bowl" shape rather than the more pendant-style crystal chandeliers which Maury had.

Bob, you say that companies that produced fittings sold their standard lines to many customers who ordered them for use in hotels, pubs etc, and that when these items are removed from their original settings there may be no way to tell the difference between a lamp which came from a great liner and one which came from an Edwardian pub.

I am surprised by this- I had always presumed that the light fittings, furniture etc, would have been made specifically for each particular ship and not for anywhere else.

Would any item from a liner be stamped or marked with her name or her builder's number as a means of identification? Whenever I wander round an antiques centre I can't help but look at items such as light fittings or mirrors from the pre-WW1 era and wonder if they originally were fitted in a liner (not necessarily a famous or a large one), from that era!!!

Regards,

Lucy

 

[Bob Godfrey]

Lucy, there were certainly items which were unique to each ship or class of ship, like the very prominent central light fittings which formed a focal point in some public rooms. But most of the light fittings were mass-produced, and there wasn't much incentive to pay extra for special designs and tooling when they could buy items of equal quality 'off the peg'. Some of these items, of course, would have features specific to their use in ships, like mounting brackets on 'free-standing' cabin lamps.

Again, it costs money to have items specially marked in some permanent way. During construction, it was helpful to label components to show their intended locations, but I imagine that a marking in pencil, chalk or a dab of paint would generally suffice for that. In service, it was the small, portable items that were emblazoned with a permanent reminder of where they'd come from! But that was nearly always the name and/or logo of the shipping line rather than the name of a particular ship.