15 Facts About Karl Parsons

Karl Bergemann Parsons was a British stained glass artist associated with the Arts and Crafts movement.

Karl Parsons was christened with the names Charles Bergemann, though the family always called him Karl, the name he was to use in later life.

Beatrice worked for a while in Christopher Whall's studio and when Karl Parsons left school, Beatrice persuaded Whall to take him on as an apprentice.

Karl Parsons completed his apprenticeship in the 1900s and then worked as one of Whall's assistants.

Karl Parsons assisted Whall with the windows for Gloucester Cathedral and those for Canterbury Cathedral, Southwell Minster, Tonbridge School Chapel, and churches in Ashbourne, Ledbury and Burford.

Karl Parsons too studied at the Central School and became an Arts and Crafts embroiderer.

Karl Parsons exhibited three designs at the Royal Academy and 25 September 1908 saw the birth of his daughter Margaret Rosetta.

Certainly Karl Parsons worked closely with Davis in 1910 on the windows for St Anseln church and Holy Trinity in St Andrew's Fife.

In 1910, Karl Parsons lived at 38 Gainsborough Road in Bedford Park, London.

The Great War saw many of the Glass House staff leave to do military service and in 1916 Karl Parsons himself was conscripted into the Army but was not posted overseas.

Karl Parsons wrote "So far as my knowledge goes, this world cannot show anything made by men so amazingly beautiful".

In 1930 Karl Parsons moved from Northwood, where he had lived for many years, to Shalbourne in Wiltshire.

Karl Parsons incorporated a small granary on unusual brick and timber staddles thus converting it into a larger purpose-built storage building and garage, giving access directly from Rivar Road.

Karl Parsons's health deteriorated and finally, in 1933, he had to return to London, took a flat in Putney and worked for a while with his friend Edward Woore.

Karl Parsons died there the following year at the young age of 50.