John Alexander Cole 1838-1906
It is suggested that he served as an apprentice to James Gardner in London before establishing is own firm in Norwich. Interesting to note that he did not execute his cases in a Gardner style, preferring the box case, flat fronted appearance of TE Gunn, taxidermist also who resides in Norwich around the same time.
Like Gunn and Roberts Cole specialized predominantly in bird taxidermy, sourced locally from the fens and estuaries in the Norfolk area (This was a perfectly legal practice in those days). The work undertaken is so similar to the work produced by TE Gunn that is could be argued that it was either in admiration or direct competition, given their location to each other. Personally we prefer the less flamboyant style of cases that Gardner tended to produce as they lack accuracy.. Subtle groundwork, with duck egg blue painted backdrops, complemented with very well executed taxidermy, were produced by nearly all the Norfolk taxidermists. Water effects were created using painted glass also. Cole and Gunn cases tended to have escaped the ravages of time due to the use of arsenic but more importantly the fact that being a box style of case, the exposure to sunlight would have been greatly reduced. Cole also specialized in more exotic birds and mammals but these were not the stock in trade for this taxidermist. The page contains some of the work produced by Cole as well as trade labels that illustrate his achievements. Mammals such as Foxes, Badgers, Otters, Squirrels and the like were also produced to the same exacting standards. Examples of this work are represented within this site and a page is dedicated to work undertaken by the Gunn family business.
TE Gunn had close links with Edward Booth of Brighton, not only providing some of the taxidermy that is present in the museum but also providing the dead birds for Pratt and Brazenor of Brighton to complete the dioramas. It is understood that Booth and Gunn were in correspondence in relation to specimens and most likely that they would have collected together given that a lot of birds that Booth shot were obtained from Breydon Water, a favourite hunting ground for nearly all the Norfolk taxidermist. Edward Saunders, Thomas Roberts and Walter Lowne all obtained birds from this region..
As well as the production of single specimens, habitat groups and large dioramas were also produced. Nests, eggs and chicks were also incorporated into the schemes; this is particularly evident when visiting the Ipswich bird museum which houses the work of TE Gunn, produced for FM Ogilvie, formerly of Sizewell Hall in Suffolk. This collection of mainly local birds was produced between 1880-1916. The collection was donated to the public and anyone can view it should they feel inclined to do so. The collection consists of some 235 cases and were mounted in a very similar style to the dioramas produced for ET Booth, in that the habitat re-creation was a close to the birds natural habitat and indeed may even had a direct representation to the actual spot that the birds were collected from. Each cases had a sketched drawing of the birds and where most likely they would be placed in each cases. Male and females of each species were mounted normally in breeding plumage. George Herd (1859-1940) worked for TE Gunn and much of the company's reputation for quality and accuracy can be attributed to him.
For more information on taxidermy in this region, the best book you can source is the work by Christopher Frost, entitled "A History of British Taxidermy" dated 1987. This book covers most reputable Victorian taxidermists, with excellent images. It is a worthy read.
