Whall was an independent stained glass designer and maker. He also ran courses at the Central Schools of Arts and Craft plus the Royal College of Art.
He was born in Northamptonshire in the town of Thurning. He was born in 1849 and lived to be 75.
He was well known for: Stained glass
Whall moved to Edmonton to live with his mother after his fathers death in 1874. He had hoped to find work as a portrait painter, but was offered few commissions. In 1874 Whall met the designer, A. H. Mackmurdo, founder of the Century Guild, and through him Selwyn Image, and contributed to the Guilds publication, Hobby Horse. In 1875 and 1876 he exhibited at the Royal Academy. At this time he gained the patronage of a Hanoverian, Baroness von Boselager, who gave him funds to travel to Italy, where he was to stay for almost three years, travelling in central and northern Italy, studying architecture and paintings. In 1878 in Lucca he converted to Catholicism. Before going to Italy he had sought work as a portrait painter and as a studio assistant to other artists, but had had little success.
When he returned to London in 1879, almost penniless, he was befriended by the Rosminian Order of Charity at St Ethelredas Church in Ely Place, Holborn and became a lay member of that Order. At St Ethelredas he designed the side windows in the upper chapel, these windows being made by W.G. Saunders. By 1882 he was to leave the religious community at Ely Place, move to No.18 Wharton Street in Clerkenwell and work as an illustrator of newspapers, novels and childrens books, as well as assisting other painters and giving drawing lessons. He carried out designs during this period for several stained glass makers including John Hardman Trading Co. Ltd as well as James Powell and Sons.
Whalls career as an independent designer and maker of stained glass began in the late 1880s. This coincided with the emergence of the Arts and Crafts Movement through bodies such as the Art Workers Guild and the Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society. Whall was actively involved in these two organizations for thirty years and was an influential spokesman for the medium of stained glass.
Indeed, through James Powell and Sons he was to exhibit at that Societys exhibitions at the New Gallery in 1888 and 1889. The architects with whom he was to work at Holy Trinity Church, Sloane Street, John Dando Sedding and Henry Wilson were also prominent within the Movement. It was John Dando Sedding who was to give Whall his first independent commission, for the Lady Chapel East window of St Marys church in Stamford, Lincolnshire, which he completed in 1891.
Whall’s participation in the early activities of the Arts and Crafts Movement came soon after a life-changing event that had taken place in 1887. In that year he had converted the cow-shed at his cottage in Dorking into a workshop, where he set about learning all the processes of the craft: cutting, painting, firing and glazing, so that, in future, no part of the making of his windows would be beyond his control. This was a direct protest against the division of labour, then almost universally prevalent among commercial manufacturers, which Whall and others saw as incompatible with the production of stained glass as an art rather than simply a trade. During his time at Dorking, Whall was assisted by Louis Davis and Reginald Hallward, both of whom were to have distinguished careers as stained glass artists.
Whalls artistic style included using images from nature, a wide range of glass colours and textures, and new glass materials. Whalls application of white glass for his windows was unique for the time period. He was one of the earliest Arts and Crafts Movement stained glass artists to include slab glass in his work. Whalls work was considered groundbreaking in his use of Priors Early English glass. The east window he created for St. Marys Stamford was the first large stained glass window to contain the new material.