Benjamin Lucraft - Lucraft's Report On The Paris Universal Exhibition

Lucraft's Report On The Paris Universal Exhibition

Lucraft's prowess with the chisel, and his campaigning for the improvement of the education of apprentices, led him to be asked by the Royal Society of Arts to attend the Paris Universal Exhibition Exposition Universelle (1878), and report on his findings in respect of the training of workers in the furniture trade.

He found matters far better arranged in France for the production of quality furniture and proposed wholesale changes to the apprentice system, many of which were later adopted. He was anxious that draughtsmanship should be a part of the training, as he himself always drew out his own work, and felt men were disadvantaged in their skills if they could not do the whole piece as a craftsman. He proposed the idea of a school or college for the furniture trade apprentices and this idea eventually became the London School of Furniture, now part of London Metrolitan University. He proposed and worked towards the establishment of a museum in East London of craft work, skills and tools that would enable the working man to see how trades were worked in other times and places.

A copy of the report sits in the bookcase which was presented to him on his re-election to the London School Board in 1873. The inscription on the bookcase reads:

This bookcase and books were presented to Mr Benjamin Lucraft, the only workman member of the first School Board for London, on his re-election in 1873, by his Committee and Supporters, as a mark of their esteem, and in recognition of services rendered by him to the cause of popular education.