The Guild of St Joseph and St Dominic was a Roman Catholic community of artists and craftspeople founded in 1920 in Ditchling, East Sussex, England. It was part of the Arts and Crafts movement and its legacy led to the creation of Ditchling Museum of Art + Craft.
History
The Guild grew from the arrival of Eric Gill to Ditchling, Sussex, in 1907 with his apprentice Joseph Cribb. They were soon followed by Desmond Chute and Hilary Pepler. In 1921 the four founded the Guild: a Roman Catholic community based on the idea of the medieval guild. No women were admitted to the guild until 1972.
The communal buildings and family houses grew around a site north of Ditchling, on the edge of Ditchling Common (now encroached by Burgess Hill) where Gill had moved with his family in 1913. A chapel had been started in 1919 and was completed for the founding. The community and families around the guild's members had grown to 41 by February 1922.
Gill left Ditchling for the former Anglican monastery at Capel-y-ffin in 1924, leaving his apprentice Cribb to take over the stone carver's workshop, but the Guild continued to flourish. The Guild continued to attract many new members – carpenter George Maxwell, weavers Valentine KilBride and Bernard Brocklehurst, and wood-engraver Philip Hagreen. In 1932 the silversmith Dunstan Pruden joined, followed by artist and engraver Edgar Holloway.
Notwithstanding several upheavals, the affairs of the Guild eventually stabilised and it continued for many years, later members being Jenny KilBride who joined the weaving workshop and the calligrapher Ewan Clayton, grandson of Valentine KilBride. Eventually, its affairs were finally wound up in 1989 and the workshops demolished.
Ideology
The Guild's members wanted to protect and the promote its members' work: an idea that reflected the broader Arts and Crafts Movement. The community was based around work, faith and domestic life, with workshops and a chapel. Its philosophy was encapsulated in what today might be called its mission statement, engraved on a stone plaque, now in The Wilson Museum (Cheltenham).
Its philosophy was based on Roman Catholicism and in particular, the Distributist ideas of G. K. Chesterton and Hilaire Belloc. Gill and Pepler's founding ideals were also heavily influenced by Vincent McNabb.
Crafts
Printing and texts
A key element of the community was a private press, Saint Dominic's Press, which was run by Hilary Pepler. It enabled members to circulate their ideas to friends and supporters and provided a creative outlet for every member of their community. The books and pamphlets it produced – including the monthly journal, The Game – are much sought after today. A bibliography of the Press was published in 1995.
Other craft areas
Other areas of craft served in the Guild included stone carving, weaving, woodworking, and metalwork.
Guild members
Eric Gill
Member of Guild 1920–1924 – typographer, engraver, sculptor
Hilary Pepler
Member of the Guild 1920–1934 – writer, printer
Pepler had an eclectic career, starting as a social worker before he came under Gill's influence at Hammersmith. Gill interested Pepler in the art of lettering which led to involvement in publishing. and eventually printing when he moved to Ditchling in 1916 to set up the St Dominic's Press, using a traditional handpress in preference to a more automated device. In the same year he abandoned his Quaker faith for Catholicism. He published The Game, with Gill and Johnson, airing the views which would lie behind the foundation of the Guild. His friendship with Gill was broken by Gill's move to Wales, and was never to recover, despite the marriage of Pepler's son and Gill's daughter Betty in 1927. His interests spread beyond the Guild in the 1930s into the arena of drama and mime. His insistence on employing a non-Catholic assistant led to his acrimonious departure in 1934, his printing business continuing under the name The Ditchling Press. His mimes were performed widely in Europe and the US to great critical acclaim.