Royal Doulton Cathedral Plates, signed by John Hugh Plant

For my birthday this year I was very touched to receive an extremely thoughtful gift of six cabinet plates featuring great Cathedrals of England from my husband The plates are by Royal Doulton, hand signed by J H Plant, c. 1902 – 1920. John Hugh Plant was a renowned landscape artist who spent many years with Coalport and Wedgwood before joining Royal Doulton in 1902.

This set comprises scenes from Westminster Abbey, Winchester Cathedral, York Minster, Durham Cathedral, Canterbury Cathedral and Salisbury Cathedral. I was utterly enchanted with them, and have started researching more about John Hugh Plant, the artist, and his other works.

A review of some online auction results has revealed that there are additional plates in this series. I have found Gloucester, Bath, Wells and Ely Cathedral so far. I shall continue to search for more and will keep you apprised of my findings. Logic tells me there must have been ten or twelve. J H Plant also painted a series of castles, including Windsor, Bamburgh (spelled Bamborough on his plate), Ludlow, Warwick, Chepstow, Arundel, Dunster, Barnard, Braemar, and Wotton Park Near Dorking for Royal Doulton on plates featuring a similar, but not identical, raised gold border.

Westminster Abbey