Chardon’s Victorian and Edwardian Collection

The Victorian Period was marked by sweeping progress and ingenuity that included a railway boom, the first telegraph, and the first telephone. The first industrial revolution also brought social change. Here in Llandudno during this time, the first cell of Women’s Suffrage in Wales was born. The Edwardian period was relatively short-lived but has become widely known as a period when arts and crafts flourished, and the wealthy people of Great Britain enjoyed both elegance and extravagance. The era came to an unexpected end with the First World War.

As a Victorian man with a good fortune, our founder, Francis Chardon (1865–1923), studied art travelled extensively, and brought home artefacts from all over the Victorian/Edwardian world. From Japanese netsuke and Egyptian unshabti dolls to an exquisite collection of jewellery and trinket boxes. Francis’s eclectic collection gives us a fascinating insight into his personal taste and his interest in the aesthetic movements of the time.