Pratt & Sons of Brighton, Taxidermists.www.Taxidermy4cash.com

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Pratt & Sons of Brighton
Pratt & Sons from Brighton West Sussex were perhaps the most prolific and best known Victorian taxidermists in this region. The company was begun by John and Henry Pratt around 1852 and continued until 1952. Perhaps the most auspicious project that brought then significant recognition was the Booth museum in Brighton, the work completed around 1901. The brothers were commission by Edward Booth to create the dioramas principally of British birds that is still in existence today. Whilst Pratt & Sons undertook commercial taxidermy, namely fox heads, sporting trophies and cased birds locally obtained the Booth museum in our opinion created and maintained their reputation. It is also understood that Pratt as dealing with William Borrer of Henfield and mounted the birds that he shot locally and ultimately donated and in some instances sold to Edward Booth to complete the collection.
Typically and not dissimilar to the work of TE Gunn, another eminent taxidermist of the Victorian era, Pratt cases tend to be "box type", flat fronted cases with well executed groundwork and attention to detail. Faint / pale blue backgrounds are typical of the style and presentation. Pratt cases also tend to stand the test of time well also, a testimony to the use of arsenic powder in the preservation of the skins, unlike James Gardner who work is well known for falling apart. The standard of the bird mounts themselves is also well observed. Quite a few commercial cases till remain in public circulation but the best examples of their work surely has to be the Booth Museum itself in Brighton. This museum is well worth the visit, with the curator being a taxidermist himself.


Other Brighton taxidermists of note are:
Swaysland of Brighton
Other Sussex taxidermists of note include Swaysland of Brighton who company began in 1853 and closed its doors around 1931. Birds and mammals that were created by this firm again were acquired locally. Remember people at that time undertook professions such as bird netters and commercial egg collectors for the London markets as food for the masses. All perfectly legal occupations of the time, but frowned upon and illegal today. Sussex and Kent are land falls for birds that migrated down from Scandinavia and Russia during hard Winters, so Lapland Buntings, SandGrouse and the like are no surprise to have bee shot locally. We are of the view that out of the 3 most prolific companies in the Brighton area Pratt stand out as perhaps the most competent.

Brazenor of Brighton
This company can trace its roots from 1868 until 1967. Again birds mounted were shot local to the Brighton area, but this taxidermist was perhaps not as commercial as Pratt or Swaysland. The quality is not as consistent either to be fair. There were many more hobbyist taxidermists that operated in both East and West Sussex, but these tended to have full time jobs and taxidermy only served as additional income. Therefore their attention to detail and observance of the birds in questions varied considerably from excellent but infrequent to poor and shoddy.

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