George Ravenscroft

[1] He was born in 1632, the second of five sons of Roman Catholic parents who hid their true faith and lived outwardly as Anglicans, and he was baptized in Alconbury Weston, Huntingdonshire, England, in April 1633.

[1] After settling in London and establishing a successful import/export business that made him wealthy, Ravenscroft married Hellen Appleby, from Yorkshire, England, in 1670 or 1671 and had three children with her.

Ravenscroft's whereabouts and activities between 1651 and 1666 are unclear, though it is certain that he lived in Venice, Italy for at least some of this time working as a merchant and possibly learning glassmaking techniques that he would later bring back to England.

This much is generally accepted to be true: During the years Ravenscroft lived in Venice (sometime between 1651 and 1666) he was involved in the glass trade, not as a craftsman but as a merchant, so he knew and associated with glassmakers in Italy.

[1][2] It is likely that Ravenscroft was the director and financier of his glassworks but not actively involved in the physical process of glass-making, a role likely to have been performed by one or more craftsmen in his employ, such as Italians Signor da Costa or Vincenzo Pompeio, or his English assistant Hawley Bishopp, who set up his own glassworks, in the Savoy area of London, after Ravenscroft's death.

[citation needed] Whatever the origin of the idea, Ravenscroft believed that he had a unique product to offer the English market, so he applied to King Charles II for a patent in 1674 to establish his right to be sole manufacturer of lead crystal glass in England.

[2] Ravenscroft announced in 1676 that the "crizzling" problem had been resolved and that the new, improved glass vessels would bear a raven's head seal to distinguish them from earlier, faulty pieces.

[4] A small number (less than twenty) of glass vessels bearing the raven's head seal exist today, some of which have crizzled and some of which have not.

[4] Some pieces thought to strongly resemble Ravenscroft's work bear an "S" seal; some have suggested that the "S" stands for "Savoy", Ravenscroft's main production facility,[5] while others tentatively suggest that the "S" might stand for "Southwark, indicating that the glass may conceivably have been made by John Bowles and William Lillington at their South London glass works across the river.