Thomas Hawkes

Thomas Gibbons Hawkes, born in County Cork, Ireland in 1846 to a prominent family with a glassworking heritage, emigrated to the United States in 1863. His career began as a foreman for glass factory Hoare and Daily in Brooklyn, New York moving with the company to Corning, New York in 1868.

Working at the bench as a glass cutter for John Hoare, Mr. Hawkes rapidly became one of the most expert workmen in the employ of the firm. He rose to the position of foreman, and later acquired an insight into the sales department by taking the product of the shops to the large cities of the country where he sold to the trade. One of the things Mr. Hawkes treasured most in after life was a gold watch he took with him when he left the foremanshikp of the John Hoare works, as a token of appreciation and the esteem in which he was held by the employees who had worked under him there.

He soon opened his own cutting shop which was incorporated as T.G. Hawkes & Company in 1890. This on the heels of success the year before when Hawkes famously won acclaim and Grand Prize at the Universal Exposition in Paris.Glass engraving was a feature of the Hawkes shops almost from the beginning. The Hawkes shops practically introduced the engraving of glassware into this country. Today, such has been the growth of the demand for this highest product of human skill as applied to glassware that in importance engraving bids fair to surpass the cutting of glass.

SOURCE - https://www.hawkescrystal.com/about (Sept 2025) & https://cutglass.org/BrilliantGlassEduc/Cutting%20Houses/Hawkes/Hawkesobit1.htm (Sept 2025)