Item 46 - Bill for Repairs to Chapel

James Rattee was a highly skilled woodcarver and stonemason whose work can be seen in the chapels of Jesus and Magdalene Colleges and the Round Church in Cambridge, as well as in Ely Cathedral, Westminster Abbey and Eton College chapel.

He was born in Fundenhall, Norfolk in 1820, and learnt his trade as an apprentice to a Norwich carpenter, who also taught him carving. Early in life, he showed an interest in church ornamentation and restoration and first met George Kett while the latter was working on the restoration of Norwich Cathedral in the 1830s. James Rattee moved to Cambridge in 1842, and set up as a woodcarver on Sidney Street. His reputation as a craftsman grew swiftly and his successes included the carving of the choir stalls in Ely Cathedral, hailed as ‘the most elaborate piece of art workmanship executed since the Reformation’. In 1843 he set up a wood and stone carving works next to his house, Poplar Cottage on the corner of Station Road and Hills Road in Cambridge. In 1848 he was joined in partnership by George Kett. Although their company was originally called the Wood and Stone Carving Works, Cambridge, it soon changed to Rattee & Kett.

James Rattee was dedicated to his work, and his health was not good. In 1852, his doctor advised him to take a break and he travelled to the Continent. While there, he spent time studying with master carvers in Cologne, Hamburg and Antwerp. On his return, he constructed George Gilbert Scott’s design for the five-panelled reredos at Ely Cathedral. In 1855, he suddenly fell ill with a cold and, already weak, was unable to fight the infection. Forty-eight hours later, he died at his home in Hills Road. He was buried in Mill Road Cemetery on the afternoon of Good Friday, 1855, with a huge crowd in attendance, who came to ‘evince their admiration of his abilities and respect for his character’. He was 34. His widow Caroline Rattee retained a share and interest in the business of Rattee & Kett until her death in 1866. She is also buried in the tomb, as is James Rattee’s mother.

George Kett (1809 – 1872) of Wymondham, Norfolk was a skilled carpenter and wood carver. In the late 1830s, he was employed on the restoration of Norwich cathedral, where he met the young James Rattee, with whom he later set up the Cambridge architectural masonry company Rattee & Kett.
He moved to London with his wife Sarah (née Lincoln, also from Wymondham) and five children – George, Joanna, Edmund and twins William and Alfred – to work on the interiors and furnishings of the new Palace of Westminster under architect and designer Augustus Pugin. Pugin was said to be so pleased with Kett’s finely detailed work that he chose him to carve the royal coat of arms in the Chamber of the House of Lords.

By 1848, Kett had moved to Cambridge to set up an architectural wood and stone carving business with James Rattee, who was now renowned locally as a highly skilled wood and stone craftsman. Their company was originally known as the Wood and Stone Carving Works, Cambridge, though its name was quickly changed to Rattee & Kett. The company operated from substantial premises on Station Road, with offices, stone works, a joinery and a builder’s yard adjoining James Rattee’s house, Poplar Cottage.

George, Sarah, their seven children (with new additions Susannah, born 1846 in London, and Frederick, born 1848 in Cambridge) and maternal grandmother lived in a house in Petersfield, off East Road.

The company flourished and Kett took over the responsibility of running it after the sudden death of James Rattee, at the age of 34, in 1855.