Milburn and Wilcox Family Tree

Richard Old (1856–1932), was an English woodcraftsman and prolific model maker, specialising in fretwork. He was born in Staithes, though for most of his life he lived at 6 Ruby Street in Middlesbrough and it was in that small terraced house that he made all of the models - over 750 of them - for which he is celebrated.

A cabinet maker by day, Old would work obsessively through the night on his hobby. Many of the models were scaled down versions of real buildings and other structures famous for their architecture. His miniatures were astonishingly faithful to the originals, right down to the smallest detail.

Old's work has been displayed at various exhibitions since the 1930s. A large number of his models formed the 'Richold collection', which of its type was generally regarded as unrivalled. The collection has since been broken up and sold off. Its star piece was a 1:100 scale model of Milan Cathedral, which was painstakingly recreated over a period of 5 years (1/100th the time the real Milan Cathedral took to build).

Until the 1980s Preston Hall in Stockton-on-Tees housed a number of models from the Richold collection.

Late in life, Old made a living from building and restoring church organs (he was for several years the organist at St John’s Church in Middlesbrough)

British Pathe video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fO-xH59Bms

'Old' models return home
By Paul Delplanque on Mar 9, 12 06:00 AM
A small part of what was once a massive collection of remarkable models has returned to their home on Teesside. The celebrated local model maker Richard Old was born in Staithes in 1854 but his family moved to Middlesbrough from the time when he was a young boy. During his life he constructed a extraordinary collection of models and his great, great niece Susan Chester has been researching his life while securing a few of his wonderful models which are currently on display at Kirkleatham Museum until Sunday, March 25.
Richard spent his early life at 80, Milton Street and after leaving school he served his time as an apprentice cabinetmaker and later became an organ builder. He took an interest in making intricate objects such as wall brackets and picture frames and gradually he developed an interest in making scale models. As the years passed these became more ambitious and more elaborate.
In 1886 at the age of 31, Richard married Emma Knott and they set up home together in Lower Feversham Street, Middlesbrough before moving to Ruby Street where their first child, Gertrude Mary was born. Sadly Emma died shortly after giving birth to a second child, Emma in 1889, then tragically young Emma also died a few months later after drinking untreated milk.
Richard earned his living by day at his trade and when he returned home he would take a few moments for his tea and then spend the rest of the evening working on his models in the kitchen of 6, Ruby Street. Often he became so engrossed in his models he would return to work the next morning without ever going to bed! He was a self-taught mathematician and devised many simplified methods of calculation which he used in the scaling and building of these wonderful models.
Richard's father was a mariner and often brought rare woods from different countries for him to work on. He even constructed his own fretwork machines, one using a hairspring from a watch to create a cut as fine as a thin pencil line. The variety of subjects for his models was vast, ranging from a huge model of Milan Cathedral to a vase of flowers all intricately constructed out of wood, he made an astonishing 767 models during his lifetime.
He sold the collection after much persuading and it was exhibited around the country spending four months of the summer season at Scarborough. Richard Old died in November 1932 but his collection of models known as the 'Richold Collection' were exhibited for many years after his death, twice at Preston Park. Eventually the models went to auction at Sotherby's and the collection was split up forever.
These models have become highly prized items among collectors with some exchanging for enormous amounts of money, a model of Ulm cathedral went on sale with an asking price of £36,000 in 2007. However, these items rarely come up for sale but Susan Chester and her brother David Formstone have managed to secure several examples of their great, great uncle Richard's work which you can see at Kirkleatham museum until March 25.