Joseph Hemingway,
Joseph aged 8 years old.
: Hemingway wI was delivered, at St Lukes Hospital, Huddersfield. 15/10/1942 to: Samuel & Doris Hemingway. On my home coming my mother placed me on the front room settee, Proped
settee, proped up by 2 large custion's. to hold me in place, my 5 brother's and,2 sister's are all smiling? around me? I can see them all, Today? all Smiling.
smilling at me. there was a large coal fire burning in the grate creating shadows, around the room.
Our Father Return's
Father is Demobed from the Army, after the second world war? 1946. Sergeant Hemingway?
I was so proud of my dad? I was only 4 years, But I new my own Feelings? then? he was stationed in Scotland, I remember he had delivered? a chicken
Incubator which arrived.in a BRS Truck. from his station? It was stored in our bedroom.
It was a hard life? but better days were to come.
He arrived hom He with just a kit bag? No traveling case? Just this bag, tied at the top with ropes, He was carring a pencil sketch of himself, drawn by an Italian Prisoner.
-of wat.
This is where I I gained a lesson of Forward Planning that day?Note: Father Flat Hat? Mothers name for Father. She called him that when he made a mess of a job she had asked him to do? This was a regular, occurrence for him.
One if his first Jobs was to spend his War pay, He arranged to go to this auction? with, Uncle John Arthur? From Dewsbury, who owned a car? To get to an Auction in Batley, just on the road from Dewsbury, west Yorkshire. To bid for some furniture, I remember this well? For he purchased 2 fantastic Antiques
One was a Thomas Sheraton, Display Cabinet? And the other was a William & Mary, Oak Dresser. The dresser was standing by my pile of closes the morning after. Note: It had heavy carving? Wow? I was imprested? So much, mother had to nudge me for breakfast? Come on Joseph your Porage is going cold? I remember asking can I do that when I’m older. Mother.
Mother cleaned for: Mr. & Mrs. Smith, 2, Woodside Road? She asked to borrow there copy of: The Gentleman & Cabinetmakers Director, By: Thomas Chippendale? To show me? Remember its 1946. I was: Smittened? At first sight?
A book to take over my working life.
BabyJoseph.
By: Mother: Doris, and Father: Samuel, his parents, He is born into a large family. I do remember my first day at home, After arriving back at: 30, Gilbert Grove, Huddersfield. Mother just propped on the settee, Placing three large cushions hold me up? I can see my eldest Bother: Harold. Next to him is Eddy, followed by Arthur, Mary, Dorathera, Ken, Bill. All smiling at me? What a Fantastic Welcome, I think Ill be all OK location here was my Thought.
Three more children followed me, Bernard, Fredrick, and Margret. 11 children in total.
started working for : Taylor & Hobson Ltd, Note: My Clocking in number was: 245 Note: my card was half way down the list,Just as an
example the size of this firm. they had a woodyard on Milford street (road above the works) 400ft x 100ft, there woodyard man, was: Hermon Booth.
The New Business started in:1899, Traded from:
26, New Street, Huddersfield.Note: That F B Hobson's shop was chosen as its Front Shop? Note: Because: FB Hobson's Cabinet shop was in the yard behind , 26 New Street,.Note: That Gained? FB Hobson the right to vote for 1851? against 1848 on the firms new Statements (as shown)? Note:In the next 24 years (1923) just 'One Shop' Had multpled into: TEN shops? all in one: Block.
Note: a 1865 Photo of the shop to become 26, New Street, Huddersfield. FB Hobson & Son Ltd, Note:in 1926?:Taylor & Hobson Ltd, Owned all the block. 
Photo 1865. Note:When F B Hobson arrived from London in1865 
Note: this was his shop building. This was soon transformed into, 26 New Street, Ordusfield. This shop was to became Taylor & Hobson Ltd.Front Shop. Note: New Street, in 1860c. .
Note: I post this special Image? for all to see, 'The Appentice' in the cabinetmakers Apron (left of Image) Note:This could have been Jo in 1957 returning from, Taylor & Hobson Ltd, Front Shop: Office, on his way back to: The Cabinetworks: at: 27,Chaple Hill, Huddersfield.
Back to the Story. Amonst Taylor & Hobson Ltd, investor list? at this time was: The Halifax Building Society.( Now the HBBC bank) plus most other top business men in Huddersfield
. Note: This patnership of Taylor & Hobson broke in 1926, (because FB Hobson was insisting Mahagany was an old fashoned Timber?
Note: Albert Taylor & Sons Ltd. move to Holmefirth, up the Holme Valley. and was still trading there in 1960. Opposite: The 'Ashly Jackson;Gallery
. Another talent from Yorkshire,Artist.
To: Thomas Chippendale Furniture Ltd, Taylor & Hobson CIC.
From: HRH Queen Eelizabeth 11.
February 2011.
Dear Dr Joseph Hemingway.
The official papers at Windsor Castle. These contemporaries were all capable of producing work of superb quality, some of it directly based on the designs in the Director, which was after all intended to be a trade guide. It is also obvious that, once he had set up in a fashionable London shop, Chippendale himself could never have made any furniture. He was principally a designer, and this task, together with that of running a busy shop, and of travelling to attend to clients' commissions in all parts of the country, would inevitably have taken up all his time. There is still relatively little furniture that can be unequivocally assigned to Chippendale's workshop, though the number of identified pieces is increasing as more evidence appears.
Kind Regards
Lord Chamberlin. Archives at the Public Record Office
Note:The methods of identification and attribution of Chippendale furniture, as well as the known number of his commissions, will be examined in more detail later.
The Mahogany settee, based on a design for a French chair (Plate XXII) in the Director (1762). Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1957). (See 20) Chippendale's career may be outlined briefly as follows. He came of Yorkshire stock, the son of a joiner in the small town of Otley, where he was baptised in the parish church on 5th June 1718. Between this date, recorded in the parish register, and 19th May 1748, when he married Catherine Redshaw at St George's chapel, Hyde Park, London, there is a complete blank. What happened in these thirty years, the most formative in any crafts- man's life, is matter for pure speculation. Nothing is knowhow his training, of when he moved to London, or of his just job there.
It has been suggested that local Yorkshire patrons, recognizing the young man's promise, sponsored his journey to London to complete his training, and the Lascelles family, of nearby Harewood, and Sir Rowland Winn have been mentioned in this connection. Another suggestion, made more recently, is that James Paine, the architect, met Chippendale at Nostel Priory where he was working as a joiner (and where he is said to have made the fine doll's house which is still there) and recommended him to study drawing at the St Martin's Lane Academy, founded by Hogarth in 1735, where paine himself had studied. This Academy, in the heart of London's fashionable cabinetmaking world, may well have been an important training ground for furniture designers, but more research is required before the exact nature of its influence can be judged.
Mahogany settee, based on a design for a French chair (Plate XXII) in the Director (1762). Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1957). (See 20) Chippendale's career may be outlined briefly as follows. He came of Yorkshire stock, the son of a joiner in the small town of Otley, where he was baptised in the parish church on 5th June 1718. Between this date, recorded in the parish register, and 19th May 1748, when he married Catherine Redshaw at St George's chapel, Hyde Park, London, there is a complete blank. What happened in these thirty years, the most formative in any crafts- man's life, is matter for pure speculation. Nothing is knowhow his training, of when he moved to London, or of his just job there.
It has been suggested that local Yorkshire patrons, recognizing the young man's promise, sponsored his journey to London to complete his training, and the Lascelles family, of nearby Harewood, and Sir Rowland Winn have been mentioned in this connection. Another suggestion, made more recently, is that James Paine, the architect, met Chippendale at Nostel Priory where he was working as a joiner (and where he is said to have made the fine doll's house which is still there) and recommended him to study drawing at the St Martin's Lane Academy, founded by Hogarth in 1735, where paine himself had studied. This Academy, in the heart of London's fashionable cabinetmaking world, may well have been an important training ground for furniture designers, but more research is required before the exact nature of its influence can Be judged.
Rate books reveal that Chippendale was living in Conduit Court, long Acre, from 1749 to the summer of 1752, then in Somerset (or Northumberland) Court, Stand, next to Northumberland House, from 1752 to 1753, and finally, by 1754, at 60 and 61 St Martin's Lane, where he remained for the rest of his life.
A wall-plaque, where St Martin's Lane meets Long Acre, now marks the site of the workshop of England's most famous cabinet- maker.
Chippendale had evidently acquired, in his early thirties, sufficient capital and prestige to find himself among the most eminent furniture-makers of his day. In 1754 he took a partner, James Rannie a further indication of expanding business, and
in the same year became nationally known through the publication of the Director. A fire at his premises in 1755 was reported as having destroyed the 'benches of 22 workmen'. In 1760 he was elected a member of the Royal Society of Arts on the recommendation of the Yorkshire landowner, Sir Thomas Robinson of Rokeby Hall. In 1766, on the death of Rannie, Chippendale held a sale of his stock-in-trade, which was announced in the Public Advertiser. In 1771 he acquired another partner, Thomas Haig, formerly Rannie's clerk. Meanwhile, he visited France in 1768, and perhaps as a result of arrangements made during this visit,
he imported unfinished French furniture, presumably to complete in his workshop, for in 1769 he was fined by the Customs for under-declaring the value of 60 French chair frames. He married a second wife, Elizabeth Davis, in 1777. He died of consumption in 1779 and was buried in St Martin's church. He had altogether eleven children, and his eldest son Thomas (born in 1749) succeeded him in the business and also became a distinguished cabinetmaker.
Chippendale's London was not only by far the largest furniture centre of the British Isles, but was also one of the largest in Europe.
The chief English provincial cities-Bristol, York, Norwich, Bath, etc.-had competent craftsmen who were well able to supply local needs, including those of the gentry, but they followed London fashions, for the most eminent cabinetmakers and the finest shops were found in London, nurtured by court patronage and by that of the landed aristocracy who made their seasonal visit to the capital to keep abreast of the latest furniture styles.
London-made furniture went to great houses in all parts of the country, as far north as Scotland, It was also exported throughout Europe and the colonies. Through their key trading position London furniture-makers had ready access to the world's finest cabinet woods, above all to mahogany, now available in ever increasing quantities. In every way in furniture-making, the capital's position was unrivalled.
By about 1750 the select group of high class shops maintained by the leading makers had left the once fashionable area of St Paul's Churchyard to group in the district of St Martin's Lane, Long Acre, Covent Garden and the Strand, with extensions, somewhat later in Chippendale's career. into Old and New Bond Street and Tottenham Court Road. It was these shops which catered for the royal family and the aristocracy. Some were of considerable size, though the largest so far identified, that of George Seddon, was in unfashionable Aldersgate street. This was reported by a German visitor in 1786 to be employing some 400 craftsmen. But most shops must have been much smaller than this.
The fashionable furniture world was highly competitive. Successful cabinetmakers had to seek the patronage of influential clients,
catch the latest fashion, and select the most skilled journeymen, all while facing heavy overhead expenses (wages, rent and rates, timber stocks, etc.). The nobility were notoriously unpunctual in paying their bills. 'As l receive my rents once a year'' wrote Sir
Edward Knatchbull of Mersham-le-Hatch, Kent, to Chippendale
in 1771, in reply to the latter's request for payment, 'so l pay my Tradesmen's Bills once a year, which is not reckoned very bad pay as the world goes' Fashionable cabinetmakers very rarely advertised through trade cards, as this practice was frowned upon by the well-to-do.
Taylor & Hobson Ltd, Huddersfield.
Was created by Albert Taylor & son Ltd, & F B Hobson & Son Ltd, A Taylor in: 1840, FB Hobson in: 1851. they amagumated in 1899 to Create Taylor & Hobson Ltd.
Norman Holroyd was a cabinetmaker for:Taylor & Hobson Ltd. He was born in1878; he sadly died in:1976, while living at:16,Holly Terrace. Bradford Road, Huddersfield. His lived at, 194, Halifax Old Road, Huddersfield, before getting married.
While serving at this long established firm?Taylor & Hobson Ltd (1851-1991).
Note: he retired on: 16, May 1948.
After working for: Taylor & Hobson Ltd all his working life, his closest work mate,was a fellow church Organist,at: Kirkburton,Nr Huddersfield. Mr Jack Airey, who was joined Norman in 1906, there friendship lasted over 60 years.
Jack Airey was: The Cabinetmaking, Tutor: for: Huddersfield Council, at its Technical Collage complex, in Huddersfield,1947-1956, (I started work in 1957, for: Taylor & Hobson Ltd, and my one day. (per week) day release was on a monday.
Note: My Cabinetmaking Tutor was a: Mr Tommy Bloomfield, who was employed by: J T Ellis & Co, Furniture Manufacturers from, Moldgreen, Huddersfield.
Norman, started work at the age at:14 years old, in (1900) as an apprentice Cabinetmaker. who then transferred to the carving studio, his first job was to make his own tool chest.(which he pasted this on to(free of charge) to Kenneth Horner,(T&H Ltd,Delivery man,)in 1975) who's last job was? A Royal mail: as a Postman.
Norman was called up in 1913,and joined the Navy. to fight in the:1914-18 war, On HMS--?? he was demobbed in 1919. His suviving tool chest bares the ship he served on, (AMIC---) today its renamed as HMS--. as a cabinetmaker, repairing fighter planes.
on joining the workforce again in 1919 at: Taylor & Hobson Ltd, he started to take an interest the new Union protection policy being delivered?He soon was chosen as: The Taylor & Hobson Ltd, new trade union shop Stuard, and 60 years later on the 9th July 1965. he received a £25 reword for his long service
to the Union,as Vice-president of The Huddersfield Second Branch?
He was presented by: Mr N Tattersall, chairman of:The Management Committee,The Friendly & Trades Club, Northumberland Street,Huddersfield.
For his sixty years long services in: The Amalgamated Union of woodwork. With a £25 Cheque.
Note: on one of Norman's better advice Days? He informed me of this?
on my starting to create the new business: Thomas Chippendale Furniture Ltd. I would open a can of worms?
He never spoke a truer word? 23/1/2007? Fire at: Thomas Chippendale Furniture Ltd. http://www.youtube.com/my_videos?feature=mum