TAYLOR & HOBSON Ltd  1851-1991 :By : Dr Joseph Hemingway

 Taylor & Hobson Ltd, started in 1899. by: Nathanial Hobson. (Thomas Chippendale's, First Apprentice,1754) & :Isaac Taylor (Chippendale's replacement for: Matthias Darly,1756, after the fire, in: 1755)

                                                                        Two Grandson's, Albert Taylor, Frank B Hobson.

                                                                                              HOW IT ALL BEGAN.

Note:  In 1718, A young lad named: Thomas Chippendale was born in Otley, North Yorkshire, England. to, John & Mary Chippendale, who lived at the side of

 the village, Joyners shop in,Manor Square, Otley . The Chippendale's were scattered all over Wharfdale, the name Warfdale

 deprives from the river Wharf which flows though village of Otley.on its way to the north sea, Hull, North Yorkshire.

      Thomas Chippendale (1718- 1779) is without doubt the most famous name in the history .Until Joseph Hemingway was Born in1942. BornTo Carve Rococo  Furniture?

      No study of the Georgian period, that famous 'golden age' of English craftsmanship, could possibly be complete without paying special attention to his contribution to cabinetmaking, which is now fully accepted as part of England's cultural heritage. The reasons for this eminence are clear enough. His identified pieces of furniture include outstanding examples of craftsmanship and design, worthy of holding their own with the finest work of foreign masters, even with that of the celebrated French e'be'nistes who, until the outbreak of the French Revolution in 1789, were regarded as Europe's best crafts- men. Chippendale was also the first man to publish a pattern book which was completely devoted to furniture designs, including every type of domestic furniture, down to the simplest pieces. The success of this book-the director l754-established his reputation and subsequent fame and attached his name to the mid century style which, though French in origin, was given by him an unmistakable English character and which has become the first English furniture style to be named after a craftsman and not after the reigning monarch. English furniture was widely imitated in many European countries at that time, as well as, of course, in the English colonies, and the label 'Chippendale' has now gained universal acceptance as a convenient description of pieces in the Director style. Since Chippendale's career outlasted

the Director period, and since by general consent his best work was produced in the succeeding Neo-classical era in what has become known as the Adam style, his achievements in this later phase, in which he employed quite different materials and decorative methods, is a further tribute to his remarkable skill and versatility.

These are the foundations of Chippendale's reputation, firmly based on clear evidence. But it is important to remember that there is relatively little documentary material about his life and nothing on his vital early years. He himself left no journal or diary or autobiographical data. Plenty of his drawings have survived, but these, while invaluable for stylistic study, convey little or nothing of his life story. Practically the sum of contemporary material on which we have to rely for our knowledge of his career consists of evidence such as the entries in parish records of his baptism, marriage and burial and in rate books of his various addresses; very occasional newspaper references ; some letters to and from clients; bills for executed commissions; and passing references to him in diaries, notebooks, etc. But research into his career continues unceasingly, and more and more information, even if only fragmentary, is coming to light. Certainly much more is known about him now than ten years ago, most of it, it may be added, enhancing his reputation.

With so many gaps in our knowledge, it is essential to put Chippendale's career into proper perspective, for hero-worship can encourage both exaggeration and denigration. Until quite recently, for example, it was assumed that all good pieces of English furniture in the Director style must have come from Chippendale's workshop. But apart from the obvious fact that no single shop could have produced so much furniture, it is now also known that his fame has unfairly obscured, until recently, the worth of highly gifted contemporary cabinetmakers, particularly those who succeeded in obtaining what Chippendale never achieved-a royal appointment. In 1768 Chippendale claimed in a letter to Sir Rowland Winn at Nostel Priory, Yorkshire, that he was busy with work 'for the Royal Family', but there is no reference to him either in the royal household accounts are preserved.

     Around 1824  a decision had to be made? Note: Albert Taylor & Family left  London, he having 2 sons to feed? and the London maket , stone Dead? so nowing  his father ' Isaac Taylor ', Came from Ordufield,(Huddersfield) Yorkshire, He decided to uproot back to there Original Roots in life. So we find: Albert Taylor, trading in the Beast Market. of this town in 1840, as trade flourished, we find him moving to ' Ramsden Street ' Trading as: Albert Taylor.

 A name change ' in 1848 ' Albert's Son, Alfred Taylor is in charge.  Newe name ' Alfred Taylor & Sons 'Art Furniture' there collection, was hand carved, a  few nice piece's of: The Gentleman & Cabinetmakers Director.. Like this French Cammode Table,Design XV1.  design by: Isaac Taylor for Thomas  Chippendale. From: The 1762: The Gentleman & Cabinetmakers Director.

Note: In 1959  Taylor & Hobson Ltd.  Received 2 of the same design to Restore? One made in  Mahagany. One in English Oak? Note:? One carved by: Alfred Taylor?   49,51, New Street One carved by: FB Hobson 26,New Street. Photos by,, . which firm was the best in Ordusfield (Huddersfield) as both  pieces were Idenicle? only the lumber was different. Note: It was  Declared  a  Draw?, this lead to the Amalgamation in 1899 Note: Alfred Taylor & Sons?:F B Hobson & Sons?   Amalgamate in 1899.  Creating,Taylor & Hobson Ltd.  Tayor & Hobson Ltd, Helped by  some  of Yokshire Top Tradesmen, Cabinetmaker, Carvers, Polishers,Upholsterers, Carpet fitters, Painters, Curtain makers, Bed Linen,Furniture sales. 

                                                                     The Complete Service..

 Note: 1978, by: Christopher Gilbert.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    

full Book of Furniture  All created between 1851-1972 by Taylor & Hobson Ltd  Note: 1949New Steet, Hawkbys Court.(Left turn after Zeba crossing) Offices, Paint Shop, Curtain Room, Carpets, Showroom, Garage, Car Park,

   Front Shop,26,New Street, Huddersfield Geoge Hall's 17, Cloth Hall Street, Huddersfield  Kings Head Arcade, Down Arcade on the Left.  

Todays,Kings Head Arcade ?looks as This.in 2012 Thanks to,Tom Cooper, MD Taylor & Hobson Ltd (1951-1972) who Sold out,JMD  Fred Wood? (1926-1972) The Ecgonine

To:  Dick Ried, our great friend?Hum? I Think Not.

 The Plan for: Kings Head Building, in1824, which replaced Town Centre Cabinet Workshop. which was supplying,

 10 shops, all in a row, So the Directors decided on leasing. a Mill Building from: Merchants Bros Engineers Ltd, Albert Street,Lockwood,Huddersfield,   27, Chaple Hill, Huddersfield, (The Standing Chap in this 1946 picture)Denote's: The Building of  

The projecting Sign out side the building showed, On its long surface, Machanic's in Wood. On its Short surface. There

Logo.. Note: it was pull down in:1973, by the Counsel, to accomadate the Car.

                                                                                  The Switch of Location. 

 Taylor & Hobson Ltd, ceased traing in: Huddersfield,West Yorkshire. in 1972.

                                                                                         Why

The Business? is move,closer  to London: untill : 1991

By:Dick Ried? ( Retired Antique Dealer) Hum

  Today: Jack Plane.

 Dick Ried

 sucked Taylor & Hobson Ltd,Dry of all its Rococo Furniture ( Ried now a Furniture restorer?) As stated  in  America.all done with the neglige of

:Christopher Gilbert. The Author of the book. The Life and Work of Thomas Chippendale, Published in:1978.

Note:( Chippendale only employed at the most? 30 Men+ 20 Apprentices.it is wrote) and was only in business for 11 years,1754-1765)  Compare his 11 to (140 years :Taylor & Hobson Ltd) in Business (1851-1991)

1957,Joseph Hemingway, started working at : Taylor & Hobson Ltd, Note:My Clock number was: 245. and my card was half way down the clocking list,Just as an

 example the  size of this firm, before I started working at

                                                                                  How it started in Hudderfield

 The New Business. started trading in 1899, from :26, New Street, Huddersfield.Note: The F B Hobson shop in 1865?

Note: All because: FB Hobson's Cabinet workshop. was located behind the Shop.

Note: This gained? F B Hobson  the right to vote? against 1848 for the starting date?1851.

                                                                             Expantion

In the next  24 years (1923) they  'One had expanded, from, One to  TEN shops? all in one: Block.  Note: a 1865 Photo of  the 10 shops in 1926? all owned by :Taylor & Hobson Ltd.. Photo 1865. Note:When  F B Hobson arrived from London  Note: this was his 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 me in 1957 returning from, Taylor & Hobson Ltd, Front Shop: Office, on the way back to the: Cabinetwork: 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 broke in 1926, (because FB Hobson was insisting Mahagany was an old fashioned Timber?Note: Albert Taylor & Sons. move to Holmefirth. and was still trading there in 1960. Opposite: The 'Ashly Jackson;Gallery. Another talent from Yorkshire, Artist.

   Buckingham Palace, London, England

l

 To:  Dr J Hemingway. 

 From: HRH Queen Elizabeth 11.

February 2011.

  The Lord Chamberlain,  Archives at the Public Record Office,  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 Chamberlain. 

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 Hard, 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 Haggard 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 Hard, 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 Haggard 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 9^th 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