Bailey, William & Co. (1825-1886)
Bailey, William & Son
Curtain Road and Bateman’s Row, London; upholsterers, wholesale cabinet & looking glass makers, carvers & gilders (fl.1825-1886)
The firm’s trade card of c. 1870 (illustrated in Smith & Rogers (2006) p. 22) depicted Bailey's newly built showrooms and warehouse at 102 Curtain Road. The 1871 Kelly’s Post Office Directory recorded Bailey at 102 Curtain Road & 1B Bateman’s Row, Shoreditch, London, as upholsterers, carvers, gilders and looking glass makers. Elsewhere the Bateman’s Row address was listed as nos. 1 & 2. The firm supplied ‘Every description of gilt glasses, console and other tables, jardinières, fancy chairs, window cornices, picture frames etc.’ wholesale and for export’.
The firm first advertised in The Furniture Gazette on 22 July 1876, and continued to advertise until at least 1884 in this publication. It was also listed in The Furniture Gazette Directory from 1876-84.
The Furniture Gazette (6 December 1879) published a design by the firm for a chimney mirror and the same publication of 17 June 1882, illustrated a wardrobe. By 1882 the firm was listed at 102 Curtain Road and also to the rear of 104, 106 & 108 Curtain Road. William Bailey & Son exhibited at the Furniture Exhibition, Islington, 1881 [The Furniture Gazette, 20 August 1881]; the 2nd Furniture Trades Exhibition, Agricultural Hall, May 1882 [illus. The Furniture Gazette, 13 May 1882]; and the 3rd Furniture Trades Exhibition, Agricultural Hall, May 1883 [illus. The Furniture Gazette, 12 May 1883].
An advertisement in Kelly’s Directory of Cabinet Furniture and Upholstery Trades, 1886 (illustrated in Agius (1978) p. 160) recorded the firm still at 102 and in the rear of 104, 106, 108 & 110 Curtain Road, London. It claimed that the firm was established in 1825 as wholesale cabinet and looking glass manufacturers with ‘Special attention to export orders for all climates’
Sources: DEFM; Agius, British Furniture 1880-1915 (1978); Smith & Rogers, Behind the Veneer. The South Shoreditch Furniture Trade and its Buildings (2006).
The original entry from Dictionary of English Furniture Makers, 1660-1840 can be found at British History Online.