Blain, Thomas

Liverpool, Lancashire; upholsterer and carpet warehouse owner (fl. 1816–41)

Addresses given for Thomas Blain were 55 Mount Pleasant, 1816–34; 18 Paradise Street, 1827–37; in partnership with Arbuthnot at 3 Manesty Street with shop at 17 Paradise Street, 1834–35; and in partnership with A. T. Blain [?] at 15 Paradise Street, 1835; and no. 18 in 1837. The 1841 census listed Thomas Blain as an upholsterer, and single man living in Liverpool, who was born in Ireland in 1786.

Blain advertised in the Liverpool Mercury, 4 July 1828: ‘CARPET, FLOOR-CLOTH, BED & BEDDING WAREHOUSE, UPHOLSTERY FURNITURE & CABINET ROOMS’, where he has ready ‘an extensive stock of BRUSSELS, KIDDERMINSTER & VENETIAN CARPETS of the newest patterns & best fabric, which he is Determined to sell, for cash, at as low rates as any house in the trade. Ship's Cabins fitted up, & Passengers supplied with every Article in the Bed & Bedding line, on moderate terms. N.B. A YOUTH of responsible connexions wanted as an APPRENTICE to the UPHOLSTERY BUSINESS’.

A mahogany Canterbury c. 1835, stamped ‘T. & A. BLAIN, LIVERPOOL’; probably refers to Thomas’s partnership with Arbuthnot Blain. Thomas was possibly the older brother or another relative of Arbuthnot (b. 1798, Donegal, Ireland).

Source: DEFM