Buck, Henry

at ‘The Hand, Crown & Star’, on the south side of St Paul's Churchyard, removed from ‘The Hand & Crown’ at the East end of St Paul's, London; cabinet maker and chair maker (app. 1706– d. 1750)

The son of Arthur Buck of Olney, Buckinghamshire, apprenticed to Edward Newman, 22 October 1706. Made free of the Joiners’ Company, 5 July 1715.

Trade card, c. 1741, states that he ‘Makes and Sells all sorts of Chairs, Tables, Cabinet Work, Looking Glasses, and Window Blinds &c. at Reasonable Rates — for both Sea and Land’.

In partnership with Richard Farmer at ‘The Hand & Crown’ (1732–47), when Farmer died. Together they supplied chairs, costing £3 15s to Sir Richard Hoare of Stourhead (1732–33); and on 20 November 1732 Henry Buck is recorded receiving £7 1s. [Hoare's Bank, London, private accounts].

Named as a Liveryman of the Joiners’ Company in 1750. [Guildhall Library (GL), Joiners’ Company records].

Probably the ‘Mr. Buck, a wealthy Cabinet Maker in St Paul's Churchyard’, who died ‘of the Gout in his Stomach’, in 1750.

It is thought that Ann Buck, who traded at the ‘Queen’s Head’ in Holborn, was Henry Buck’s widow, but there is some uncertainty about this, since she appears to have been trading since 1741. Henry Buck’s son was apprenticed to John West, date unknown.

Source: DEFM; Joiners’ Company Records; Kirkham, ‘The London Furniture Trade 1700-1870’, Furniture History (1988).