Cawley & Co; Antique & Foreign Furniture Co.

Great Eastern Street, London; bamboo furniture & cabinet manufacturers, carvers, upholsterers (fl.1876-1892)

An advertisement in The Furniture Gazette, 15 January 1891, said the firm was established in 1876, therefore it was possibly connected to Cawley, Morris & Co. (fl.1876-79).  From 1882 onwards it sometimes operated under the name of Antique & Foreign Furniture Co. at 7 & 8 Charlotte Street, Great Eastern Street and was occasionally referred to as Messrs. J. Cawley. 

Cawley & Co., of 23-28 New Inn Yard, Great Eastern Street, advertised its wholesale antique carved oak and bamboo furniture manufactures in The Furniture Gazette from 15 July 1882. The Furniture Gazette, 6 January 1883, reported the firm had recently expanded its premises into two adjoining buildings for the manufacture of  its range of tables, sideboards, bookcases (illus.), cabinets, dinner-wagons, hat & umbrella stands, etc. This article said that at the time of a visit there were 2,000 sets of carved oak drawing room, dining room and library furniture in stock. Bamboo furniture was another speciality. 

The firm supplied the English & Continental trade and participated in the 3rd & 4th Furniture Trades Exhibitions, Agricultural Hall, London in 1883 & 1884, illus. [The Furniture Gazette, 5 & 12 May 1883 & 10 May 1884]. Cawley & Co. was listed in The Furniture Gazette: Classified List of the Furniture, Upholstery, and Allied Trades (1886) at 8 Charlotte Street. 

The Furniture Gazette, 15 December 1892, reported that the firm was again extending its premises. 

Source: Walkling, Antique Bamboo Furniture (1979).