Chapman & Son (1848-1900)
Chapman, H. & Son(s)
North Shields, Northumberland & Newcastle-on-Tyne; cabinet makers, chair makers, upholsterers, carvers, house removers, undertakers (fl.1848-1900)
Hedley Chapman established the business in Dotwick Street, North Shields in 1848. In 1866 he took his son Hedley jnr. into partnership and five years later moved its headquarters to 77 Northumberland Street, 'a spacious and commodious establisment...affording excellent facilities for the display of a splendid stock, embracing every description of utilitarian and ornamental furniture required in a modern house'. In addition to 'remarkably fine designs in dining-room suites, sideboards, drawing-room cabinets, overmantels, hall-stands &c.', Chapmans sold a wide range of upholstery fabrics and floor coverings, also provided funeral service and house removals. The firm published catalogues and price lists.
Chapmans also had a large branch at Saville Street, North Shields, which was managed by another son, William. The workshops were based in Little Bedford Street, North Shields; by 1890 these contained 'offices, packing rooms, planing, moulding, sawing and other machines, and departments set apart from the work of cabinet making, polishing, finishing upholstery, and carving'.
A set of six walnut chairs inlaid with ebony and burr-walnut made c. 1870 are known; marked under the seat rail with a printed oval stamp 'H. CHAPMAN AND SON, CABINETMAKERS, CARPET WAREHOUSEMEN AND UPHOLSTERERS, 72 NORTHUMBERLAND STREET AND NORTH SHIELDS'.
H. Chapman & Son was listed in The Furniture Gazette Directory, 1877 as cabinet makers with the addresses of 47 & 48 Camden Street, North Shields & 77 Northumberland Street, Newcastle-on-Tyne, factory Little Bedford Street, North Shields, Northumberland.
The Furniture Gazette, 25 August 1883, recorded Chapman & Sons of Newcastle & North Shields, as makers of an architectural Queen Anne style bedroom suite designed by J. W. Small exclusively for the firm (many pieces illus. in this article) and the wardrobe of the suite (illus. Agius (1978), p. 128).
Sources: Agius, British Furniture 1880-1915 (1978); Allwood, 'Furniture Making in Newcastle: Three Victorian Firms', The Victorian Society North East Group Newsletter 3 (January 1987).
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