Cockerill, Edward & James

1–3 Curtain Rd, Finsbury Sq., and 203 Oxford St, London; japanned chairmakers (fl.1790–1804)

It is not clear whether a partnership existed in connection with this business. Directories in some years list Edward and in others James with very considerable overlap. The business may well have been commenced before 1790 for in an advertisement of 1797 it was claimed that it had been carried on ‘upwards of 40 years at No 1, Curtain-road’. They had on sale ‘the greatest variety of Drawing, Parlour, and Bedroom Japanned chairs, sofas, Bed and Window Cornices to match, and, Pembroke, and Toilet Tables, and every other article in the Japanned Line’. It is known that Edward Cockerill supplied dyed chairs from the Curtain Road address from 1793. They claimed to sell at 30% below their rivals and offered to renovate japanned furniture. Chair, bearing the stamp of James Cockerill, c.1800, is illus. Regional Furniture (2010), p.62. The business was carried on at the same address in Curtain Rd after 1804 by Mary Cockerill. Both James and Edward Cockerill are included in the list of master furniture makers in Sheraton's Cabinet Dictionary, 1803.

Sources: DEFM; Boram, ‘Makers of ‘Dy’d, Fancy and Japan’d’ Chairs’, Regional Furniture (2010)