Dickson or Dixon, James snr

Lancaster, Lancashire; cabinet maker (fl.1766-1804)

He was the nephew of Leonard Stout, gentleman, of Hatlocks(?), Lancashire, and apprenticed to Henry Baines, cabinetmaker of Lancaster, on 10 May 1766. He worked for Gillows from the early 1770s. In June 1780 he made seven plain chairs in the diamond pattern at 4s each. ‘Diamond pattern’ may be the designs which appear in the Gillow Coloured Sketch Book with and without arms; the armchair is shown in the Estimate Sketch Book. Probably James Dickson and Dixon are the same man. James Dixon, together with Armistead and Burton, made a mahogany chest of drawers in December 1796. His work was listed in the Petty Ledger from c. 1769-91; and again c. 1802-04 but the latter account had only 5s 4½d credited to it. ‘J. Dixon’ has been recorded inscribed in red script inside the top drawer on one of a pair of mahogany chests of drawers, c.1790. The other is inscribed ‘T. Martin’ and stamped ‘Gillows Lancaster’. See also James Dickson or Dixon jnr.

Sources: DEFM; Stuart, Gillows of Lancaster and London 1730-1840 (2008), II, p. 229.