Folgham, John

London; cabinet maker, case and knife-case maker, dealer in silver and plated goods (fl. c. 1750–1803)

Trade card, c. 1760, gives address opposite the ‘Castle Inn’, Wood St; trade card and directories, c. 1750–77 and 118 Fetter Lane; and 81 Fleet St, 1778–1803. Trading in partnership with his son, Timothy, 1790–1803; and John Folgham jnr is also recorded in 1787. Trade card, c. 1760, shows knife and dressing cases, and lists stock which includes knife-cases and writing desks ‘Mounted in silver or Plain’. Folgham & Son of 81 Fleet St are known to have advertised their stock of ‘Cabinet-ware, Upholstery, Cutlery, Plated Goods, Japanned Goods, Clay's Papier Machee and Umbrellas’. Trade cards c.1790, cabinet maker and casemaker, gives address as 81 Fleet Street (John Johnson Collection).

John alone took out a Sun Insurance policy in 1777 for £3,000, of which £2,000 accounted for utensils, stock and goods. John and Timothy took out insurance for £2,000 on 15 October 1802. John Folgham's daughter's marriage was reported in Gents Mag., June 1787. Folgham & Son are named in Sheraton's list of master cabinet makers, 1803. Several of John Folgham's bills survive. One is for items supplied to Croome Court, Worcs., on 23 April 1765, costing £4 12s 6d, and comprising ‘a neat mahogany folding fire screen with 3 leaves covered in green canvas’; a ‘28 inch oval crimson striped Pontipool Tea Tray’; and a ‘13 in. round Db. waiter’. Receipt is dated 1785. A bill submitted to Stourhead, Wilts., on 25 August 1781 includes ‘A portable mahogany writing desk lin'd with green cloth flap inside Compt with a pr. Ink Squares £3.3.0.’ and in the same year also a satinwood metal case banded with tulip wood and finished with ivory knobs. In 1783 he provided ‘a neat Brown Jappann'd Tea Urn’, and ‘a neat Satinwood Tea Chest banded with Tulipwood.’ Between 31 March 1802 and 2 February 1803 Timothy and John Folgham, cm, u and hardwaremen, supplied further items to Stourhead, including ‘6 neat mahogany Biddets fiddle shape compl. with Earthen pans £12.12.6.’ A bill dated 22 August 1781 to the Rev. M. Moore of Stretton Hall, Staffs., is for a silver-mounted and engraved drinking horn, costing £7 15s 9d. Another, of 19 April 1787, was sent to Sir John Nelthorpe for ‘1 Pair of Oval Flatt Candlesticks’; and ‘1 Pair of Plat.d Top Ink Squares’, costing £2 6s 6d; receipted by Timothy on 19 April 1787. Nelthorpe also bought a mahogany case, cutlery and ‘1 pair of Sqr. Foot'd & Fluted Candlesticks’ on 30 April 1787, costing £5 14s 6d, receipted on 2 May by John Folgham jnr.

A bill dated October 13 1796 to Lord Macartney of Curzon Street, Mayfair, for an assortment of goods including cabinet ware, seat furniture, bedding and other sundry goods, with a receipt of payment at £39 25s 6d, 'Rcv^d October 27^th 1796 of the R^t Hon^ble Lord Macartney ... for Father John', signed by Timothy Folgham. 

Image

Copyright (Attribution/Credit)

© The Trustees of the British Museum

Bill-head of John Folgham & Son at N^o 81 Fleet Street for goods amounting to £39 15s 6d with receipt of payment pinned at the bottom (Heal,28.69), 1796. © The Trustees of the British Museum

https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_Heal-28-69

On 26 February 1798 John Folgham & Son supplied to Hatfield House, Herts., ‘A solid mahogany Folio Copying Machine with brass corners and patent lock’, costing £12. 

Sources: DEFM; Kirkham, ‘The London Furniture Trades 1700-1780’, Furniture History (1988) p.16; Beard, ‘Decorators and Furniture Makers at Croome Court’, Furniture History (1993); Stabler, ‘Furniture Makers’ Trade-Cards and Bill-Heads in the John Johnson Collection’, FHS Newsletter (May 2007).