Gilbert, John, Southwell, Middlx and Mount St, Golden Sq., London, carver (1742–84). Took out insurance cover on a house at Southwell for £150 between 1742–49. In 1749 he moved to Mount St, Golden Sq. which was to be his address from this date until the termination of the business. His earliest commission was in connection with the interior design and furnishing of the new Mansion House. In 1752 he supplied ‘eight rich carved frames with glass & branches gilt with Burnish gold’ for the Great Parlour for which £84 was charged and ‘six Brackets richly carved’ for the Vestibule which cost an additional £15. Apart from fixtures ‘one large table’ was supplied for the Great Parlour at £20 8s. The mirrors and brackets are still in place but other furniture no longer survives. For work at the East India House, Leadenhall St he received £86 3s in August 1756 and £86 1s in October of the same year. At this period he was also working for Sir John Hinde Cotton of Madingley Hall, Cambs. and received payments of £60 both on 3 December 1756 and 23 September 1757. During the 1760s and 70s he worked on a number of commissions in houses whose interiors were the design responsibility of Robert Adam. From March 1767 to December 1768 he was engaged on carved work at Berkeley Sq. (Lansdowne House) for Lord Shelburne ‘by order of Messrs. Adams Esq.’ The total account came to £313 4s 3½d and included ‘carving a table frame enriched for hall £3 13s’, ‘making, carving and gilding in burnished gold a large glass frame with ornaments at top and bottom £33’ and ‘making, carving and gilding in burnished gold a circular table frame under ditto, fully enriched £30’. At the same period he was working at Croome Court, Worcs. and Mersham-le-Hatch, Kent. At Osterley, Middlx, he was engaged on carving work for Robert Child as early as 1773 and in that year received £32 15s in payment. In May of the following year he submitted an account for two pedestals for the Entrance Hall ‘Inriched with Oak Leaves and Rafled Leaves &c.’ charged at £17 11s. These are still in the possession of the Earl of Jersey's family. The last Osterley commission known was the carving in 1784 of four elm pineapples for the top of the corner turrets which cost £24. The only commission unconnected with Adam houses in this phase yet noted was the carving of a looking-glass frame for Charles Rogers of Laurence Poultney Lane, London at a cost of £4 8s. This was paid for on 8 June 1768. [D; poll bks; GL, Hand in Hand MS vol. 63, ref. 8674; Conn., December 1952 p. 181; DEF; Bolton, The Architecture of Robert and James Adam, 2, p. 314, appendix D; Cambs. RO, S88/A33; Apollo, December 1960, pp. 196–98, November 1965, p. 405, June 1970, p. 445; Met. Museum Bulletin, November 1959; V & A archives; Tomlin, Catalogue of Adam Period Furniture, p. 18]