Skip to main content

Hatfield, John Ayres, Henry John & Henry John George Augustus; Hatfields Restoration (1846-2021)

Hatfield, John Ayres, Henry John & Henry John George Augustus; Hatfields Restoration

London; ormolu worker, water gilder, art metal worker and furniture and works of art restorer (fl.1846-2021)

John Ayres Hatfield is recorded in the Lord Chamberlain’s accounts from 1846 to 1855. He was listed in the 1882 London Post Office Directory as a bronzist and ormolu manufacturer at 20 & 21 Cumberland Street, and then once again in the Lord Chamberlain's accounts in 1885.   

He died in 1881 and his son, Henry John (born c.1845), succeeded to the business as an ormolu manufacturer, art metal worker, bronzist, water gilder and curiosity dealer, at Charlotte Street, Fitzroy Square [London Post Office Directory, 1891 & 1902]. He died in 1919, leaving an estate valued at nearly £15,000; his address then at 86 & 88 Charlotte Street, Fitzroy Square. His son, Henry John George Augustus (born 1871), took over the business according to the 1911 census, which lists him as the manager of a bronze figure factory in Charlotte Street.

In the second half of the 20th century the business became Hatfields Restoration -  still open for business in London (2021). They specialise in the conservation of furniture and works of art. Their restoration work can be seen in the Royal Collection, the Louvre, the Frick Collection, the Wallace Collection, as well as in many private collections.      

Source: Joy, ‘The Royal Victorian Furniture-Makers, 1837-87’, The Burlington Magazine (November 1969).