Hearn (Heron), Christopher (1752-1788)
Hearn (Heron), Christopher
Dublin, Ireland; upholder, cabinet maker and auctioneer (fl. 1752-88)
Apprenticed to David Williams and later Edwin Thomas, made Freeman of the City of Dublin as a Joiner by Service, Michaelmas. 1752. Hearn was elected Master of the Joiners’ Guild from 1760 to 1761 and 1761 to 1762.
Recorded at 41 Fishamble Street, opposite Smock Alley, 1753-80; 13 Dawson Street, 1781-88.
Universal Advertiser, 16 June 1753: ‘Christopher Hearn, Cabinetmaker and Joyner, now served his apprenticeship with the late David Williams of Arran-quay, and the remainder to Mr Edwin Thomas, on Blind-quay; has just opened shop in Fishamble-street, opposite Smock-alley; where he sells all sorts of cabinet and joyners work, in the newest and most fashionable manner: and as he is a young beginner, takes this method of informing those, who have been pleased to deal with him, that they may depend on being served at the most reasonable terms.’
Married Edwin Thomas’s niece, Miss Mary Gibbons. in 1752 (Pue’s Occurrences, 7-11 July, 1752). Her death was noted in the Public Gazetteer, 24-28 February 1761: ‘death, at Harold Cross, of a lingering illness, Mrs. Mary Hearn, the wife of Mr. Christopher Hearn, an eminent Cabinet-maker in Fishamble-street’.
On 3 July 1766, Mr Christopher Hearn, ‘an eminent cabinet-maker’ in Fishamble Street married Miss Batterby of Stephen's Street [Public Register or Freeman’s Journal, 15-19 July 1766].
Payments totalling £200 to a ‘Mr. Hearn’ in the Newbridge House accounts for the early 1760s are likely to be either Charles or Christopher Hearn. A mahogany cabinet at Newbridge has been linked to a payment to Christopher Hearn dated 8 December 1764 for a ‘Bureau with Glass Doors’ costing £11 17s. 6d. (illus. Glin & Peill (2007), fig. 163).
Earlier payments in April and November 1763 were made to Hearn for ‘ye tent [bed] £34’ and ‘Mr Hearn’s bill in full for ye bed £52 12s 6d’. A mahogany press at Newbridge has also been attributed to Hearn (illus. Glin & Peill (2007), p. 253).
Source: Glin & Peill, Irish Furniture (2007), pp. 117-21, 276.