Hindley and Wilkinson Ltd. (1887-1912)
Hindley and Wilkinson Ltd.
Welbeck Street & Old Bond Street, London; decorators, designers, upholsterers, cabinet makers (fl.1887-1912)
Charles Albert Hindley (born 1863) and Edward Hindley (born c.1864) were the sons of Charles Hugh Hindley, a furniture maker and upholsterer of Berners Street and Oxford Street, London. Charles Albert was educated at Dulwich College, which he left in 1879. After a year at the South Kensington School of Art, he was apprenticed to Messrs Wallers of Chelsea and at the same time he attended classes in building construction at King’s College, London. He joined his father’s firm in Oxford Street when he turned twenty-one and took over the carpet department. Edward had also joined the family firm but both brothers soon branched out on their own.
A letter from Charles A. Hindley to his uncle in Liversedge (31 January 1887) expressed his thoughts on the future of Charles Hindley & Sons and mentions the possibility of he and his brother setting up their own business. The date of the new partnership with Charles Wilkinson, Hindley & Wilkinson was c.1891-92 as Wilkinson & Sons, the new name exhibited at the 1890 Arts & Crafts Exhibition [The Furniture Gazette, 15 November 1890]. Charles Wilkinson recorded his trade as furniture manufacture in 1891 and Wilkinson & Son(s) continued to advertise their old stock of furniture until the end of 1894.
In a letter dated 7 October 1892, Charles Hindley snr wrote to his brother Albert snr that ‘My sons have taken the ground floor and basement of No. 70 Welbeck Street, a good looking place and in a good part, but it is entirely of their own doing. I had no part in it and had not seen it till pointed to me by someone who congratulated me about it, and I have not been asked to see it nor have I passed it since... However I have heard expressions of good will from some in the trade and both Charles and Edward have no want of pluck and endurance. I hope for the best – Sidney has engaged himself to a Liverpool firm, named ‘Waring’ doing an immense trade, and he may probably go into partnership’.
An undated (probably late 1890s/early 1900s) catalogue of Hindley & Wilkinson Ltd. described the firm as ‘architectural decorators, designers, upholsterers, manufacturers of high-class furniture’ with showrooms at 8 Old Bond Street and 68, 70 & 71 Welbeck Street, factory Upper Charlton Street. The Bond Street address was formerly the premises of Wilkinson & Sons. Charles Wilkinson had stepped down in 1871 to give way to his eldest son, Frederick; it was he who went into partnership with the Hindley brothers. In 1902 the firm’s letter heading listed the partners of Hindley & Wilkinson Ltd. as C. A. Hindley, C. Wilkinson, E. H. Hindley and J. A. Stenhouse. The 1902 London Post Office Directory listed Hindley & Wilkinson, as cabinet makers, upholsterers & decorators, at 68 Welbeck Street, 8 Old Bond Street with works at 7 ½ Upper Charlton Street, off Fitzroy Square.
The catalogue showed an interior photograph of the Old Bond Street showroom full of French-style furniture. Other styles illustrated in the publication included Elizabethan panelling and chimneypieces, Dutch Renaissance oak panelled rooms, wall panelling of a Italian Renaissance style, a Georgian morning room, Chippendale armchair, Pompeian hall decoration and Sheraton toilet table. It claimed that ‘All Furniture designed by the Firm is manufactured in the Factory, and can be relied upon as being thoroughly sound in construction, correct in style, and worth the price charged for it. It is of a nature which bears no comparison with the so-called ‘Art Furniture’ of the day, made to sell but not necessary to last (the furniture of Machine Mouldings and meretricious ornament)’. Christopher Payne (2023) notes that much of the French furniture, illustrated by Hindley & Wilkinson, was actually by Linke, Sormani and other leading Parisian cabinet makers.
In some instances Hindley & Wilkinson copied from pieces in museum collections, for example on p. 65 of the catalogue it illustrates a ‘Sheraton’ toilet table made in satinwood, with painted decoration, copied from an 18th century example in the V&A. Also illustrated was the ‘Bureau du Roi’ which it claimed was recently executed by the firm to a special commission from the original (made in 1769 by Riesener) in the Louvre. The catalogue indicated that sometimes ‘genuine old brocade’ was used for upholstery.
Work on decorative schemes by Hindley & Wilkinson Ltd included:.
- The Athenaeum Club (1893-94): Executed under the direction of Lawrence Alma Tadema and Edward Poynter
- Devonshire House
- Chesterfield House
- Stafford House
- Other town and country houses
The Court Journal (22 June 1893), announced The Empress of Russia placed an order of ‘several English miles of chintzes for curtains and furniture coverings with Mr Charles Hindley of 70 and 71 Welbeck Street’.
In 1901 it was reported that ‘Hindley & Wilkinson of 8 Old Bond Street, who are so famed for their beautiful chintzes, fortunately possess the original printing blocks... and they are therefore able in many cases to produce them at a less costly price than many other people. A branch of their business is at Nos. 68 & 71 Welbeck Street, and the same varied collection may also be seen there. Orders for the chintzes come to Hindley & Wilkinson from all over the world; they may be seen in the Czar’s palace at St Petersburg; among other places they are in great request in Canada, while only the other day some lovely ones were sent to Ladysmith’ (The World, 3rd April 1901).
Hindley & Wilkinson advertised a ‘luxurious “club” chair, armchair, couches etc. ‘ with movable, adjustable shelf on the sides, patent no. 2601, in 1902 (Country Life, 21 September 1901). By the 1900s the main activity of the business was as decorators and upholstery. Country Life also carried advertisements for the firm acting as estate agents in the first decade of the twentieth century.
In 1907 the firm supplied a pair of gilt bronze and enamel candelabra for St George’s Hall, Windsor Castle. A Renaissance style buffet and upholstered chairs from their catalogues of 1900-1912 is illustrated in Agius (1978) p. 41.
When 8 Old Bond Street was demolished in 1909 the company completely relocated to 70/71 Welbeck Street. Recorded sources state that they were bought by Debenham, Storr & Sons in 1912 and renamed Hindleys, and then was absorbed by Marshall & Snellgrove c. 1918.
Charles Wilkinson was last recorded on a marriage certificate of 1915, aged 59. This document describes his profession as ‘independent’ so it is likely that he had left the Hindley & Wilkinson partnership by this date.
Charles Albert Hindley’s active participation in the firm ceased in 1917, but he continued doing advisory work. He had been appointed adviser to the Museums Committee of the London County Council in 1913, and in that capacity took a leading role in organising and arranging the collections at the Geffrye Museum (now the Museum of the Home), a position he held for fifteen years. He also held the positions of Junior and Upper Warden of the Worshipful Company of Painter Stainers, and in 1926 became Master of the Company. For some years, he was secretary of the West London School of Art, Great Titchfield Street and also lectured widely. As President of the Institute of British Decorators, wrote a series of articles in The Journal of Decorative Art, in 1930.
The 1902 London Post Office Directory recorded a partnership of Hindley & Buss, art metal workers at 8 Berners Street which may have been associated with Hindley & Wilkinson.
Sources: Agius, British Furniture 1880-1915 (1978); Microulis, ‘The Furniture Drawings of Charles Hindley & Sons, 134 Oxford Street, London’, Furniture History (2001); Agius, British Furniture 1880-1915 (1978); Hindley records in the Department of Furniture, Textiles & Fashion, V&A; Payne, British Furniture, 1820-1920: The Luxury Market (2023); Wilkinson family records
Material
Ornamentation/Design