Humphreys, Thomas

London; upholsterer and auctioneer (fl. 1731–d.1766)

The son of the clerk, Thomas Humphreys of Winchcomb, Gloucestershire, apprenticed to Arthur Osborn on 7 April 1731 and then to William Kilpin, 11 November 1735. Made free of the Upholders’ Company by servitude on 3 February 1742 [Guildhall Library (GL), Upholders' Company records].

In 1747 he was trading in Newgate Street and by 1756 had moved to St Paul's Churchyard. It was in June of this year that he auctioned the furniture and stock in trade of Stephen Theodore Janssen at the enamel works in York Place, Battersea. Sale catalogues were obtainable from Humphreys or from William Chesson, a fellow upholsterer.

Took as apprentice William Pinckney, 1749–55, Daniel Holbrow, 1755–62, and Noah Chivers, 1762–65 [Guildhall Library (GL), Upholders' Company records].

In 1762 he was elected a Fellow of the Society of Arts but four years later his death was announced. He appears to have owned eleven houses in Green Dragon Court, Cow Lane, Snow Hill. After his death these were insured by Mary Jones and continued to be so insured until 1774 [The London Archives (TLA), Hand in Hand MS vol. 105, pp. 42, 192].

On 1 August 1753 Humphreys was paid £28 11s by the Earl of Dumfries.

By Brian Austin

Sources: DEFM; Ambrose Heal, London Furniture Makers (1953), p. 92; General Evening Post, 29 May 1756; Dumfries papers DH 17.