Hutt, John

London; upholder (fl.1710–d.1729)

Possibly the husband of Elizabeth Hutt (1741-49) and father of Richard Hutt (1739-48). Recorded at ‘The Three Pillows’, over against the South Gate, St Paul's Church Yard, 1712–21. John Hutt, u, was paid by St John's College, Cambridge, in 1710–11, for supplying a bed and coverings, chairs, curtains, walnut table, looking-glass, carpet and quilt; and ‘Mr. Huts Upholsterer on the South side of St. Paul's’ is named on 9 September 1719 in the records at King's College Library, Cambridge. John Hutt of ‘The Three Pillars’ insured his house, goods and merchandise on 17 November 1719. Shortly before 1721 John Hutt and William Langmore, upholder in Cornhill, took an inventory of the goods of Sir John Blunt of Birchin Lane and Stratford, West Ham, a Director of the South Sea Co., and supplied him with goods to the value of £370. He charged £66 6s ‘for chimney glasses and sconces at Stratford’. Hutt charged Sir Robert Chaplin, Bart of Castle St, St Martin-in-the-Fields, and Camringham, Lincoln, £100; and Robert Chester of Briggens Park, Herts., £209 13s; in both cases for unspecified items. John Hutt was probably the Mr Hurt or Hunt, who in 1720 was involved in the production of the elaborate state bed for John Mellor for his recently acquired house, Erddig, Clwyd, N. Wales. Simon Yorke, his nephew, wrote from London on 17 April 1720 regarding this bed. He had attempted to call on ‘Hunt’ but found him absent and had to be content with the assurances of his wife that the bed would be sent on Monday next. The delay was blamed on the wait for the gilding and carving to be completed. This had been sub-contracted possibly to John Belchier whose workshop was near at hand and had supplied much other furniture to Erddig. It has been suggested previously that the craftsman involved was Philip Hunt of ‘The Looking Glass & Cabinet’, East end St Paul's Churchyard, but he appears to have been a cm, not an u, and there is no evidence that he was trading as late as 1720. John Hutt’s business at ‘Three Pillows’ may have been taken over by Richard Moss, who traded at this sign from 1725 to 1749.

Sources: DEFM; Jervis, ‘A 1739 Suite of Seat Furniture at Bowringsleigh’, Furniture History (1993); Lindey, ‘Apprenticeships in the London Joinery Company’, Regional Furniture (2008); Lindey, ‘William Old and John Ody, at the Castle in St Paul’s Church-Yard’, FHS Newsletter (February 2006).