Istance, Richard and William (1816)
Istance, Richard and William
Carmarthen, Wales; cabinet maker (fl.1816)
This man was an employee of David Morley of Carmarthen. His name and the date 1816 has been recorded on a chest of drawers from Morley’s shop. In 1831 he set up on his own in Blue Street and advertised a wide range of furniture to ‘the Nobility, Gentry and Public of Carmarthen and its Vicinity’. In 1832 he bought a stock of mahogany from nearby cabinet maker Benjamin Jones. The business appears for a time to have been only marginally viable: in 1839 he held an auction of stock with a printed catalogue and again in 1842. But he was still in business in 1852 when he supplied furniture valued at £123 to a local house. According to the 1861 Census, Istance, aged 64, was still in Blue Street and employed five men and five apprentices. His son William continue the business into the 1870s.
Source: Bebb, Welsh Furniture (2007), II, p. 225 & 229.
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