Jenks, Robert Isaac; Jenks & Holt; Jenks & Wood (1845-1891)
Jenks, Robert Isaac; Jenks & Holt; Jenks & Wood
Bread Street, Holborn Viaduct & Snowhill, London; cabinet makers and upholsterers, exporters of furniture (fl.1845-1891)
Robert Isaac Jenks was listed in the 1845 Post Office Directory as cabinet maker at 55 Bread Street.
The partnership Jenks & Holt were recorded in the 1871 Post Office Directory as cabinet makers & upholsterers at 10, 11 & 55 Bread Street. They traded for ten years according to an article published in The Furniture Gazette (16 April 1881), which reported that 'Robert Jenks, Robert I. Jenks, T. Archibald Wood and James L. Holt was dissolved by mutual friendly agreement'. The firm were known to have exported furniture worldwide.
William Jenks, a younger son of Robert Jenks and who had been actively involved in the business for a number of years, continued the business in the same manner and with the same staff under the name of Jenks & Wood at 65/66 Holborn Viaduct. The business was relocated to 66 Berners Street, Oxford Street on 30 November 1886 and a stock in trade sale was held by Phillips, Son & Neale after the move [The Furniture Gazette, 1 December 1886 & 1 January 1887].
Jenks & Wood were listed as ‘cabinet makers etc.’ at Holborn Viaduct and Snow Hill in The Furniture Gazette: Classified List of the Furniture, Upholstery and Allied Trades (1886).
They advertised regularly in The Furniture Gazette, beginning with an issue in 16 May 1874 until 1886. An advertisement on 5 July 1879 announced that Jenks & Woods had moved from Bread Street to Holborn Viaduct and Snow Hill. The Furniture Gazette, 24 September 1881, described the firm’s furniture on view at 85 Holborn Viaduct, which included a burr-walnut bedroom suite in Renaissance style, a circular carved table stained to give the appearance of ebony, an American walnut Queen Anne style suite, a pier or cheval glass frame, variety of tables and a book waggon – all suitable for a ‘gentleman’s residence’.
Jenks & Woods participated in the Third Annual Furniture Exhibition, London, 1883 [The Furniture Gazette, 31 March & 12 May 1883]. The Furniture Gazette also recorded various commissions:
- Iron bedsteads, mattresses and general oak furniture, Fitzroy House Hospital, 16 Fitzroy Square [26 June 1880]
- New upholstery work for Mansion House [1 December 1883] Tables, chairs & stools in the general office of the extension of the London School Board, tender £305 [1 August 1885]
- Platforms for head teachers, the London School Board [1 March 1887]
- Furnishings, Faversham Cottage Hospital, Kent and the Great Northern Hospital, Holloway Road, London [1 June 1888]
Jenks & Wood were listed in the London Post Office Trade Directory (1891) at 66 Berners Street; Castle Mews, Castle Street East and 8 & 8a Wells Mews, Wells Street as cabinet makers, upholsterers and interior decorators.
The firm declared bankruptcy in 1891 [The Furniture Gazette, 16 March 1891].
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