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Kerr, John (1790–1808)

Kerr, John

31 Pall Mall, London; cabinet maker and upholder (fl. 1790–1808)

A subscriber to Sheraton's Drawing Book (1793) and Cabinet Dictionary (1803). A number of substantial commissions undertaken by Kerr are known.

On 5 April 1790 he was paid £400 on account for furniture supplied to the Royal Household, and a balance of £172 5s 3d on 5 July.

On 10 October 1791 a further sum of £178 5s 3d was paid and this appears to have been for furniture supplied 1789–90. This consisted of a mahogany writing table with fifteen drawers and two cupboards charged at £22 1s and a satinwood one at £16 9s. A large mahogany table and a dining table were invoiced at £7 17s 6d each, and an elegant satinwood wardrobe added a further £25.

Also included in this payment appears to have been a bill for £72 11s 6d for furniture supplied to Mrs Maria Fitzherbert which Henry Holland, the Prince of Wales's architect, had an interest in.

Perhaps the most notable piece of furniture produced by Kerr for the Prince of Wales was the original ‘Carlton House’ table, invoiced on 5 February 1790: To a large Elegant Sattin wood Writing Table containing 15 Drawers and 2 Cupboards Top Covered with Superfine Green Cloth to rise Occasionally the whole Varnish’d and Polish’d Compleat… £20. To 16 Elegant Silver handles with Coronets rais’d on Centers 32 Silver Knobs as Drapery 17 Ditto Escutcheons And 2 pair neat Do Hinges for Cupboards… £16 9 0. To 17 best Spring Tumbler Locks for the above Table Screws &c… £4 17 9’ (RA25091, illus. Roberts, ‘The First Carlton House Table?’, Furniture History (1995), figs 1 & 2).

The Henry Holland connection is also represented in the furniture supplied to Woburn Abbey, Bedfordshire, and Oakley House for Francis, 5th Duke of Bedford between 1791–95. The furniture supplied to Woburn in the first two months of 1791 cost £83 8s and included five mahogany shaving tables, five night tables and a mahogany writing table of fifteen drawers and two cupboards possibly similar to that supplied in 1789 to the Royal Household.

Between December 1791 and September 1792 two fire screens, two dining tables and six shaving tables went to Woburn and chairs, tables and curtains to Oakley. Payment passed through Holland for this commission was £148. In 1795 an extra-large set of mahogany dining tables were delivered to Woburn at a cost of £52.

Sir John Nelthorpe purchased a large mahogany table from Kerr in 1796 for £7 7s and in the next year a dining table at £10 10s, his existing one being taken in part exchange.

Petworth House, Sussex was supplied with a set of dining chairs covered in red morocco leather in 1801 and these are now displayed in the Square Dining Room.

Sources: DEFM; Roberts, ‘The First Carlton House Table?’, Furniture History (1995).

The original entry from Dictionary of English Furniture Makers, 1660-1840 can be found at British History Online.