King, William and W & M King

Whitehaven, Cumb.; cabinet maker and looking-glass maker (fl.1793–1851)

King of Whitehaven was a subscriber to Sheraton's Drawing Book, 1793. It was probably either William or Michael King, who were in partnership at King St, 1805–08 as cabinet makers and looking-glass manufacturers. William King was trading on his own behalf from an address in Lowther St in 1811 and by 1829 had moved to 13 Tangier St. In 1834 William Alkin King was trading from this address as a cabinet maker, carver, gilder and looking-glass manufacturer. A cabinet (c.1805-10) bearing the printed label of W & M King (in 1989 in the stock of Charles Lumb of Harrogate) appears to be based on Sheraton’s design for a Lady’s Dressing Commode engraved on Plate 20 (illus. Gilbert, Regional Furniture (1989) figs. 1 -4). The Whitehaven firm’s label reads as follows: W. & M. KING LOOKING GLASS MANUFACTURERS, CARVERS, GILDERS, & CABINET MAKERS, WHITEHAVEN, MANUFACTURE, and Sell Looking Glasses in rich burnished Gold, Metal, Mahogany and Jappan’d Frames, Gerandoles, Chandeliers, Brackets, &c. to the most elegant and fashionable Patterns. Pictures neatly Framed and Glazed, Coach Glasses, Crown Glass in Crates or Squares, and Flint Glass cut and plain. Cabinet Work and Chairs of all Sorts in the present Taste, finished in a superior Manner, Sashes made of Mahogany or any other Wood and Glazed with Plate or Crown Glass. Ships Compasses, Quadrants, and Spectacles, accurately made and repaired. Lamps with Reflectors for Halls, Lobbies, and Light Houses on an Improved Plan.’ Only one other piece of furniture by King is known — an impressive two-stage cabinet (now in Australia) inlaid ‘1851’. This object was probably the Aldobrand Oldenbuck Cabinet, made of Cumberland oak, which received a lengthy description by Robert Hunt in his Hand-Book to the Official Catalogues of the Great Exhibition (1851). 

Source: DEFM; Gilbert, ‘A Labelled Whitehaven Cabinet’, Regional Furniture (1989).