Mansfield, C. & Sons

London; cabinet makers (fl.1860-1950)

Originally from Birmingham, Charles Frederick Mansfield (1836-1917) arrived in London in the late 1850s. In the 1851 census he was recorded as an errand boy and by 1861 living in a Soho slum with his wife and first son. He became a cabinet maker and in due course his sons, Charles junior (1860-1936) and John Henry, known as Jack (1865-1934), followed into their father’s trade. When business was slow in the 1880s apparently the three of them made furniture at home on the kitchen table and then took it on a barrow up to sell to retailers on the Tottenham Court Road. In due course they rented a shed in Priory Place, Camden for furniture making. Kelly’s 1894 Directory recorded Charles Mansfield & Son as retail cabinet makers in Priory Place, Bonny Street, Camden Town, and they then moved to larger premises in nearby Albert Street. Ambrose Heal’s address book recorded them as makers of ‘Sheraton Furniture’ at 131 Albert Street around this time. The business expanded with the firm moving c.1910 to two floors of a factory building, Priory Works, Jeffreys Place, off Priory Place. Charles and Jack retired c.1932 leaving the business to a younger brother, George, and one of Charles junior’s sons, Frank (1892-1950). At this stage the business was converted into the limited company and downsized to one floor of Priory Works. Frank died in 1950 and the firm was absorbed by Bianco.  

Mansfield’s main customer was Heal’s. Jack was in charge of sales while Charles junior took responsibility for design and production. The latter had a good friendship with Ambrose Heal (both senior and junior) through a shared interest in local history. In 1900 Mansfield was supplying one bedroom suite model to Heal’s; by 1910 this had risen to thirteen different models; in 1925 nine models and in 1935 there were still five suites available. Their ranges extended from the basic ‘Cottage Furniture’ designs to their speciality range in inlaid mahogany. In addition, Heal’s archives showed that Mansfield was supplying the ‘505’ oak sideboard for the firm from 1907-11 and in 1926-7 the ‘379’ book table. In 1926 the firm made the J. F. Johnson ‘888’ bedroom suite in macassar ebony, inlaid with ivory, comprising a wardrobe, cupboard chest, dressing table with mirror, bedside cabinet and a tall, narrow cabinet. A similar suite now at the V&A (W.3-1975, W.4-1975, W.9-1975, W.10-1975, W.12-1975, W.13-1975) was made, probably by Mansfield, in 1925-27 for the author Dodie Smith.

Another major commission for Heal’s was the living room furniture for a customer called Phillips in 1927 and in this period Heal’s archives show that Heal’s cabinet factory made specimen pieces which were then put into production by Mansfield. In the 1920s Heal’s obtained furniture orders for a number of Westminster Bank branches and many of the special writing tables in mahogany were made by Mansfield. Furthermore a prestigious order for new tables and chairs for Westminster Abbey’s Jerusalem Chamber was given to Mansfield by Heal’s, who also delegated the making of a new table top for the ‘Punch’ table to the firm in 1930. In the mid-1930s Mansfield undertook commissions from Heal’s for furniture for De Havilland’s offices, the Athenaeum Club, Browns Hotel and Bridge Hotel, Arundel. In 1935 Mansfield supplied a large council table in African mahogany, one of the three tables which were a Heal’s commission for Cambridge University. Examples of the many of these are illus. Heal (2014), pp. 254-258.

Source: Heal, Sir Ambrose Heal and the Heal Cabinet Factory 1897-1939 (2014).