Pistor, Thomas snr

Moorfields, London; joiner and cabinet maker (fl. 1647–d.1706)

The father of Thomas jnr. and William Pistor, the first documentary evidence of Thomas snr. is when he bound Arthur Johnson as apprentice in 1647. Numerous young men were apprenticed through the London Joiners' Company to Thomas Pistor. However, it is impossible to differentiate between father and son after 1673 when his namesake became a member of the Company in his on right. Before this date, in addition to the apprentice named above, he bound nine others:

Robert Samkin (1650); Philip Hutton (1651); Richard Sanderson (1653); John Stayton (1658); Oliver Robinson (1659); Thomas Cooper (1664); George Burnett (1668); Joseph Bosely (1668); Henry West (1671).

Eighteen others were apprenticed to either father or son:

Kendrick Jones (1675); Richard Phillipps (1677); Richard Sheppard (1677); Francis White (1678); William Dell (1679); John Wicker (1681); Thomas Nicholls (1681); William Carr (1681); John Andrewes (1682); John Johnson (1682); John Moore (1684); Daniel Goodin (1685); Thomas Grigman (1686); John Killinghall (1687); John Cherry (1687); Charles Master (1689); George Smith (1693); Frances Wattson (1700).

Apparently a prominent member of the Joiners' Company, Thomas snr was elected Upper Warden in 1689-90 and Master in 1691. He also appears to have held a notable position in the City of London, serving regularly as a juror in the Old Bailey and as a Governor at Bridewell Royal Hospital on two occasions, 1695 and 1703 [Bridewell Hospital Minutes of the Court of Governors, LL ref: BBBRMG202030206].

Pistor snr lived in the north of the City inside the Walls in Moorfields from at least 1678 [The London Archives (TLA), Window tax assessments, 1678]. In 1690 he was recorded as a leaseholder in Bell Court and lived around the corner at Petty France Gate in the Fields with his wife, two apprentices and a maid [TLA, Window tax assessments, 1678; Poll tax assessments, 1692/3].

By 1693 he was recorded as a leaseholder of all the property in Bell Court and in 1702 he insured four houses there [GL, Hand in Hand MS vol. 2, refs 2995, 2995, 2996].

As well as Pistor’s domestic and business premises, he also owned a timberyard. It was quite common to see timberyards in neighbourhoods populated with members of the building trades as evidenced with the Joiner and cabinet maker, Lazarus Stiles who resided in nearby Aldermanbury. 

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Land tax record for Bishopsgate, 1705, showing John Belchier paying his landlord, Thomas Pistor £18 tax on his business premises and an additional 8 shillings for space in Pistor's timberyard. This tax was paid by the owners of business premises such as tradesmen, shopkeepers and innkeepers. The rate of tax was set by Parliament each year in a 'Land Tax Act' and was usually between two and four shillings in the pound, based on the value of each individual's land or property. The London Archives (TLA),

There was apparently a relationship between Thomas Pistor and John Belchier, but the dynamics of it remain unknown. Also, because both Belchier and Pistor had sons of the same name, which one - or perhaps both - is also a mystery. The two generations would certainly have known each other through their relationship to the Joiners' Company, which acted in many ways as a closely-knit business and social network [See Lindey, 'The London Furniture Trade', chapter three: The role of the Joiners’ Company in the London furniture trade]. This assumption is further alluded to in a surviving bill from Belchier for furniture supplied to James Grahme, whom Pistor (either snr or jnr) also supplied. For this commission see Thomas Pistor jnr.

Thomas Pistor snr died 18 January 1705/06 and was buried in St Botolph’s, Bishopsgate [London Metropolitan Archives (TLA) Reference Number: P69/Bot4/A/002/Ms04516/002].

Source: Joiners’ Company Records; Turpin, ‘Thomas Pistor, Father and Son, and Levens Hall’, Furniture History (2000); L. Lindey, 'The London furniture trade, 1640-1720', unpublished PhD thesis, University of London (2016).