Reeve(s), Ham(b)den (or Hampden)

Strand, London; upholder (fl. 1704– d. 1714)

Recorded in rate bks as Hambden in the Strand, 1709; and as Hamden Reeves in 1712 when he took out a Hand in Hand Insurance policy on 19 April for £600 on his house at the sign of ‘The Lamb & Lyon’, Strand, St Martin-in-the-Fields. Named in the Royal Household accounts, 1704–13, supplying furnishings for the Royal residences and the Houses of Parliament. On Lady Day 1705 he provided ‘for Her Majties Bedchamber at Kensington … a large fine Dimity Bed tick and Bolster covered with White Satin and filled with Seasoned Swans Downe containing ninety pounds of Down in them £18.10.0.’ In 1704–05 he supplied forty-eight turkeywork chairs to the House of Commons, three large turkeywork armchairs and a carpet to the House of Lords, and twenty-four turkeywork chairs for the Lobby at St James's Palace. In 1709–10 he provided a further twelve for the Court of Wards at Westminster. In 1713–14 he was responsible for Queen Anne's bed at Windsor, eight upholstered matching walnut stools, and an elbow chair made by Richard Roberts. Named in newspapers in 1712. On the accession of George I in 1714, Reeve supplied upholstery for a new bed and the walnut armchair that accompanied it for the King that was to be placed King’s Little Bedchamber at St James’s Palace. The chair frame was supplied by Richard Roberts and covered in the same crimson mohair as the bed. Reed died shortly afterwards, and payments made to his executors are detailed in Wardrobe Accounts of 1 August 1714 to 29 September 1715 and totalled £84 19s.

Source: DEFM; Bird, ‘The Furniture and Furnishing of St James's Palace’, Furniture History (2014).