Stone, René

Berwick St, Soho, London; frame maker (fl. 1745–d. by 1774)

His premises in Berwick St were originally identified by his trade sign, ‘The Golden Head’. Later this was changed to ‘The King's Arms’. The change no doubt took place soon after January 1761 when he was appointed ‘Joyner to His Majesty's Privy Council’. He subsequently advertised the business as ‘Frame Maker to His Majesty’. On 6 September 1745 he placed an advertisement in the Daily Advertiser for his apprentice, the eighteen- or nineteen-year old Peter Russell who was absent without permission, in the hope that he might be recognised and returned. Stone described him as speaking French very well. Stone had produced frames for the Crown as early as 1752, however, and in 1772 charged £67 4s for frames ‘richly carved & gilded for their Majesties pictures ’René Stone was probably a Frenchman and on 8 June 1750 the baptism of Elizabeth, the daughter of Marquis Pierre de Conty was performed at Stone's house in Berwick St. Stone was dead by January 1774 when his appointment as ‘Joyner’ passed to Isaac Gossett. Stone's business passed to Duffour.

Source: DEFM; Kirkham, ‘The London Furniture Trade 1700-1870’, FurnitureHistory (1988).