Taylor, Benjamin & Sons

London; cabinet maker, upholder, upholsterer, chair maker and undertaker (fl.1805–71)

Addresses given at 58 Kent St, Southwark, 1805–23; no. 81 in 1817; Gt Dover St, Southwark, 1821–beyond 1840; Roebuck Pl., Gt Dover St, 1823–29; nos 67 and 68, 1835–39, and no. 6 in 1839. Recorded also at King William St in 1837; and 167 Gt Dover St until 1873. Listed as B. Taylor & Sons, upholsterers and cabinet makers, at 6, 7 & 8 Roebuck Place, Dover Road in the 1845 London Post Office Directory. The 1871 Post Office Directory listed Benjamin Taylor & Sons at 97 New Bond Street and 167 Great Dover Street.

Took out Sun Insurance policies on 23 December 1820 for £1,000 on house and warehouse in Gt Dover St, ‘unfinished intended for his occupation’; and as James Benjamin Taylor, upholder and cabinet maker, Gt Dover St, on 24 October 1821, for £2,850 including £1,000 on house, warehouse and workshop, and £1,500 on stock, utensils, goods and glass stock. Recorded as the maker of chairs in private possession, with slim turned back supports and legs, upholstered oval back panel and seat. [Guildhall Library, Sun MS vol. 485, ref. 972505; vol. 486, ref. 985043; V&A archives]. A set of four mahogany chairs. c.1830, is impressed ‘B TAYLOR & SONS GT DOVER ST BORO’ and bear faded labels. A mahogany break-front library bookcase, c. 1825, is name stamped (illus. Gilbert (1996), figs 893-896; Country Life, 2 Feb 1956).

Source: DEFM; Gilbert, Pictorial Dictionary of Marked London Furniture 1700-1840 (1996).