Townley, John

Manchester and Lancaster, Lancashire; cabinet maker (fl.1831-65)

A cabinet maker from Manchester, he entered into partnership with William Kirkby Moore, a house carpenter, joiner and cabinet maker, in October 1831. Moore announced their partnership in the Lancaster Gazette: ‘… Mr. John Townley late of Manchester has now become a partner with him in the various departments of the business, hitherto so extensively carried out at the above rooms... Moore and Townley beg respectfully to acquaint the inhabitants of Lancaster and the vicinity, that they may still be supplied as usual at the sale rooms in Sun St. with every article of useful and ornamental furniture, flint and plate glass, furnishing, ironmongery, carpets, blankets, plate and C. suitable for every class of society, on the most reasonable of terms' [Lancaster Gazette 27 October 1831].

John Townley bound two apprentices jointly with William Kirkby Moore: Robert Sandwick in 1831 and Joseph Chambers in 1834. The partnership was dissolved in 1837 and thereafter both partners continued alone, John Townley in Sun Street [Lancaster Gazette 25 November 1837]. In August 1864 he advertised its disposal as an ‘... old established upholstery, glass and general furniture business carried on by ... the present proprietor upwards of thirty years' [Lancaster Gazette August 1864]. Yet an invoice dated 13 October 1865 and settled the next day, signed by John Townley, shows that he was still in business [Lancaster Reference Library, billhead collection].

An English dial clock signed ‘Townley Lancaster’ is illustrated in Stuart (2008), pl. B41. It has a convex iron dial with a false plate, double fusee movement, and is housed in a mahogany case with fish-scale side frets. It can be dated between 1837, when Townley became the sole partner, and 1845 when the first of several repair dates and signatures appears on the movement. The Sun Street premises which Moore & Townley occupied can still be identified (illus. Stuart (2008), pls B42-45) in Sun Street today. For further details of Townley's business partner see William Kirkby Moore.

Source: Stuart, Gillows of Lancaster and London (2008), II, pp. 288-90.