Townson, James

Lancaster, Lancs.; carver (fl.1757-68)

He received 10s 6d on account on 26 November 1757 from Gillows and other small sums during the following year. He was Gillow’s master carver and may have been their only carver during the 1750s and early 1760s. He carved lonic (5s) and Corinthian (9s) capitals in November 1757, the latter for a bookcase. In October 1758 he carved 'small Shields' at 15d each; they were used to ornament clock cases and buffet and corner cupboards. In August 1758 and August 1759 he was paid 9s for carving 4in. Corinthian capitals. He carved lonic capitals 9 in. in diameter in Jan. 1759 for which he received lls, and in June 1759 he was paid 8s 6d  for carving Miss Harrison's glass frame. In October 1761 he carved ‘2 shells wth. faces for clockcase doors’. The following November he was paid 2s 6d for a ‘shell & face'. Shells were also carved on a bracket in July 1760. In November 1760 he was one of nine regular workmen listed in the Gillow’s Petty Ledger for 1760-62 and he was also listed with ten other Gillow workmen as receiving payment on 22 May 1762. He was paid in 1763 for a great deal of carving including: a pattern chair, ovolo carving, a carved gallery (possibly like the one in the Assembly Rooms, Lancaster), a large snap table ‘with carved claws’ and a pier glass frame in mahogany ‘with flowers at top and bottom’. He also carved 111ft.  of ‘eggs & leaves’ for ‘Mr. Collectors chimney piece’ and was paid for other carving on it the same year. This may be the chimneypiece in Lancaster Museum's collection. In November 1763 he received 17s 6d  which was part of two weeks' wages. Townson carved one pair of arms and stumps of a chair for Mr. France like a fish. He was paid for ‘full 4½ days 9s plus other labour and making 23’. He collaborated with six other men to make a cabinet for Roger Hesketh in May 1768 (illus. Boynton (1995), fig. 124).

Source: Boynton, Gillow Furniture Designs (1995); Stuart, Gillows of Lancaster and London (2008), II, p.291