Webb, Martha

Hammersmith, London; chair maker (b. 1756-d.1822)

Daughter of Henry Webb (1731-93). Henry had left his workshops, yards and stock to his sons, John (1753-95) and Henry (1855-94), and on their deaths, or even before, Martha was involved and then took over the business. She was baptised in Hammersmith on 5 December 1756. ‘Miss Martha Webb’ was recorded as the owner or leaseholder of property in King Street, Hammersmith 1795-9 and in December 1811 she took out insurance on property for £1,300 of which £1,250 covered the dwelling house and workshop in King St and £50 a workshop at the Creek, Hammersmith. Land Tax records, 1803, show that she rented premises in Hammersmith to her cousin, via her mother, Timothy Carter.

By 1803 Martha had taken a partner named Bunce and this enterprise continued to trade until 1832. William Matlock Bunce was married to Henry Webb’s niece. On their trade card the partnership claimed that their manufactory of park and garden furniture had been established ‘upwards of seventy years’ (illus. Parrott, Regional Furniture (2008), fig. 12). They stated that their products had been ‘Sanctioned by their Majesties, the Prince of Wales, the Dukes of Clarence, Cumberland, Sussex and Cambridge’. Products stocked included ‘Cove seats and Portable Chaises, Rustic Hermitages, Chairs, Tables, Bridges, Gates, Windsor Chairs for Kitchen, Studies &c., Camp stools, Chairs, Greecian and German Sofas, Chairs, Stools, Gothic Setees, Chairs &c., Chinese Seats, Pavilions, Awnings, Bath chairs, dog houses, pallings &c.’. Their address was also rendered as ‘Corner of Webb's Lane, Hammersmith’ on their trade card (1808) and King's Rd, Chelsea and at Hammersmith in directories.

On 13 February 1800 Webb issued a receipt for £6 5s 6d for garden chairs supplied to Lord Monson and in May 1800 another receipt to Sir Edmund Hartopp for ‘6 yewtree Windsor Chairs... £3 8s 6d’. In 1804 Webb & Bunce supplied rustic seats to the Heathcote family.

Martha Webb was buried 20 June 1822, aged 65 and Bunce relocated to Dorcas buildings on Hammersmith Road in 1824. The firm continued until early 1828, when it closed due to financial difficulties. Bunce died later that year.

Image

Copyright (Attribution/Credit)

© Victoria and Albert Museum, London

Windsor armchair stamped 'WEBB & BUNCE' on back edge of seat, c. 1817-20 [W.13-1973]. © Victoria and Albert Museum, London

A number of chairs stamped ‘WEBB & BUNCE’ have been recorded (illus. Parrot, Regional Furniture, 2008, figs 13a & b).

For a family tree of the Webb & Carter families, chair makers, see Parker, Regional Furniture (2020).

Sources: DEFM; Parrott, ‘Windsor Chair Making on the Outskirts of Eighteenth-Century London; William Webb of Newington and Henry Webb of Hammersmith’, Regional Furniture (2008); Parker, 'Windsor Chairs, Children's Carts, German Stools, Rustic Chairs, Summerhouses and Perambulator: The Webbs (and Bunce and Carter), Dells, Priors and Trotmans, Regional Furniture (2020).