Wilkinson, Edward

Peterborough, Northamptonshire; upholsterer and cabinet maker (1766–98)

At his marriage to a Miss Bates, announced in October 1766, Wilkinson was described as ‘an eminent upholsterer and cabinet maker’. By March 1777 he was bankrupt but must have resumed business again almost immediately for in the following year he insured utensils and stock for £160 out of a total cover of £200. The total cover was unchanged in 1782 but stock and utensils were only valued at £100.

In April 1790 he advertised himself as an upholder and auctioneer and indicated that he stocked both secondhand and new furniture. He offered ‘Dining, Tea, Pembroke, and Dressing Tables; Bureaus, Commodes, and Dressing Chests of Drawers; Night Tables; Bason Stands; Knife Cases; Dinner Trays, Tea Boards, Caddies &c.; Sofas, Chairs with Hair Seats; several sorts of Chamber Ditto; Windsor Chairs, &c.; some very Handsome Pier Glasses; also Toilet and Dressing ditto; likewise every article in the Upholstery Line for fitting up beds and Window Curtains in the best Manner; a great variety of Carpets, of the newest Patterns, and best Quality, both for Floors and Staircases; also a fresh Assortment of the most fashionable Spring Patterns of Paper Hangings, with a great Variety of elegant Fancy Borders to them’.

He also had on offer a collection of paintings and prints ‘by eminent Masters’. His name appears in trade directories as late as 1798 but in July 1802 when the death of his son was announced he was described as the ‘son of the late Mr. Wilkinson, Upholder’. [Cambridge Chronicle, 18 October 1766; Gents Mag., March 1777, July 1802; London Metropolitan Archive (LMA), Sun MS vol. 267, p. 561; vol. 303, p. 513; Lincoln, Rutland and Stamford Mercury, 2 April 1790].

Source: DEFM