Willcox, Elizabeth & Son 

Newcastle; upholder (1803–13).

When Bartholomew Kent died in January 1803 his business at the foot of Dean St (also referred to as the Side) was continued by his niece Elizabeth Willcox. Initially she tried to dispose of the business which she described as ‘respectable as any House in that line out of the Metropolis’. Either no buyer was forthcoming or Elizabeth Willcox changed her mind for the business continued to trade under her direction. In March 1806 she advertised a stock which included paper hangings, japanned and other chairs, carpeting and Marseilles quilts. In May of the following year her son B. Kent Willcox was taken into partnership. It was claimed that he had just returned from London ‘where he has been for some time in one of the first houses in the Metropolis in the Upholstery & Cabinet lines and has made a collection of New and Elegant Drawings’. The partners offered chintzes, fringes and cabinet work and stated that ‘Funerals attended at any Distance, with Feathers if required’. The son was used to obtain new stock in London because of his knowledge of the trade there. In May 1809 it was stated that he had recently returned from such a buying trip with ‘an entire new assortment of every article’. A journeyman and an app. were advertised for. By January 1813 the business had ceased trading and the premises were taken over by William Preston, a furniture broker of Dog Bank. Amongst the customers of Elizabeth Willcox & Son was Cuthbert Ellison of Hebburn Hall, Gateshead, Co. Durham.

Source: DEFM; Newcastle Courant, 5 March 1803, 2 March 1806, 23 May 1807, 27 May 1809; Newcastle Chronicle, 2 January 1813; Furn. Hist., 1976]