Wise, George snr.

Tonbridge & Tunbridge Wells, Kent; print seller, Tunbridge ware manufacturer and chair maker (fl.1746-93)

Although claims have been advanced that George Wise was producing Tunbridge-wares as early as 1685 there is no foundation for such assertions. He appears to have established his business in Tonbridge when leasing a workshop in 1746. 

By 1784 he was in partnership with his son, Thomas. The business did not solely produce Tunbridge ware and its mixed nature can be seen from a directory description of this year which states that the firm were ‘Turners, chair-makers, Dealers in medicenes [sic], Tunbridge Ware, Haberdashers, Cutlery, Silver and divers other wares’.

George Wise's wife appears to have taken charge of the business when her husband died (date unknown), assisted by her son Thomas, who took sole charge of the business when his mother died in 1793. 

George & Thomas were part of a long family of Tunbridge ware manufacturers in Tonbridge including George II & III, Thomas’s nephew & great nephew.  

Sources: DEFM; Dr Brian Austen.