Wise, Thomas

Tonbridge, Kent; Tunbridge ware manufacturer, print publisher and auctioneer (c.1780-1807).

Thomas was the son of George Wise, snr. [https://bifmo.history.ac.uk/entry/wise-george-snr-1746-84]. After his father’s death (date unknown), Thomas and his mother ran the business until she died in 1793; thereafter he managed the firm on his own. His father’s workshops and home in Tonbridge High Street linked London with Hastings and Rye, and by means of a branch road to the fashionable spa of Tunbridge Wells about five miles to the south. It is possible that travellers may have purchased prints commissioned by Thomas Wise, showing his workshop and the castle on the other side of the road, or the town hall facing the High Street. Wise also bought from other print publishers. In July 1800, he advertised an image of the decorative arch erected in Maidstone (1799) to welcome George III. Auction bills and a catalogue are in the Sprange collection in the Tunbridge Wells Museum. A range of boxes and other articles decorated with prints of their main markets began to appear at this period. In 1804 he bought his late father's workshop and home which had previously been leased and had employed his nephew, George, as an assistant. 

Apart from sales in Tonbridge (where the castle and the river frontage of the Wise manufactory was the main feature), Wise began to expand his business interests to publishing prints. Most of them were titled and included the name of the publisher and the date of production. This information was often cut off and in many cases stuck to the interior of the box. Brighton was a market, larger than Tunbridge Wells, and was exploited in this manner. A domed box veneered in yew has an early colour tinted view of the Pavilion from the Steine; the label inside reads 'Published by Tho^s Wise, Tunbridge, 25 March 1803'. A print of Lady A. Murray’s and Mrs Fitzherbert’s Houses on the Steine. bears a Thomas Wise imprint dated 1 March 1806. An amended version of this print, tinted in colour, is on the lid of a box, scorched to resemble tortoiseshell, and in size and finish is identical to a sewing box with a view of the Bath House, Bath Square, Tunbridge Wells. This would suggest that both are contemporary, and from the Wise manufactory. This faux tortoiseshell finish is unusual on Wise boxes, but was later widely adopted by some Brighton makers of small toys such as pin cushions, nutmeg graters. etc.  

Margate also attracted Thomas Wise at an early date. A circular whitewood box decorated with a tinted map of the Isle of Thanet, and the inside of the lid, bears the date of publication as Sept 12 1800. A similar box with a map of the environs of 'BRIGHTHELMSTONE' shows the same date.

On the death of his uncle, George Wise jnr. took full charge of the business, expanding production and seeking wider markets. See George Wise jnr: https://bifmo.history.ac.uk/entry/wise-george-jnr-1806-40.

Sources: DEFM; Dr Brian Austen.