James Moore (c. 1670 - October 1726 [1] ) was an 18th-century cabinet maker in London who worked for George I. [2] He was in partnership with John Gumley from 1714. As royal cabinet-maker he supplied walnut and mahogany furniture for the royal household, the royal yacht, and the king's servants and mistresses, as well as the rich gilt gesso furniture for which he is best known but which constituted a small part of his output. [3]
Early references to Moore are in the Duke of Montagu's domestic expenses, 1708, [4] and the entry in the accounts of Lord Hervey, soon created Earl of Bristol, for "glass piers & sconces", 1710. Moore and his son, James Moore the younger, were among craftsmen furnishing Cannons for James Brydges, 1st Duke of Chandos [5] A gilt gesso table from Stowe House, now at the Victoria and Albert is in the unmistakable style of James Moore; it bears the cypher and baron's coronet of Richard Temple, Lord Cobham, and can be dated 1714–18 on that basis. [6]
James Moore assumed the position of clerk of the works at Blenheim Palace, completing and furnishing the house after Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough, quarreled with her architect, John Vanbrugh; Moore had first appeared as the Duchess's "glass man", providing pier glasses in the house. By 1714 the Duchess referred to him as "my oracle, Mr. Moore" who "certainly has very good sense and I think him very honest and understanding in many trades besides his own." [7]
Moore is especially known for gilt gesso furniture, tables looking-glass frames and candlestands. A pair of gilt gesso side tables bearing the crowned cypher of George I in the Royal Collection [8] and the pair of candlestands en suite are incised with his name, an unusual practice at the time. At Erddig, gilt gesso furniture by Moore can be linked to surviving bills receipted by James Moore and John Belchier, 1722–26.
The succeeding royal cabinet-maker, Benjamin Goodison, trained in Moore's workshop. [9]
Thomas Chippendale was an English cabinet-maker in London, designing furniture in the mid-Georgian, English Rococo, and Neoclassical styles. In 1754 he published a book of his designs in a trade catalogue titled The Gentleman and Cabinet Maker's Director—the most important collection of furniture designs published in England to that point which created a mass market for furniture—upon which success he became renowned. According to the Victoria and Albert Museum, "so influential were his designs, in Britain and throughout Europe and America, that 'Chippendale' became a shorthand description for any furniture similar to his Director designs".
The Master-General of the Ordnance (MGO) was a very senior British military position from 1415 to 2013 with some changes to the name, usually held by a serving general. The Master-General of the Ordnance was responsible for all British artillery, engineers, fortifications, military supplies, transport, field hospitals and much else, and was not subordinate to the commander-in chief of the British military. In March 2013 the holder was titled as "Director Land Capability and Transformation", but still sat on the Army Board as Master-General of the Ordnance; in September 2013 the post was eliminated.
Duke of Buckingham, referring to Buckingham, is an extinct title that has been created several times in the peerages of England, Great Britain, and the United Kingdom. There were creations of double dukedoms of Buckingham and Normanby and of Buckingham and Chandos. The last holder of the dukedom died in 1889.
Earl Temple of Stowe, in the County of Buckingham, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1822 for Richard Temple-Nugent-Brydges-Chandos-Grenville, 2nd Marquess of Buckingham, who was created Marquess of Chandos and Duke of Buckingham and Chandos at the same time. In contrast to the Marquessate and Dukedom, which were created with remainder to the heirs male of his body only, the Earldom was created with remainder to (1) the heirs male of his body, failing which to (2) the heirs male of his deceased great-grandmother the 1st Countess Temple, failing which to (3) his granddaughter Lady Anna Grenville and the heirs male of her body, and then to possible younger daughters of Lord Temple and the heirs male of their bodies.
The Dukedom of Chandos was a title in the Peerage of Great Britain. The Chandos peerage was first created as a barony by Edward III in 1337; its second creation in 1554 was due to the Brydges family's service to Mary I during Wyatt's rebellion, when she also gave them Sudeley Castle. The 9th Baron of the second creation was elevated to the dukedom in 1719, but after his grandson's death without male heirs, his titles all became extinct.
James Brydges, 1st Duke of Chandos, was an English landowner and politician who sat in the English and British House of Commons from 1698 until 1714, when he succeeded to the peerage as Baron Chandos, and vacated his seat in the House of Commons to sit in the House of Lords. He was subsequently created Earl of Carnarvon, and then Duke of Chandos in 1719.
Canons Park is a public park and the name of its surrounding residential area, in the Edgware district of the London Borough of Harrow, north west London. Canons Park was a country estate which partially survives today as a public park. St. Lawrence's Church, the parish church of Little Stanmore, and the accompanying Chandos Mausoleum are located here.
Margaret Jourdain was a prominent writer on English furniture and decoration. She began her career ghost-writing as Francis Lenygon for the firm of Lenygon & Morant, dealers in furnishings with a royal appointment, who were also the fabricators of carefully crafted reproductions, especially of Kentian furnishings, some of which have been displayed in public collections for decades.
Cassandra Willoughby, Duchess of Chandos was an English historian, travel writer and artist. She spent more than a quarter-century overseeing the restoration of the gardens and rebuilding of the family mansion at Wollaton Hall, now in Nottingham, inherited by her father, Francis Willoughby.
Ince and Mayhew were a partnership of furniture designers, upholsterers and cabinetmakers, founded and run by William Ince (1737–1804) and John Mayhew (1736–1811) in London, from 1759 to 1803; Mayhew continued alone in business until 1809. Their premises were located in Marshall Street but were listed in London directories in Broad Street, Soho, 1763–83, and in Marshall Street, Carnaby Market, 1783–1809. The partnership's volume of engraved designs, The Universal System of Household Furniture, dedicated to the Duke of Marlborough, was issued in imitative rivalry with Thomas Chippendale; Ince, who was a subscriber to the first edition of Chippendale's Director, was chiefly responsible for the designs, while Mayhew contributed the greater part of the partnership's capital, kept the accounts, and was in closer contact with the firm's clientele among the nobility and gentry. The name of the firm originally appears to have been "Mayhew and Ince", but on the title page of The Universal System the names are reversed, suggesting that Ince was the more extensive contributor.
Events from the year 1670 in England.
Henry Brydges, 2nd Duke of Chandos, KB, known from 1727 to 1744 by the courtesy title Marquess of Carnarvon, was the second son of the 1st Duke of Chandos and his first wife Mary Lake. He was the Member of Parliament for Hereford from 1727 to 1734, for Steyning between 1734 and 1741, and Bishop's Castle between 1741 and 1744.
Cannons was a stately home in Little Stanmore, Middlesex, England. It was built by James Brydges, 1st Duke of Chandos, between 1713 and 1724 at a cost of £200,000, replacing an earlier house on the site. Chandos' house was razed in 1747 and its contents dispersed.
John (Jean)Pelletier (fl. ca 1681 – 1704) was a French Huguenot carver and gilder, who emigrated from Paris, where he had trained, and worked in London. He provided high-style Baroque furniture for the court of William III and Mary II, specializing in carved, gessoed and gilded furniture of the highest quality. He was also employed in providing carved and gilded picture and looking-glass frames and in gilding the work of other carvers.
Benjamin Goodison, of London, was a royal cabinetmaker to George II of Great Britain, supplying furnishings to the royal palaces from 1727 to the time of his death. He served his apprenticeship with James Moore, who died accidentally in October 1726; Moore was the pre-eminent London cabinetmaker during the reign of George I. Goodison's classicizing case furniture owes much of its inspiration to the neo-Palladian designs of William Kent; outstanding documented examples are the pair of part-gilded mahogany commodes and library writing-tables Goodison made for Sir Thomas Robinson of Rokeby Hall, Yorkshire, now in the Royal Collection; they have boldly-scaled Greek key fret in their friezes and lion masks gripping brass rings heading scrolling consoles at their corners.
William France Sr. was born in the small agricultural village of Whittington, six miles north of Lancaster, where he was christened on 7 January 1727 the second son of Edward, a yeoman farmer, and Agnes France. His elder brother, John, was christened on 27 March 1725 and was apprenticed to a cabinetmaker in Lancaster where he married Elizabeth Townson the daughter of John Townson, a joiner, in 1747.
William France Jr. was a cabinetmaker and upholsterer in 18th century London and a member of the well known France family who held the Royal Warrant for over half a century. He was the nephew of William France Sr. and younger brother of Edward France, the former being cabinetmaker to the Royal Household. He was born in 1759 and died in 1838 in Boulogne, France. He was made a Freeman of Lancaster in 1785–86.
John Hartstonge or Hartstongue was an English-born prelate of the Church of Ireland who became Bishop of Ossory and then Bishop of Derry.
John Gumley was an English furniture-maker, army contractor and MP.
Anne Russell, Duchess of Bedford, formerly Lady Anne Egerton, was the wife of Wriothesley Russell, 3rd Duke of Bedford, and, following his death, of William Villiers, 3rd Earl of Jersey. She was the mother of the 4th Earl of Jersey.