Gillows of Lancaster and London

Gillows were renowned for producing good quality, practical furniture using some of the finest mahogany imported from the West Indies. Originally based in Lancaster, the firm opened a branch in Oxford Street, London in 1769 and quickly established a thriving business.  However, even with these workshops, the high demand for pieces outstripped their own capacity, and smaller businesses as far afield as Liverpool, Manchester and Kendal were set up to fulfil orders.

Alongside choosing the best timber, the firm also used the most sophisticated locks invented in 1784 by Joseph Bramah.  His unique design featured a round lock mechanism operated by a tubular key, of such complexity and security, that he put it in his shop window and offered a reward of 200 guineas to anyone who could open it. The challenge remained until picked, controversially, by an American locksmith by the name of A.C. Hobbs, at The Great Exhibition of 1851.

Gillows was a well-managed company with meticulously kept records, which are now in the collection of the Westminster City Library and Lancaster Museum.  From 1780 onwards, the firm helpfully started identifying their furniture by adopting a system of stamps, similar to that of Giles Grendey over a century earlier. The journeymen working for the firm would punch their initials into the surface of a discreet area such as the inside or underside of a chair rail, or the inside of a leg at the top, visible only when the chair is turned upside down. 

As well as a broad metropolitan client base, Gillows also successfully supplied furniture in large quantities to a variety of the great northern houses.  Records show considerable commissions for the Marquess (later Duke) of Westminster at Eaton Hall, and to the Egerton family at Tatton Park, both in Cheshire.