Robert Gillow - famous furniture maker from Lancashire
Robert Gillow was an English furniture manufacturer who founded the famous company bearing his name, Gillow & Co. His success was prompted by a trip he made to the West Indies where he became interested in the wood from the mahogany trees that grew rapidly there, and brought it back to Britain. This became the pre-eminent material for elegant furniture.
Gillow was born in 1704 in Singleton, Lancashire to a prominent Catholic family, and served an apprenticeship as a cabinet maker. He then became connected to a family of traders called Sattersthwaite, and sailed with them to Jamaica as a ship's carpenter. He brought samples of mahogany back to Lancaster in 1720. This may have been the first mahogany to be imported to England.
In 1730 he founded the luxury furniture and furnishings firm Gillow of Lancaster. During that decade, he began to engage in the lucrative transatlantic trade between England and the West Indies. As well as the mahogany timber he imported to make furniture - grown on plantations employing slave labour - he also fitted out ships cabins with his carpentry, and undertook finishing work in building construction. His firm rapidly established a reputation for supplying high quality furniture and furnishings to the richest families in the country - and abroad. They also had a London workshop in Thames Street.
Following Robert's retirement in 1769, the business was continued by his two sons, Richard and Thomas Robert. Richard Gillow was the architect for the Custom House, Lancaster, and he is credited with originating the telescopic dining table.
The firm continued for over a century, known for its luxury furniture and furnishings. During the final years of the nineteenth century, the company ran into financial difficulty and the active involvement of the Gillow family ceased. Following a merger, with Waring of Liverpool, it became Waring & Gillow in 1897.
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