Antique Pair of Victorian Bedside Chests of Drawers by Richardson & Sons Hull

Fine Quality pair of Victorian mahogany bedside chests of drawers made by Richardson & sons of Hull .labeled and dated 1872. They both in very good condition having been restored and French polished in our work shop. All drawers slide nice and smooth as they should there is a single that fits all locks. Richardson and Sons was the largest and most prestigious furniture maker in the 19th Century Hull. The founder Thomas Richardson claimed to have started the business in 1812. By 1903 Richardson and Sons had been appointed upholsterers to King Edward VII. Richardson and Sons had the skills, materials and machinery to undertake major projects in Hull, including furnishing the Council Chamber of the New Town Hall in 1863. The mayor's and doorkeeper's chairs made by Richardson and Sons for the Town Hall are still preserved in Hull Museums' collections. Also in Hull's collections is a walnut pedestal desk, which may be the desk mentioned by Sheahan in his History of Hull as being part of Richardson's furnishings for the Council Chamber: 'In front of the mayor is a desk, on which rests the mace when the Town Council is assembled'. In 1854 Richardson and Sons made three ornately carved and gilded softwood chairs for Queen Victoria, Prince Albert and the Prince of Wales to use during their visit to Hull. The chairs were placed in a temporarily converted 'throne room' in the hotel next to Hull station, where the royal party stayed. Another major commission for Richardson and Sons was to furnish the Hull Exchange, which opened in 1866, with solid oak tables, reading desks and chairs.