A Very Attractive Pair Of Late 19th Century Oak Hall Seats, Or Window Seats, Having Turned Stretchers To Top With Carrying Handle And Elegant Shaped Decoration To Splat Backs, Over Solid Seats Flanked By Scrolling Silhouette End Supports With Pierced Decoration In The Gothic Taste.

Makers Label – “William A & Sylvanus Smee, 6 Finsbury Pavement, London.”

William Alfred Smee (1829-1886) and Sylvanus Smee (1835-1870) were sons of Wiliam Smee jnr (1797-1856), cabinet-maker and upholsterer and Citizen of London, a member of the Dyers Company. They were grandsons of William Smee (1761-1843) also a cabinet-maker and upholsterer.

The 1851 census shows William Smee jnr employing 90 men and 12 women. William’s three sons were involved in the business: William Alfred, Sylvanus and John Henry Smee (1831-1912). William Smee jnr died in 1856 and by the late 1860s his sons had established separate businesses: W.A. & S. Smee, trading from 6 Finsbury Pavement, and John Henry Smee & Co., trading from 20 Finsbury Pavement.

Circa 1880

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