Stevens & Sons of Clapham Junction

[coveg]

a While back I bought a Full size snooker table. I am busy sanding and cleaning the table. Could someone give me info on Stevens & Sons of Clapham Junction snooker tables.I would like to get history of this table.

[Geoff Large]

a While back I bought a Full size snooker table. I am busy sanding and cleaning the table. Could someone give me info on Stevens & Sons of Clapham Junction snooker tables.I would like to get history of this table.

I do know that john Bennett & company bought W Stevens and sons out in 1967 who themselves had previousley bought out R Stevens and Sons who where established in 1830 and had a works at Villiers Street at charing cross prob in the arches there , so I take it that it is the later W Stevens and sons table you have .

there is an Historian ( 100-uper) who comments on here so maybe he will give some more detailed info on W stevens & sons ..

but I once had an argument with a fitter from down south who claimed that john Bennett's where older than Thurston , I had always been told Thurston est 1799 was prob the oldest firm , certainly the first to use slate beds . but he was adamant that they where older ? records show that Bennets where around in 1821 and can be traced back to a previous founder member of the Bennett family but no records of that founders birth and death records exist so no proof of date established exist.

although Gillows who also produced very early wood bed billiard tables , is a very old firm later becomeing Waring & Gillows the High class furniture people .
Thurston was an aprentice at Gillows , So it just maybe that Gillows is the older of any of the named Table manufacturers .

I have googled Stevens and sons Clapham junction , and they may have other interests , as a Stevens and Sons where also inventers of a Signal locking system for signal boxes and that firm was also based in clapham junction ?

[newicks@gmail.com]

Just out of interest, the British Embassy in Paris has a lovely old Stevens and Sons snooker table. I think the table shows three addresses for the compamy, but it is marked Est. 1830. Just about managed to save the table from gym expansion - phew!

[100-uper]

a While back I bought a Full size snooker table. I am busy sanding and cleaning the table. Could someone give me info on Stevens & Sons of Clapham Junction snooker tables.I would like to get history of this table.

The first reference I have to thier works at Clapham Junction is 1877, and this was known to have closed in 1889, so a plate bearing his address would be between these dates. Don't sand it down too much, that's valuable patina you are removing.

[100-uper]

Just out of interest, the British Embassy in Paris has a lovely old Stevens and Sons snooker table. I think the table shows three addresses for the compamy, but it is marked Est. 1830. Just about managed to save the table from gym expansion - phew!

This company moved around a bit so they can be chronologically tracked by location better than most. Here is a brief guide which might be useful in dating your table plate.

Stevens & Sons were established in 1830 and by 1860 were trading under that name with an address in Great Scotland Yard and Villiers Street as a partnership between Richard Nelson Stevens and Arthur Roberts Stevens. The address at Great Scotland Yard disappears about 1870 and Villiers Street becomes the main address.

In 1889 the partnership between Richard and Arthur was dissolved and the company continued trading as "R. Stevens and Sons." Shortly afterwards they acquired an additional address at Heddon Street, which I believe was a warehouse.

Around 1902 the Heddon Street warehouse was closed and new premises opened at 4 Rathbone Place which only operated for ten years or so.

In 1908 Richard Stevens left the partnership which at that time also involved Alfred Richard Stevens and Herbert Donald Stevens. The latter pair continued until the following year, when Herbert left the company and Alfred Stevens continued alone. The company continued as "R. Stevens and Sons" during this period, and Villiers Street remains the principal address .

At some time shortly after this (before 1917) William Nelson Stevens makes an appearance. He was presumably the son of Alfred, although he might have been another family member, and the trading name changes to "W. Stevens & Sons" with an address in Acton. The Villiers Street address disappears at this time.

Between this date and 1925, when William Nelson dies, the firm become a Limited Company and the name becomes advertised as "W. Stevens & Sons Ltd"

Information is patchy after this, but I have seen reference to "W. D. Stevens & Co" operating from 33 Balham Hill, London, which I think is connected to, rather than being a continuation of the main company. I assume this because when they were taken over by Bennett in 1967 they were still referenced as "W. Stevens & Sons Ltd" in the press release.

[100-uper]

I once had an argument with a fitter from down south who claimed that john Bennett's where older than Thurston , I had always been told Thurston est 1799 was prob the oldest firm , certainly the first to use slate beds . but he was adamant that they where older ? records show that Bennets where around in 1821 and can be traced back to a previous founder member of the Bennett family but no records of that founders birth and death records exist so no proof of date established exist.

although Gillows who also produced very early wood bed billiard tables , is a very old firm later becomeing Waring & Gillows the High class furniture people .
Thurston was an aprentice at Gillows , So it just maybe that Gillows is the older of any of the named Table manufacturers .

Her is a bit of information on the early activities of John Thurston which you won't find anywhere else. Having found the early accounts of his business activities a bit woolly, to say the least, I did a little bit of digging and came up with the following:

Regarding his apprenticeship with Gillows, I have seen a list of their tradesmen from this period and John Thurston is not amongst them. This is perhaps not unexpected as the main manufacturing site was at Lancaster and it is likely that Thurston was employed at the London end of the business who were mainly assembling and finishing the furniture shipped down from Lancaster, essentially as "flat pack."

In 1799, when Thurston is claimed to have started in business in Newcastle Street, he would have been 22 years old. This fits in well with completing an apprenticeship which would have taken seven years and would typically commenced at the age of 13.

Of one thing I am reasonably sure; he didn't start his own business at this date. The only cabinet maker operating in Newcastle Street in 1799 was Wm. Richardson, and if he was working on that street it would have been under his employment. I say "if" because some time prior to 1807 he was known to have been a junior partner trading as "George Hill, Joseph Fuller, and John Thurston," in Tottenham-Court-Road, as Cabinet-Makers and Upholsterers.

This partnership was dissolved in 1807 and in 1809 he became a rather more senior partner in "Worhall, Thurston, and Fuller," at 6 Catherine-street. An advert from October of that year suggests that all three had previously been employees of a firm called Morgan and Sanders who were operating from "Butler's Manufactory" 16-17 Catherine Street, as "Furnishing, Upholsterers, and Cabinet manufacturers."

Joseph Fuller left the partnership in 1811, leaving Joseph Worhall and John Thurston in business together, but this didn't last long and the pair were declared bankrupt the following year. It was only on discharge from this bankruptcy in 1814 that John Thurston set up his own business at 6 Catherine Street, which was the same address as his bankrupt partnership. Whether this business had continued under the control of someone else, or he re-established it, I don't know. Anyway, from this point the history of the firm is fairly well-known.

John Bennet & Co were established in 1821 so they take second place to Thurston's.

[ryanah147]

Great article Peter on Stevens, but the one on John Thurston really blew me away. Great detective work !!
G

[stevens_and_sons]

estimating the age of my stevensons and sons table

The first reference I have to thier works at Clapham Junction is 1877, and this was known to have closed in 1889, so a plate bearing his address would be between these dates. Don't sand it down too much, that's valuable patina you are removing.

This company moved around a bit so they can be chronologically tracked by location better than most. Here is a brief guide which might be useful in dating your table plate.
o o o

That's a lot of really impressive information.

If I interpret the information correctly, it appears that my table may be between 1877 and 1889.
- Clapham Junction - 1877 to 1889
- Villiers - ? to <1917


On each part of the base is a number: 615. Not sure if this number has any meaning.
Also, in determining an approximate age, does the fact that mine doesn't have an initial (W or R) anywhere does that mean it could be 1830 to 1860?

I've seen pictures of other Stevens and Sons tables on the internet, but they have turned legs. Mine has fluting as well - is that indicative in determining its age?



To: 100-upper,
Thanks again for sharing this information.

[100-uper]

Thanks for posting the photos, which are very interesting.

Personally, I would associate this type of transfer printed nameplate with a later date rather than an earlier one. Although this type of transfer is commonly seen on scoreboards, I haven't seen it before on a Victorian table. Some of the forum users with more trade experience may be able to add to this.

My last reference to the Clapham Junction manufactory (which I can accurately date), comes in a notice dissolving the partnership between Richard and Arthur Stevenson in May 1889, the former carrying on the business. Although adverts now begin to appear as "R Stevens & Sons" they were still using the abbreviated version in other adverts, and it is likely to have been some time before they used up stock of nameplates and transfers carrying the old style name. The change of shareholding in itself would not have given any urgency to make a change in this respect.

The works at Clapham would not have closed in 1889, and I have no indication of exactly when they moved to Battersea, other than they were definitely at this location in 1908. Having seen your photographs, I think it likely that they were still at the addresses given on the nameplate in the mid-1890s, which would be my best guess at a date for this table. I think the transfer nameplate rules out a much earlier date.

[Geoff Large]

I agree Peter the tables cushion capping width being not thin like an early 1850/60 type of table , this table is later rather than early with the top plates still being used I would date the table also mid 1890s , I have seen quite a few stevens and sons tables with the transfer on the cushion rather than the ivory name plate , so it was common practice for them to use this type of branding advertisement on their tables more so on the under sized tables like this one .

[mensch72]

This company moved around a bit so they can be chronologically tracked by location better than most. Here is a brief guide which might be useful in dating your table plate.

Stevens & Sons were established in 1830 and by 1860 were trading under that name with an address in Great Scotland Yard and Villiers Street as a partnership between Richard Nelson Stevens and Arthur Roberts Stevens. The address at Great Scotland Yard disappears about 1870 and Villiers Street becomes the main address.

In 1889 the partnership between Richard and Arthur was dissolved and the company continued trading as "R. Stevens and Sons." Shortly afterwards they acquired an additional address at Heddon Street, which I believe was a warehouse.

Around 1902 the Heddon Street warehouse was closed and new premises opened at 4 Rathbone Place which only operated for ten years or so.

In 1908 Richard Stevens left the partnership which at that time also involved Alfred Richard Stevens and Herbert Donald Stevens. The latter pair continued until the following year, when Herbert left the company and Alfred Stevens continued alone. The company continued as "R. Stevens and Sons" during this period, and Villiers Street remains the principal address .

At some time shortly after this (before 1917) William Nelson Stevens makes an appearance. He was presumably the son of Alfred, although he might have been another family member, and the trading name changes to "W. Stevens & Sons" with an address in Acton. The Villiers Street address disappears at this time.

Between this date and 1925, when William Nelson dies, the firm become a Limited Company and the name becomes advertised as "W. Stevens & Sons Ltd"

Information is patchy after this, but I have seen reference to "W. D. Stevens & Co" operating from 33 Balham Hill, London, which I think is connected to, rather than being a continuation of the main company. I assume this because when they were taken over by Bennett in 1967 they were still referenced as "W. Stevens & Sons Ltd" in the press release.

Dear 100-uper, if you are still active here I would be extremely grateful if you could point me to any source that can help me identifying the age of my full-size "R Stevens & Sons, Makers, Villiers St. Charing Cross" snooker table with the stamped serial no. 1481. The legs are shaped like an amphora with a UFO on top. From your post above I suspect it will be between 1889 and 1917. Will the serial no. help narrowing it down further?

[100-uper]

Dear 100-uper, if you are still active here I would be extremely grateful if you could point me to any source that can help me identifying the age of my full-size "R Stevens & Sons, Makers, Villiers St. Charing Cross" snooker table with the stamped serial no. 1481. The legs are shaped like an amphora with a UFO on top. From your post above I suspect it will be between 1889 and 1917. Will the serial no. help narrowing it down further?

I am not a table fitter so don't get the chance to take these tables apart and match serial numbers with approximate dates. I do however, have reference to one "R. Stevens" table which was stamped "703" and that one I could date from other features as being between 1902 and 1905. This might have been their 7th table in 1903, but I really don't know what type of notation they were using, or indeed if they consistently applied the same system. A couple of pictures might help.

[mensch72]

I struggled uploading pics, but now I believe I managed:

[100-uper]

Thanks, that gives some information, although I really need an additional wider picture of the frame if you can manage it. Also, is there a number before the "Villiers" stencil? From what I can see at the moment, it appears to be a model from the 1900s, rather than Victorian, but additional pictures might help to place it one side or the other of WW1.

[mensch72]

OK here are three more. There is no number before the stencil, it just says "R Stevens & Sons, Makers, Villiers St. Charing Cross".