Waring & Gillow

Waring & Gillow is a noted firm of English furniture manufacturers formed in 1897 by the merger of Gillows of Lancaster and London and Waring of Liverpool. It was dissolved in 1938.

The firm of Gillow's of Lancaster can be traced back to the luxury furniture and furnishings firm founded by Robert Gillow (1704–72) in about 1730. Robert Gillow served an apprenticeship as a joiner. During the 1730s he began to exploit the lucrative West Indies trade exporting mahogany furniture and importing rum and sugar. Following his death in 1772, the business was continued by his two sons, Richard (1734–1811) and Robert (1745–93). In 1764 a London branch of Gillow's was established at 176 Oxford Road, now Oxford Street, by Thomas Gillow and William Taylor. The firm rapidly established a reputation for supplying high-quality furniture to the richest families in the country.

During the final years of the 19th century the company ran into financial difficulty and from 1897 began a loose financial arrangement with Waring of Liverpool, an arrangement legally ratified by the establishment of Waring & Gillow in 1903. Waring's of Liverpool was founded by John Waring, who arrived in the city from Belfast in 1835 and established a wholesale cabinet making business. He was succeeded by his son Samuel James Waring who rapidly expanded the business during the 1880s, furnishing hotels and public buildings throughout Europe. He also founded Waring-White Building Company which built the Liverpool Corn Exchange, Selfridge's department store and the Ritz Hotel. Samuel James's son and namesake Samuel James Waring (1860-1940) continued the family business and was elevated to the peerage as Baron Waring in 1922.

In 1932 the company was registered as Waring & Gillow(1932) Ltd and the fiche attached to the furniture claimed that their Lancaster factory was opened in 1695 [Item of furniture in the possession of this writer].

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