A set of four early Victorian century mahogany dining chairs, formerly the property of Captain Thomas Barker Devon

A set of four early Victorian century mahogany dining chairs, formerly the property of Captain Thomas Barker Devon, each with a plain top rail over scroll carved bar, stuffed over seat and turned tapering legs, the undersides with manuscript labels saying ‘Set of four chairs formerly the property of Captain Devon‘ one chair with a brass plaque to rear stating ‘Set of Four Chairs. Formerly the property of Captain Devon, RN. Paignton. He served with Lord Nelson’. Died 1846, Tombstone Paignton Cemetery.‘ the other ‘… formerly the property of Captain Devon, Parkfield House, Paignton. Purchased by Thomas Hoyle, Paignton about 1846′, together with newspaper cuttings and research documents.  English, circa 1840.

Provenance:       Commander Thomas Barker Devon, Parkfield House, Paignton, 1846

 Thomas Hoyle, Paignton in 1846 thence

 Eileen Ellis, his nurse in 1958

  Thence to the vendor

Footnote: Commander Thomas Barker Devon, Knight of the Royal Hanoverian Guelphic Order, was born in Sutton, Middlesex in 1784 and died in Paignton in 1846.  He entered the Royal Navy as a midshipman aboard the 90-gun HMS Duke.  In 1814 he was appointed Captain of the 10-gun brig HMS Icarus which formed part of the squadron sent to escort Napoleon to St. Helena.  He married Anne Thompson, daughter of an Exeter medical practitioner in 1809.  His biography is listed in Marshall, J, ‘Royal Naval Biography’, 1823 pages 227-235.

Mr William Ernest Hoyle was an eminent Devonian well known in Exeter and Paignton.  After apprenticeships in Torquay and London he joined Colsons of Exeter in 1905 rising to become a director of Bright and Colsons in 1925.  A keen historian, he was interested in both Exeter and Paignton, and obtained many items of historic interest, including some Spanish Armada cannons dredged from Bideford Bay to Oldway in Paignton.  He was well known for his interest in local history Upon his death in 1958 he passed this set of four chairs to his nurse Eileen Ellis who in turn passed them onto the parents of the vendor in 1990.  Parkfield House, Lower Polsham Road is Listed building No.1195233.