Manuscript account books of Robert Ward, an English carpenter and cartwright, covering a period of approximately 30 years. In his work as a cartwright, Ward supplied wheels, spokes, axles and cart bodies, as well as completed regular repairs, with everything itemized and priced in these records. He also doubled as a house carpenter, supplying staircases, doors, door-frames, windows, beams and floors and worked for a number of customers. Several names reappear throughout the manuscript including: Alice Tattam, William Baylis, Thomas Coleman, Daniel Dover, the Earl of Stanhope, William Flowers and Thomas Gurney. Few town or village names besides Long Marston appear, suggesting that his clientele was very local. Ward also regularly supplied fences and rails, coffins for a range of names individuals (men, women and children), and painted signboards. The latter service seems to have become more dominant after the main period the manuscript and among the many in-fillings added after 1810, to the mid 1830s, are several simple calligraphic trials for such signs (mainly Ward’s own name). The later entries in different hands suggest the business and the accounting was passed to a second generation.

• Author: Ward, Robert, active 1781-1830s.
  
• Title: Robert Ward’s accounts for carpentry and cartwright work : manuscript.
  
• Production: Long Marston, Buckinghamshire, 1781-1830s (bulk 1781-1810)

Catalog Record

LWL Mss Vol. 272

Acquired October 2021