ENGLAND, CIRCA 1770

In 1755 Thomas Whitty established his workshop at Axminster in Devon. By 1760 There were three commercial workshops operating in England: Claude Passavent in Exeter, Thomas Moore at Moorefields in London, and Thomas Whitty in Axminster. The first of these went out of business as the products were of excellent quality but were priced out of the market for this country and Thomas Moore continued until the 1790's. Whitty's became the best known and most successful of the three as he was able to recognize the growing demand for carpets among the English aristocracy and wealthy merchant classes. Whitty was the first Englishman to successfully use the techniques of pile carpet weaving by creating high quality carpets at a reasonable cost. Axminster carpets were quickly recognized as the best English produced carpets available with Whitty winning the prize offered for carpet weaving by the Society of Arts in 1753, 1758 and 1759. George III made a royal visit in 1783. The Prince of Wales commissioned a number of carpets along with leading architectural designers like Robert Adam. These glory years for the Axminster workshops remained throughout the life of Thomas Whitty and continued under the guidance of his son, also named Thomas.