The Wright Incorporation of Perth 1700 to 1840

Abstract

"The Wright Incorporation of Perth 1700 to 1840" documents and examines the Scottish trade incorporation with specific emphasis upon its furniture-making wrights. In the introductory chapter, relevant published sources are cited, and Perth is presented as a Royal Burgh with explanations as to how and why evidence was selected and utilised. Chapter Two examines the Wright Incorporation, its structure and dominant role within the Perth furniture trade. Also, the chapter concludes with a discussion of furniture produced by freemen and strangers of the Incorporation, with particular reference to furniture for Perth's New Town. In Chapter Three, "Case Studies of Selected Perth Wrights", the trades of twelve furniture-making wrights are discussed. Peculiarities of the Wright Incorporation of Perth and the furniture trade which it governed also are addressed. The largest chapter, "A Biographical Dictionary of Perth Wrights and Related Trades", identifies and describes over six hundred wrights who were operating in the Royal Burgh and Perth's immediate suburbs. In conclusion, although a large body of physical evidence of Perth furniture has yet to be documented, what has been located reveals a highly organised and fashionably conscious regional centre of Scottish furniture production, largely controlled by the Wright Incorporation of Perth from 1700 to 1840.