John P. White 1896 - 1960

John P. White [also known as J.P. White, John P. White & Co.] were manufacturers of garden furniture, garden ornaments and wooden fireplaces founded in the late 1896 by John P. White, who, that year purchased an acre of land where he established his Pyghtle Works for the manufacture of architectural joinery. In addition to furniture, the Pyghtle Works  produced a range of garden ornaments including sundials, treillage, Tuscan pottery, vases, statuary, fountains, well heads, pergolas, bridges, and fruit storing trays. They also manufactured summerhouses, horticultural buildings and gates.  John P. White was particularly famed for its short but productive association with the architect H.M. Baillie Scott who designed furniture for the company between the late 1890s and c.1905.  The firm's catalogue for 1901 listed some one hundred pieces designed by Baillie Scott. An advertisement by the firm in Academy Architecture in 1895 stated that they also produced designs by C.F.A. Voysey, W.R. Lethaby, Henry Wilson, C..H.B. Quennell and C.E. Mallows.

In addition to their works in Bedford, John P. White had offices and showrooms in 24 Margaret Street, London and at 134 New Bond Street, London. Their furniture was also sold by Heal's, Liberty & Co., and other leading retail outlets. Examples of furniture and products for the garden manufactured by J.P. White are illustrated in 'The Studio Yearbook of Decorative Art' 1906 (pp.69, 70, 77, 274); The Studio Yearbook of Decorative Art' 1909 (p.35); and The Studio Yearbook of Decorative Art' 1910 (p.103). Several examples are also illustrated in 'Hints on House Furnishing' by W. Shaw Sparrow (London: Eveleigh Nash, 1909, between pp.279-280]

In June 1960 John P. White & Co. merged with Samuel Elliott Ltd. of Reading, Berkshire