Tony and Mary Lumb

Tony and Mary Lumb of Charles Lumb & Sons, Harrogate, established 1907.

A conversation between Tony & Mary Lumb and James Lomax, emeritus curator Temple Newsam House, Leeds, and project lead Mark Westgarth.

During the interview Tony recalled the history of the firm of Charles Lumb & Sons, from the early beginnings of his grandfather, Charles Lumb, who established the business in Harrogate in 1907, to when his father (Frank Lumb) and his uncle (Reg Lumb) joined the business before WWII, and when Tony first joined the business in 1956, aged just 20.

We learnt that Tony’s grandfather trained as a cabinetmaker in Dewsbury, Yorkshire, and started a furniture making and restoration business in Harrogate in 1907, in a workshop in what is now Montpellier Mews, before opening an antique shop at 34 Montpellier Parade in 1947. The firm expanded into further premises in Montpellier Parade in the 1960s and remained in Harrogate until it closed in 2012.

Photograph, Antique Dealer project, University of Leeds, 2014.