Robert Manwaring Robert Manwaring Robert Manwaring was an English 18th century furniture designer and cabinet maker. The dates of his birth and death are unknown. He was a contemporary and imitator of Thomas Chippendale, and not the least considerable of his rivals. He prided himself upon work which he described as "genteel", and his speciality was chairs. He manifests the same surprising variations of quality that are noticed in the work of nearly all the English cabinet-makers of the second half of the 18th century, and while his best had an undeniable elegance, his worst was exceedingly bad: squat, ill-proportioned and confusing.
John McLean (furniture maker) as eight different variations of name spellings have been recorded, the problem arising because many people in those days were illiterate and names were written phonetically at the whim of whoever was writing the name at the time. The first appearance of the name 'McLean' can be found on the south side of Little Newport Street, Leicester Square in June 1770, where a "Jn. McLean" rented a "Ho & workshops" until 1783. A trade card for the Newport Street Address advertises that he was a "Cabinet, Chair Maker and Upholder". The rent of the Little Newport premises was valued at