Danny Thompson’s Cabinet Makers Workshop, Tain, ca. 1890

Danny Thompson’s Cabinet Makers Workshop, Tain, ca. 1890

This photograph shows the Interior of Danny Thompson's cabinet makers workshop in Upper King Street, Tain in Ross-shire. It shows six men, a typical workshop size, all wearing white aprons, with the proprietor stood in the center. The figure in the background on the left appears to be a teenage apprentice. The workshop is a simple, single-story wooden building. Another view taken from outside about ten years later shows it adjoining a windowed building that acted as a showroom. The firm was founded by Danny Thompson, a local man, in the 1880s, but was sold to William Fraser, who appears on the left of the photograph, in the early twentieth century. Fraser retained the original name and D. Thompson & Co. continued in existence through several ownerships to 1994.

A number of partly finished objects can be identified in the photograph, including picture and mirror frames, a carved chair back and hall-stand or mirror back. The local museum in Tain has a carved chair attributed to Danny Thompson that is very similar to the one displayed here. Upholstered cushions and textiles can be seen on the left. Danny Thompson, the master craftsman and proprietor, is stood behind a lady’s davenport writing desk, which was a complex and expensive piece of furniture made for elite customers. These items have been arranged in the image for narrative effect and to show the range of products made. It is unlikely that tasks like upholstery work were normally undertaken in such a dusty environment as is evident here. To the rear of the workshop, fixed to the roof, is a wheel with a mechanized belt-drive, for running a sawing or turning machine and there are numerous hand tools in racks on the wall. Wood is stored above in the rafters and prints and designs are pasted onto the walls and ceiling. In common with most local workshops of this type, Thompson also made coffins, though none are visible in this image and he fitted out house interiors with wood paneling and chimney pieces. One of his most notable commissions was Morangie House (now a hotel) on the outskirts of Tain, an eight-bedroom mansion designed by architect Andrew Maitland of Keith in Banffshire for the wealthy widow of a local farmer, on which he and his men worked extensively in 1902-3.

The image here was the work of William Smith, a bookseller, newsagent and photographer with premises in Tain’s High Street from the early 1850s to his death in 1906. He took many photographs of local scenes and people including tradesmen in their places of work and servants connected with some of the great houses nearby such as Balnagown Castle, home of the Ross family. He also published a series of colour-tinted photographic postcards for tourists showing notable Tain buildings and street scenes. He erected a special glasshouse to the rear of his shop for his successful studio portrait business. As a thriving town in a prosperous north-east farming district Tain provided constant business for craftsmen like Danny Thompson, who made goods in the latest fashion according to demand and also furnished a steady stream of customers for William Smith.

Tain and District Museum's Trust

Tain and District Museum