Sarah Ingle

As the great great great great grand-daughter of William Ince I have taken an interest in his work for many years having been captivated by the first piece of furniture I saw at Clandon Park. As a keen family historian I wanted to discover more about his background which involved many visits to the National Archives in Kew, London as I sought to unravel the seemingly innumerable court cases that the Ince family was involved in. Further travel to Worcestershire and to some of the stately homes with Ince & Mayhew furniture have enriched my understanding, along with reading articles and auction descriptions. I have twice been awarded a prize from the Josephine Birchenough Memorial Awards by the North West Kent Family History Society for my writing.

Every few years I organise an 'Ince Cousins' trip when a group of us who are descended from William Ince, plus partners, meet up for a couple of days to enjoy the furniture he made and learn more about it. The first trip was to Burghley House, where the curator, Jon Culverhouse, gave us an extended tour. We have also been to the Lady Lever Gallery in Liverpool, Broadlands near Romney in Hampshire and last year 14 of us ranging in age from 13 to 82, went to Sherborne Abbey in Dorset.

See incemayhew.net for details about the firm. The Second Edition includes a foreword by Lennox Cato, furniture expert from the Antiques Roadshow.