Ince and Mayhew

[2] The partnership's volume of engraved designs, The Universal System of Household Furniture, dedicated to the Duke of Marlborough (published in parts, 1759–63), was issued in imitative rivalry with Thomas Chippendale;[3] Ince, who was a subscriber to the first edition of Chippendale's Director, was chiefly responsible for the designs, while Mayhew contributed the greater part of the partnership's capital, kept the accounts, and was in closer contact with the firm's clientele among the nobility and gentry.

Their designs helped to build the bridge between the massive and often florid style of Chippendale and the more slender and balanced forms of George Hepplewhite.

[10] Ince and Mayhew provided furniture for a number of Robert Adam's other patrons: Sir John Whitwell at Audley End (1767), the Duchess of Northumberland (from 1771)[11] the Earl of Kerry (from 1771).

[12] In 1775 they constructed, to Adam's numerous and detailed designs, the celebrated Kimbolton Cabinet inlaid with Florentine pietra dura plaques for the Duchess of Manchester (now at the Victoria and Albert Museum); Boulton and Fothergill supplied the gilt-bronze mounts.

The two partners married sisters, Isabella and Nancy Stephenson, in a double wedding at the fashionable church of St George's, Hanover Square on 20 February 1762.