Francis T. Thomas, a tableware and kitchenware merchant based in Québec City, was in business during the last quarter of the 19th century. It was he who mainly imported the table ware services decorated with views of Quebec City, whose starting model was the photographs of Louis-Prudent Vallée and George William Ellisson. They were engraved by the printer-papermaker Charles E. Holliwell. The F.T. merchant Thomas ordered these pieces from the Britannia Pottery of Scottish potter Robert Cochran.