Lincolnshire or Worksop Roman Windsor side chair stamped J.S with eared curved crest rail, turned stiles, 3 turned spindles, bell-shaped seat, elaborately turned legs with vase-shaped feet x 4, H stretcher with wide bobbin WS 33 & WS 32

Lincolnshire or Worksop Roman Windsor side chair stamped J.S with eared curved crest rail, turned stiles, 3 turned spindles, bell-shaped seat, elaborately turned legs with vase-shaped feet x 4, H stretcher with wide bobbin WS 33

Lincolnshire or Worksop Roman Windsor side chair stamped J.S  WS 32

This chair design is usually called a "Roman" chair and many were made by the big chairmakers at Worksop called Allsop. A chair of this type is also shown on Isaac Allsop's trade card at figure NE 270 p. 177 of Dr B D Cotton's The English Regional Chair (1990) An I Allsop & Sons example of this type, with a paper label affixed under the seat, appears at figures NE 260 and NE 261 on p. 175.

However, there is also a drawing in John Shadford's note book of this type of chair (on the 9th image down on that webpage). That image is also reproduced in The English Regional Chair (1990) at figure NE173 on p. 147. 

Intriguingly this chair has two letters tantalisingly impressed on the seat rear edge: J.S; who put then there? I have been told of a spindle back Caistor chair that also had the letters J S impressed on it: did John Shadford make both of them? This chair has many similarities to the chair in the drawing in the link above in which two tiny ears are hinted at on the under-ends of the crest rail.  So Shadford is one candidate.

The other is a maker who worked for Gillings for many years called John Stenton (1807-1863) He married Frances Gilling, aunt of Benjamin Gilling & William Gilling. Stenton was next door neighbour to Henry Gabbitass in the 1841 census, then described as Ag(ricultural) Lab(ourer) but by the 1851 census he is described as Chairmaker, ditto in the 1861. 

Henry Gabbitass took over the Gabbitass firm from Elizabeth Gabbitass, John Gabbitass's widow in 1844 when Elizabeth remarried Henry Thorpe. Henry Gabbitass & Benjamin Gilling were in partnership until 1854 when the dissolution is in the London Gazette on 18 July. 

John & Fanny Stenton had three sons who also became chairmakers, John (1829-1883) & Richard (1838-1881) & Walter (1848-1926). By 1851 John junior is a chairmaker in Worksop. Ditto in 1861. John senior died in December 1863 in Sheffield. By the 1871 census both John junior & Richard are chairmakers in Sheffield Brightside. In the 1881 census John junior is chairmaker in Barnsley where he dies in 1883. Richard Stenton sets up Windsor chairmaking in Market Rasen in April 1865. In February 1865 Richard is sued for unpaid bills in Worksop: "John Thompson, draper, of Lincoln, sued Richard Stenton, chair maker, Market Rasen (late of Worksop), for the sum of £4 8s 11d., for goods sold and a balance, and obtained an order for 10s. per month." Richard's firm must have foundered as by the 1871 census he and John junior were living in the same house in Sheffield. In March 1872 "Richard Stenton, on bail, chair maker, was acquitted on a charge of stealing two chair frames, two stools, two chairs, other articles, property of his masters, Messrs. Hydes and Wigful, upholsterers, at Sheffield, on 9 December. Mr. Tennant prosecuted." In the 1881 census, Richard visited Walter, still chairmaking in Worksop, which he is already by the 1871 census. Richard died sometime after 1881. A Richard Stenton of the right age died in Manchester in 1887. Walter in the 1891 census is described as Chairmaker & shopkeeper. In the 1901 he is still chairmaker in Worksop but by the 1911 he is "formerly chairmaker unoccupied thro ill health". Walter died in Grimsby in 1926. 

So "J.S" on that chair could also be either John Stenton senior (chairmaking some time after 1841 until 1856 or John Stenton junior who made chairs in Worksop from 1851 to 1861 and probably for longer.

PS John Stenton (probably junior) batted at No 7 for Messrs. Gabbitass & Hoggard's Windsor Chair Makers' XI in their game against Messrs. Garside & Sons (Timber Merchants) played at Worksop Manor Park on 16 September 1850. Stenton scored 2* out of a paltry 42 all out in the first innings and 5 out of an even more lamentable 33 in the second innings. 40 wickets fell that day for only 211 runs. The wicket must have been a cabbage patch. Or perhaps they were using chair legs for bats! Stenton caught no catches and took no wickets. Messrs. Garside's XI contained no less than 6 men bearing that name. They all enjoyed the beers afterwards at The Boundary Inn owned by Mr B Garside.

© William Sergeant 2012 and Julian Parker 2020