Lincolnshire rush-seated ladder back armchair inscribed 17 W*H 55 on the topmost of 5 domed ladders with downward double half-round shaping, straight back poles with finials, scroll arms morticed into turned front legs, missing rushing bars, with double stretchers all round, 1 of which is missing WS 202

Lincolnshire rush-seated ladder back armchair inscribed 17 W*H 55 on the topmost of 5 domed ladders with downward double half-round shaping, straight back poles with finials, scroll arms morticed into turned front legs, missing rushing bars, with double stretchers all round, 1 of which is missing WS 202

The top ladder of this chair is clearly incised with the date and initials "17 W*H 55": I am sure that they are contemporary with the making of the chair. Even more remarkably, I have a provenance to go with it, namely that it has been in the same house in northeast Lincolnshire for the last 65 years, having been purchased in a village hall house clearance sale in the south of the county in 1953. I had been aware of its presence for some while as the owner has several other examples of rush-seated Lincolnshire  chairs but only recently did I realise the significance. 

Detail of WS 202 inscription "17 W*H 55"

When I was looking through David Knell's English Country Furniture 1500 - 1900, (1st published 1992, 2nd edition 2000)  I came across two virtually identical chairs on p. 291, though they are dated 1742 and 1739. Of those chairs, Knell says: 

"Incised dates can occasionally be authenticated by subtle variations in the shape of numerals at different periods. The style certainly suggests contemporaneity in this case."

The style and positioning of the numerals on the 1739 chair shown at p. 291 is identical to that above and that chair has a six-pointed star in the middle as well, though no initials. 

Knell attributes these chairs to the north in general and possibly to Lincolnshire, but the one pictured above has a firm association with the county. It can be said with a fair degree of confidence that this chair is at least 264 years old. Even though the condition is very poor, with loose joints, broken rushing rail and some shortening of the legs, the ash wood used to make the chair is in sound condition.

The chair was in my house for some time, during which time I was able to assess and photograph it; on returning it to the owner, I stressed the importance of the preservation of this remarkable survivor and asked that it was not to be sat upon. Indeed I took another armchair along to take its place in the kitchen, so that this one could be positioned in the house where no one could use it.

© William Segeant 2019 and Julian Parker 2020

Lincolnshire rush-seated ladder back armchair: 5 ladders with lower indented shape, straight back poles with flattened finials, front legs with graceful pad feet with upper turning joining the arms, Lincolnshire front stretcher turning, double side and rear stretchers

Lincolnshire rush-seated ladder back armchair WS 22

A Lincolnshire rush-seated ladder back similar, but not identical, to one that appears at figure NE189 on page 154 in Dr B D Cotton's The English Regional Chair (1990).  The front legs and turnings are very similar but the arms of NE189 are straight, whereas those in this chair curve and terminate in a flattened rounded saucer shape. This chair is taller and consequently has room for an extra ladder.

© William Sergeant and Julian Parker 2012 and 2020

Lincolnshire rush-seated ladder back armchair: straight back uprights with tapered feet & flattened top finials; 5 ladders with lower indented shaping; turned front cabriole legs with pad feet morticed into the seat frame; front stretcher with turnery often found in Lincolnshire, double side & rear stretchers

WS 67 Lincolnshire rush-seated armchair

From the collection of John Boram and with permission to reproduce its image here. A very fine carver with some fruit wood in its construction.

The Elusive Turnpin Chair - A Lincolnshire rush-seated chair by any other name would smell as sweet

William Sergeant  long ago remarked to me that no one could confidently identify a ‘pin’ chair, also known as a ‘turn-pin’ chair. These chairs and their makers are something of a late eighteenth and early nineteenth-century mystery. An idle search in the British Newspaper Archive during some Windsor chair research turned up Nicholas Allen of Boston, chair and spinning- wheel maker, who placed two advertisements for pin chair-makers in the Stamford Mercury on 6 August 1790 and 10 June 1803. Could the archive shed further light on pin or turn-pin chairs and their makers?  The resulting research was published in the Journal of the Regional Furniture Society.

The most important and illuminating advertisement read:

26 June 1812 Stamford Mercury: High-street, Boston. Matthew Bacon for William White deceased. To Chair-makers, Cabinet-makers, Wheelwrights, &c. To be SOLD by AUCTION By MATTHEW BACON, On Friday the 3d day of July 1812, on the premises of the late WILLIAM WHITE, Chair-maker, HIGH-STREET, BOSTON; ALL the STOCK in TRADE; consisting of upwards of 400 ash poles, 2,250 feet of ash, elm, and wainscot, 50 camp poles, 60 bed sides and ends, a quantity of pin chairs, a large quantity of stuff ready turned, a quantity of mats and rushes, 2 benches, blocks, turning-frame, tools &c. &c. N.B. The wood being all dry, is well worth the attention of the public. Credit will be given for all bargains above forty shillings, on approved security, to January the 20th, 1813.

That, together with the rest of my research, may be found here.

© Julian Parker 2019

Lincolnshire rush-seated ladder back side chair: straight back uprights with tapered feet & flattened top finials; 5 ladders with lower indented shaping; square cornered cabriole front legs morticed into the seat frame, with rushing bars; front stretcher with turnery often found in Lincolnshire, double side & rear stretchers possibly by Ashton/Green

Lincolnshire rush-seated ladder back side chair: straight back uprights with tapered feet & flattened top finials; 5 ladders with lower indented shaping; square cornered cabriole front legs morticed into the seat frame, with rushing bars; front stretcher with turnery often found in Lincolnshire, double side & rear stretchers: an Ashton chair WS 24 

This type of chair is known as an "Ashton Chair" after the family that are supposed to have made them in the Spilsby/Louth area of Lincolnshire and it is from these, with their distinctive features, that nearly all interest in Lincolnshire chairs stems. This particular design does not turn up very often and they are usually keenly contested as they are as Lincolnshire as the Imp and Stuffed Chine are. (Some of you may need to put stuffed chine into Google to understand that last remark. Or watch the video below).

The Imp, Lincoln Cathedral

Stuffed chine © Meridian Meats, Louth

© William Sergeant 2019

6

Lincolnshire rush seated ladder back chair, this time with five ladders and cabriole front leg. This type of chair is associated with the towns of Louth,Alford and Spilsby.

8

Ladder back armchair with re-rushed seat. No provenance but similar patterned chairs attributed to Lincolnshire, mid 1700’s

10

1980s faithful copy of original Lincs rush seated, ladder back armchair, by Rob Ley, who lived in Spilsby at that time. This chair is downstairs at Alford, not in the main exhibition room.

43

 

On p. 291 of David Knell's 1993 book English Country Furniture, is an image of two rush seated armchairs, described as North Country, possibly Lincolnshire. A copy of this page can be seen in a perspex holder on chair No. 8 in this Exhibition. The remarkable feature about these two chairs is that they are both incised with initials and dated, one as 1739 and the other as 1742. William Sergeant recently happened across an identical chair while visiting a house in a village close to Spilsby. He was told that the chair had been in the same house for the last 65 years and was originally purchased in 1953 from a local house clearance sale. This chair is shown above along with the detail of the top ladder with the date of 1755.

William Sergeant gave a talk in Alford Manor House on the 5th June 2019 which may be watched here.  The questions and answers afterwards may be seen here.