A Lincolnshire comb back Windsor armchair, with turned stiles, 7 long spindles, 6 short, straight seat sides, turned front legs with ball turning and lower ring, plain back legs, and H stretcher, possibly by James Taylor of Stamford

A Lincolnshire comb back in Kettle's Yard in Cambridge with notes provided by William Sergeant.

A Lincolnshire comb back Windsor armchair, with turned stiles, 7 long spindles, 6 short, straight seat sides, turned front legs with ball turning and lower ring, plain back legs, and H stretcher, possibly by James Taylor of Stamford

Vale of York compound-bent bow back armchair, with 7 long sticks, 8 short, turned underarms, turned front legs, plain back legs and H stretcher WS 217

Vale of York compound-bent bow back armchair, with 7 long sticks, 8 short, turned underarms, turned front legs, plain back legs and H stretcher  WS 217

A few years ago, I quite accidentally became acquainted with a retired antique dealer who lived in a fine Georgian town house in Grantham. I was fascinated by his tales of seeking out items of furniture in Lincolnshire and South Yorkshire and then often selling them on to the London trade during the 1960's & 70's. However, he had kept several choice items for his own house and he kindly allowed me to take some of them back to my photographic studio to record them. The image above is one chair from his small collection.

You will immediately see that I have taken the picture above from the side and I have done so for a very good reason: it clearly shows the compound bend in the steam bent back bow. There is no record of this technique being used by the Lincolnshire & Nottinghamshire chairmakers but I knew exactly where it had been made as soon as I saw it: namely in the Vale of York. I knew this because I had read an article by Adam Bowett that appeared in the Regional Furniture 2004. 

Front view WS 217

The house in Grantham has now been sold along with its contents and I am just so pleased that I had the enormous pleasure of meeting this gentleman and also being able to record so many of his fine vernacular chairs. This one appears to have every component made from ash wood with the legs through morticed and wedged into the seat. The design is not the most elegant that I have ever seen but it does have huge amounts of rustic charm.

The photo details above show that these images were taken in September 2015 and why they have been on my computer hard drive for over 5 years without being published is hard to explain. It is a great example of true vernacular furniture, such a recognisable design and a tribute to the craftsmen of Yorkshire. Since I took this picture, I must have seen at least half a dozen being offered for sale, mainly through Yorkshire auction houses and not one has ever mentioned Bowett's article and their association with the county.

Short sticks through-mortised and wedged from above WS 217

Underarm turning WS 217

Front leg turning WS 217

© William Sergeant 2021

 

2 x Lincolnshire and a Beverley Windsor side chair, with curved crest rails, turned stiles, 6 , 7 and 5 long spindles, straight seat sides, ring and cove front legs with 1 lower ring, plain back legs, H stretchers, 2 with darts WS 124

2 x Lincolnshire and a Beverley Windsor side chair, with curved crest rails, turned stiles, 6 , 7 and 5 long spindles, straight seat sides, ring and cove front legs with 1 lower ring, plain back legs, H stretchers, 2 with darts WS 124

Take a good look at the three chairs above. Many of you will recognise the right-hand chair as a splendidly crafted chair from Sleaford and stamped by Marsh, with 5 spindles across the back. The left-hand unstamped chair is of a similar date and is what you may expect to have been made in Grantham, with 6 spindles across the back. Now study the middle chair: it is such a mystery!

I happened across this chair at the Newark Antique fair at the beginning of April 2014. From a distance it was instantly recognisable as a Lincolnshire side chair but on closer inspection there were many aspects that I had not seen before. The row of 7 spindles was a first for me and the design turnery of the two outside spindles (stiles) is quite different from anything previously recorded . The elm seat is wider and deeper than the standard small seat you would expect and although the chair had been well used it is quite evident it was made by a very competent workshop. It appears to have been reduced in height in the past (hence the ramekin plinths!) and the seat has twisted to give a slightly distorted appearance.

I quizzed the dealer as to the history of this chair and was told that it came from a house clearance in Beverley, Yorkshire, East Riding. It was then that I remembered that I had spoken to the same person last year when he had 3 other chairs of the same design. Foolishly I had not photographed them and he told me they had been purchased by an American dealer, so there is little chance of ever seeing those again. I secured the purchase of this single chair so I could record it here, calling it a Beverley chair for want of a better name or until I discover who made it. The dealer also told me that he had had other similar chairs through his business in the past . Any other information on this design would be welcome: it may well be that there is a previously unrecorded maker from the East Riding of Yorkshire who was responsible for these lookalike Lincolnshire side chairs.

© William Sergeant 2014 and 2020

3 x Lincolnshire Windsor side chairs by Marsh of Sleaford, with curved crest rail with turned stiles and 5 long spindles x 1, hoop back x 2 with 7 & 6 long spindles, 1 straight sided and 2 bell-shaped seats, ring and cove front leg turnings with 1 lower ring, plain back legs, H stretcher with darts x 2 H stretcher with 6 bobbin turning x 1 WS 116

3 x Lincolnshire Windsor side chairs by Marsh of Sleaford, with curved crest rail with turned stiles and 5 long spindles x 1, hoop back x 2 with 7 & 6 long spindles, 1 straight sided and 2 bell-shaped seats, ring and cove front leg turnings with 1 lower ring, plain back legs, H stretcher with darts x 2 H stretcher with 6 bobbin turning x 1 WS 116

All three chairs bear the maker's stamp on the rear of the upper seat: MARSH SLEAFORD. The middle chair is the same as WS 115. These chairs illustrate the beautiful balanced designs of side chairs that these father and son chair turners made. The earliest reference to Thomas Marsh being in Sleaford is 1810 (when his daughter Anne was baptised there) and his son James was still there making chairs in 1870 - a span of at least 60 years!

Right, I hope you are sitting comfortably as what you are about to read has never been published before: it's about Thomas Marsh. He was baptised in Bilborough, Nottinghamshire on 20th August 1779* to parents Hugh and Helen Marsh. I believe he had an older brother Joseph, who was baptised in Strelley, Notts in 1776 and another older brother Hugh who was baptised in 1771 at St. Michael's, Derby. He went on to marry in St Wulfram's, Grantham (which was quite usual for people from Little Gonerby) on 26th July 1802. His bride on that day was Helen Thompson who had been born at Londonthorpe (a tiny village about a mile northeast of Grantham) and on their marriage register they were both noted as living in Little Gonerby. At the time of their wedding Thomas was 22 and Helen 21. Their wedding must have been a slightly sad affair as his mother-in-law had died just the month before and had been buried in Grantham (as she had been a resident of Little Gonerby) on the 21st June 1802. Their union was soon blessed with a child as on 19th August 1803 James was baptised in St. Marys, Nottingham. The next reference that I found for them was at Little Gonerby again when the baptism of their daughter Jane was recorded on the 21st Feb 1808. At some stage they moved to Sleaford as they had a daughter Ann baptised on 11th July 1810 at Quarrington (which is often referred to as Old Sleaford).

This has left me wondering what he was doing living in Little Gonerby, marrying a local girl and then going back to Nottingham. It could be explained if he had gone to do an apprenticeship with a Master as there is a history of chairmakers there. He met and fell in love with Helen but as is usual, he was not allowed to marry until he had finished his time, and then went back to his former home with his new bride. The intrigue does not stop there as the marriage was witnessed by Richard Hubbard and his wife Elizabeth. Richard Hubbard was a chair maker in Grantham - it would be no great surprise if he turned out to have been Thomas Marsh's Master.

Thomas appears to have been a chair maker all his life, eventually being buried at Sleaford on 25th April 1844 at the age of 67.** James was died in September 1870.

Here is a short video on Marsh chairs.

© William Sergeant 2013 and 2020

* and ** This would indicate that he was born in 1777: the baptism at Bilborough in August 1779 is the only Thomas Marsh baptised in the vicinity of Nottingham at around the relevant time.

3 x Lincolnshire Windsor chairs by Marsh of Sleaford, one high back bow back, one hoop back side chair, and one medium bow back, with 9, 7 and 9 long spindles, bell shaped seats, turned underarms x 2, ring and cove turned front legs with 1 lower ring, plain back legs, H stretcher with darts WS 115

3 x Lincolnshire Windsor chairs by Marsh of Sleaford, one high back bow back, one hoop back side chair, and one medium bow back, with 9, 7 and 9 long spindles, bell-shaped seats, turned underarms x 2, ring and cove turned front legs with 1 lower ring, plain back legs, H stretcher with darts WS 115

All three chairs bear the maker's stamp on the rear upper part of the seat: MARSH SLEAFORD. This picture demonstrates the interchangeability of component parts: the legs are all identical (accepting that the chair on the left has been reduced in height some time ago). Thomas and James Marsh developed an elegant and balanced turned leg and they stuck by it faithfully through out many years and never went for the two ring motif on later chairs as other makers did.  The underarm turnings are consistent on the two armchairs and all three chairs have the same H stretcher with darts.

© William Sergeant 2013 and 2020

Lincolnshire hoop back side chair, 7 long spindles, bell-shaped seat, ring and cove front leg turnings, plain back legs, H stretcher with darts WS 15

Lincolnshire hoop back side chair WS 15

Unsigned side chair showing striking similarities to chair at figure NE55 on p. 123 of Dr B D Cotton's The English Regional Chair (1990). On that basis this chair is likely to have been made in the workshop of James Marsh of Sleaford (1803 - 1870 or that of his father Thomas (1779 - 1844).

© William Sergeant 2012 and 2020

Lincolnshire comb back Windsor armchair, with curved crest rail, turned stiles, 7 long spindles, 8 shirt, turned underarms, bell-shaped seat sides, ring and cove front leg turnings with 1 lower ring, plain back legs, H stretcher with 6 bobbin turning WS 101

Lincolnshire comb back Windsor armchair, probably by Marsh of Sleaford WS 101

The Marsh that got away. This lovely chair was offered at auction in the autumn of 2012 just to the south of London. I was not able to view but was happy to bid on the picture alone. A signed chair by Marsh of Sleaford appears at figure NE133 on p. 135 of Dr B D Cotton's The English Regional Chair (1990) and I was sure that this was by the same maker; the row of turned bobbins on the cross stretcher and the underarm turnings are a hallmark of this maker. Unfortunately I ended up as the underbidder!

© William Sergeant 2012 and 2020

Lincolnshire comb back Windsor armchair with curved crest rail, turned stiles, 7 long spindles, 6 short, turned underarm supports, straight seat sides, 2 ring front leg turnings with vase feet, rear legs plain with vase feet, H stretcher, attributed to the workshop of Samuel Wood of Grantham

Lincolnshire comb back Windsor armchair with curved crest rail and turned stiles

I had just published yesterday's post on the chairs of Samuel Wood of Grantham, in which three chairs with turned underarm supports, believed to be unique to that maker's workshop, are featured, when I thought I might just check again whether there were any other stamped "Wood Grantham" chairs hiding on the web anywhere. I spent a few minutes checking my usual sources amongst auction houses, antiques dealers, and all other material for chair-fans published on the web: nothing emerged. I have a comprehensive private digital database of every known stamped Lincolnshire chair and checked that to make sure I hadn't overlooked one that was already known about. Nothing.

I went for a walk around the garden to get a breath of fresh air in these sad days of self-isolation. I had a chat, from a distance, with one of my wonderful neighbours, decided I was getting a little chilly, and went back to my laptop which is currently set up on the dining room table so I can watch the world go by through the windows.

As I sat down I glanced at one of my chairs that sits around the table and did a double take. I was looking at a front leg absolutely identical to the lower chair in yesterday's post, WS 175. I cautiously looked up and realised that I was now looking at an identical underarm turning. The back legs, plain but with vase feet are the same as WS 175 too. 

The long spindles all are thicker below the arm bow and thinner above the arm bow, which is also true of the upper chair in yesterday's post, WS 173. The ends of the arm bow are finished in the same way. The rear legs and H stretcher, the centre part of which, unusually amongst Lincolnshire chairs, is almost of the same girth as the legs, are the same as WS 173. The front chamfer on the sides and front of the seats are the same. The whole seat shape is very similar.  This comb back, which I bought last year because of its pleasing proportions, can now be attributed to the workshop of Samuel Wood of Grantham.

WS 173, reversed, on the left; comb back on right

It is striking how well the comb back's 3 pairs of turned rings, graduated in descending size, cascading from top to bottom, i) on the stiles (vertical turned outer members); ii) on the turned underarm supports; and iii) on the front legs, bring the design of the chair together into a well-balanced harmonious whole. The craftsman who made this chair was very skilled indeed.

Sharp-eyed readers may notice considerable similarity to this chair by George Wilson.  George Wilson, was of course, Samuel Wood's master when the latter was apprenticed. There are tell-tale differences between the two chairs.

The Samuel Wood workshop went for two similarly-sized inverted isosceles trapezoid spaces either side of the 3 short spindles. This is a pleasingly harmonious method of resolving the angles which happen when the comb leans back and the underarm support, holding the arm bow in tension, leans forward (ditto for WS 173).  Four vase-shaped feet break up the otherwise straight line at the foot of the legs and mirror the turning at the top of the stiles.

The Wilson chair places the first short spindle each side below the arm bow further back, behind the mortice joint where the stile meets the arm bow. This leaves a larger asymmetric trapezoid space at the underarm support, which does not sit so elegantly with the upper obtuse trapezoid space between the last long spindle and the stile of the comb.  The single lower ring, which may be a slightly earlier Grantham trait than vase-shaped feet, has no counterpoint on the back legs. The result, for me at least, is that the Wood chair has a slightly more pleasing feel.

© Julian Parker 2020

A Shirley Shadford Caistor armchair in unexpected places - the Busby Stoop chair

A Caistor chair ended up far from the workshop where it was made: 90 miles north at the Busby Stoop Inn on the A61 between Thirsk and Ripon.  The inn closed in 2012 and is now The Jaipur Spice Indian restaurant. As the writer led the Serious Fraud Office investigation into the affairs of The Ostrich Farming Corporation more than twenty years ago and has also cooked professionally, he is delighted on two grounds that The Jaipur Spice serve a fusion dish of Ostrich Jaflong (ostrich meat cooked with aromatic spice and herbs, garlic, ginger, spring onions, methi, fresh bullet chillies and served with mushroom pilau, since you ask).  Its Tripadvisor reviews are very good too.

In its last manifestation as a pub the Busby Stoop Inn had the rare, possibly unique, distinction of a Caistor chair painted on the sign. As may be seen from the pictures below the sign was rather fetching.

© Northern Echo

A comprehensive account of the myths surrounding the chair appeared in the Northern Echo on 29 October 2014.

"[...] Until 1978, the chair had remained at the Busby Stoop Inn, three miles west of the town, where the celebrated historian Ralph Thoresby noted in 1703 that he had passed "the doleful object of Thomas Busby hanging in chains for the murder of Daniel Auty". Accounts abound that Busby had fallen out with Auty, his father-in-law, who had sat in his chair after an argument about Auty's daughter, Elizabeth. It is said on his way to the gallows, Busby's last request was to stop at the pub and after finishing his ale, proclaimed "May sudden death come to anyone who dare sit in my chair". The remained in the pub for centuries, and people were dared to sit in it. [...]"

In 1978 the then landlord, apparently scared by its reputation, gave the chair to the Thirsk Museum where it remains to this day.

These chairs were made in William Shirley junior's and later John Shadford's workshop in Caistor between 1843 when William Shirley junior (1817 - 1889) moved from Grantham to Caistor and at the latest 1890. Shirley died in 1889 and Shadford (1828 - 1890) a year later.  William's younger brother Frederick (1836 - 1898), also a chair maker, in all likelihood also made these chairs - he is recorded as a chairmaker in the Caistor census in 1851 (apprentice), 1861 and 1871.  By 1881 Frederick was in Sculcoates, Hull where he remained until his death in 1898, making chairs. William Shirley junior had a son, Alfred (1845 - 1919) recorded as a chair maker in Caistor in 1871 and 1881 and later as a chair maker but variously in Crowle 1891, Manchester 1901 and Sculcoates 1911.  There is therefore a strong possibility that some of these Caistor chairs were later made north of the Humber by Frederick and Alfred Shirley, probably in Hull.  

The Busby Stoop Inn chair is the 4 bobbin cross stretcher model, a more rounded example of which appears below. 

However alluring the myth, the chair was made at least 140 years and possibly as many as 190 years after the events with which it has become indelibly associated.  The Busby Stoop chair features in many accounts written by fans of ghosts and the supernatural. The following picture is reasonably representative.

© Haunted History

The Busby Stoop chair's fame has spread rather further than you might think. The author is indebted to his friend John Boden of Caistor, an expert on Caistor and many other chairs, for pointing out the the Busby Stoop chair is even popular in Japan where it features in this manga cartoon, the gist of which can be grasped even by those whose Japanese is limited.

Otogi: Spirit Agents is a CCG (collectible card) RPG (role-playing game) where players are Spirit Agents charged with eliminating evil energy running rampant in the world. Collect spirits in the form of cards and put together a team of four to tackle enemies in fully voice-acted stories and quests.  You know what's coming next, don't you?  Yup, there's a Spirit Agent, and she's called Busby Stoop.  Here she is an all her Caistor-inspired glory.

It would be harsh to point out they've not quite got the cross-stretcher right, wouldn't it?

It would be fitting to finish with this charming picture from Japanese webcomic Axis Powers Hetalia which I tracked down from a blog that no longer exists called Prussiane on one of Willow Smith's Pinterest boards bearing the comment "I swear England is insane". 

Quite possibly so. 

© Julian Parker 2020

Yealmpton, Devon, painted hoop back side chair, bell seat, 7 long spindles, ring & cove leg turnings, front and back with 1 lower ring, H stretcher with dart turning

WS 150 Yealmpton side chair

I met with Brian Gray and Stephen Vogt to look closely at the features of this chair. Between us we have over many years viewed countless auctions and scoured many antique shops in search of Lincolnshire chairs in the county and we all agreed that we had not seen anything remotely like this one before. Indeed we all concurred that the use of a draw knife to make the back spindles and the outside stretchers was enough to definitely say that this was not a product of Lincolnshire.

When I got back home I spoke to Bill Cotton, who had seen the same photos as well, he immediately pointed out the same decoration on p.272 of his book The English Regional Chair (1990). He went on to say that there was only one place that had the tradition of using yellow ochre (among other colours) and that of course was in Yealmpton in Devon. The chair in plate 37 is now in the Geffrye Museum. He also went on to say that there exists a three-seater Windsor settee in existence with identical decoration and that is published and recorded in the book "American Painted Furniture" by Dean A Fales. The provenance of this settee can be traced back to an antique shop in Stow in the Wold. Bill Cotton is convinced the settee and the two side chairs were made by the same maker in Yealmpton. He also explained the spindles being made with a draw knife: the makers were carpenters and coopers and were quite comfortable with the technique. The settee is now housed in the Metropolitan Museum in New York. It is such an extraordinary creation that I have included a picture of it below.

Three-seater Windsor settee, Metropolitan Museum of Art New York, USA

© William Sergeant 2014 & 2019

John Amos, Grantham: stamped hoop back Lincolnshire side chair, 7 spindles, ring & cove with single lower ring front leg turnings, plain back legs, H stretcher

WS 158 John Amos Grantham

I am indebted to Tony Howe of Suffolk for finding and donating this chair to my collection.

Nowhere in the literature on vernacular chairs is there a reference to side chairs by the business owned by John Amos of Grantham and now there are two on this site. The one shown in picture No 79 has six spindles in the back support while this one has seven. The seat and front legs are made from elm and all other components are made out of ash wood . The name stamp is on the edge of the seat and there are three wooden pins driven through from the back of the bow to strengthen the construction of the back support. As with all Amos chairs the seat has straight edges as opposed to the more usual bell-shaped seats, in plan, by other Lincolnshire makers of this period.

© William Sergeant 2019

Unstamped comb back Lincolnshire Windsor armchair; curved cresting rail with turned stiles morticed into the arm bow, turned underarm supports, 7 long spindles, 2 x 3 underarm spindles, 2 ring front leg turning with vase-shaped feet & plain back legs with vase-shaped feet, H stretcher

WS 138 Lincolnshire comb back

Probably by a Grantham maker.

© William Sergeant 2019

13

Windsor side chair with hoop back support, signed MARSH SLEAFORD.  The chair in this exhibition is the left-hand chair in the photo.

20

Windsor armchair, unsigned.

37

 

Early Windsor chair, appeared at my Spilsby open chair surgery in May 2017, has a provenance that goes back several generations to the Boston area. Ash wood construction, mid 1700’s.