Squared crest rail East Anglian Windsor side chair with 6 laths, shaped underarms fixed to back frame and shaped underarm supports,bell seat, single ring and cove leg turnings x 4, lower ring x 4, crinoline stretcher - WS 230

East Anglian Windsor Chair WS230

Many readers of my comments on this site will be familiar with Mendlesham Windsor chairs, made in Suffolk. However, East Anglia does not have a great tradition of producing Windsor chairs. This is mainly due to the production of "Hollow-seated chairs" there. When this chair was offered for sale at the auction house in Bury St Edmunds in Dec 2019, I decided to add it to my collection. The lot notes stated that it was made mainly from fruitwood with an elm seat and I was impressed by the elegant combination of the skill of wood turning and cabinet making for the back support and arms. What is not immediately apparent is the fluted moulding on all the backsplats, a feature that appears on No. 142 & No. 143, both of which were purchased in East Anglia. The front legs, while having the ring and cove turnery pattern well up towards the seat, as most Thames Valley chairs have, also have a feature that I've seen on othere chairs that I have recorded from that area. Namely, double incised rings to denote where to drill the holes for the stretchers.

© William Sergeant 2024

Lincolnshire low bow back Windsor armchair, probably Hubbard Grantham, with 5-piercing fleur de lys and teardrop piercing splat, 6 long spindles, 8 short, crook underarms, straight seat edges, ring and cove front leg turnings with 1 lower ring, plain back legs, crinoline stretcher WS 201

Lincolnshire low bow back Windsor armchair, probably Hubbard Grantham, with 5-piercing fleur de lys and teardrop piercing splat, 6 long spindles, 8 short, crook underarms, straight seat edges, ring and cove front leg turnings with 1 lower ring, plain back legs, crinoline stretcher WS 201

The low profile of the back bow gives this chair a distinctive squat appearance, like no other Lincolnshire chair that I can think of. I knew that they existed as a signed pair are illustrated in published works on vernacular furniture but I had been waiting for years for one to appear on the open market so that I could add it to my collection. It was offered for sale in a Shropshire sale room, with a good description and photos, so I bid with confidence and secured its purchase. After a couple of months the chair was delivered to my home and I was delighted with the overall condition. The seat is of elm, while all other components are made from yew wood with the back legs of ash; a typical combination that is so often found in Lincolnshire best chairs. It has one feature that is so rare on chairs made in the county, that is the incised scratch mark around the edge of the back bow.

This chair is not stamped by the workshop owner but the two that appear in Dr B D Cotton's The English Regional Chair (1990) at figures NE24 and NE25 on p. 118 were stamped clearly HUBBARD GRANTHAM, so I am in no doubt that this chair was produced in the workshop of Richard Hubbard of Little Gonerby about 1807 - 1820.

© William Sergeant 2019

Medium bow back Lincolnshire Windsor armchair stamped BRAND SLEAFORD with 9 long spindles, 8 short, turned underarms supports, bell-shaped seat, 2 ring and cove legs with 2 lower rings, plain back legs, crinoline stretcher, WS 192/199

Medium bow back Lincolnshire Windsor armchair stamped BRAND SLEAFORD with 9 long spindles, 8 short, turned underarms supports, bell-shaped seat, 2 ring and cove legs with 2 lower rings, plain back legs, crinoline stretcher, WS 192/199

At first glance this is a typical Lincolnshire spindle back Windsor armchair. It is stamped BRAND SLEAFORD. The solid thick seat is fashioned from elm, the front legs are made out of cherry and the back legs turned from ash. Every other component is made from yew wood. What makes this chair slightly unusual is the turnery design to the front legs - the element of added decoration. There is a double ring turning above the cove and towards the base of the leg the turnery design is a double ring again. This striking feature is almost identical to the Shirley chair in WS 198.

Chairs by this maker are very rare. This one is the first that I have handled after many years of searching and I was pleased to add it to my collection. I had come across John Brand before - see WS 163 and 164. That chair with the seat stamped BRAND and MARSH proves that they must have been working together for a while.

The tradition of chair making in Sleaford has three names which standout and often appear in the directories and censuses, namely MARSH, BRAND and MASON. While many MARSH stamped chairs have been recorded, very few BRAND stamped chairs appear on the market and not one single chair stamped with MASON has ever been found.  After many years of searching, I was so pleased to find this BRAND chair advertised on the internet by a dealer in the south of the county. We agreed on a price and as he was about to visit the Newark Fair, he offered to deliver it as well.

© William Sergeant 2017 and 2020

Thomas Simpson, Boston stamped high bow back Lincolnshire Windsor armchair with 5-piercing fleur de lys upper splat, double pierced lower splat, crook underarm supports, 2 x 3 long spindles, 2 x 3 underarm spindles, ring and cove front leg turnings & plain back legs, crinoline stretcher WS 207

Thomas Simpson, Boston stamped high bow back Lincolnshire Windsor armchair with 5-piercing fleur de lys upper splat, double pierced lower splat, crook underarm supports, 2 x 3 long spindles, 2 x 3 underarm spindles, ring and cove front leg turnings with lower ring & plain back legs, crinoline stretcher WS 207

Another chair from the collection of James Drake, this time a yew wood chair with reduced legs, but stamped clearly on the edge of the seat: T SIMPSON & Co BOSTON. There is another Simpson Windsor armchair at WS 123, and if you compare the back splat of both, I think that you would agree with me that both were made from the same master pattern, with the main difference being that this chair has a crinoline stretcher whereas WS 123 has an H stretcher with darts.

© William Sergeant 2020

Lincolnshire medium bow back Windsor armchair, stamped I * TAYLOR GRANTHAM with 9 long spindles, 8 short, crook underarms, bell-shaped seat, ring and cove turned front legs with 1 lower ring, plain back legs, crinoline stretcher WS 211

Lincolnshire medium bow back Windsor armchair, stamped I * TAYLOR GRANTHAM with 9 long spindles, 8 short, crook underarms, bell-shaped seat, ring and cove turned front legs with 1 lower ring, plain back legs, crinoline stretcher WS 211

Regular students of Lincolnshire Windsor chairs will have seen the image of this chair before. It is simply remarkable. It appears on p. 138 of Thomas Crispin's The English Windsor Chair (1992) and again in Dr B D Cotton's The English Regional Chair (1990) at figure NE12 on p. 113. Both books show the name stamp of I*TAYLOR which relates to the eldest son of Roger and Sophia Taylor, one John Taylor. Those of you who have seen my lecture at Conway Hall on Youtube will know that he made chairs for only three years, from February 1808 until January 1811, after which he became a mail coach guard for 31 years. The only other recorded I*TAYLOR stamped chair passed through the now closed auction room of Neale's of Nottingham in 2002. 

Detail of upper rear of seat of Lincolnshire medium bow back Windsor armchair, stamped I * TAYLOR GRANTHAM

WS 204 on the left, WS 211 on the right

You may also wish to compare this chair to yesterday's post WS 204, which has no makers mark, but I am sure both were made by the same hand.

The extraordinary fact is that this chair appeared on eBay recently and was spotted by a fellow enthusiast (one Julian Parker) who kindly notified me. The young lady in London selling the chair had seen the name stamp but had been unable to decipher the name. She had acquired the chair off Greenwich market at least 15 years before, besides that there was no other provenance.

© William Sergeant and Julian Parker 2020

Lincolnshire medium bow back Windsor armchair, with 9 long spindles, 8 short, crook underarms, bell-shaped seat, ring and cove turned front legs with 1 lower ring, plain back legs, crinoline stretcher WS 204

Lincolnshire medium bow back Windsor armchair, with 9 long spindles, 8 short, crook underarms, bell-shaped seat, ring and cove turned front legs with 1 lower ring, plain back legs, crinoline stretcher WS 204

My attention was drawn to this chair, that was advertised on Instagram, by my fellow furniture enthusiast Tim Garland. From the image by the vendor, it was obvious that it was in poor condition with some serious structural issues - also it was said to be possibly from Welsh borders. I recognised it as a typical early spindle back Lincolnshire Windsor armchair, dating from about 1815. There was no indication whether it was marked by the workshop owner. After having completing the deal, the chair duly arrived and the breakages were even worse than I had initially thought, but no matter, as it was soon in the capable hands of Tim. He repaired and restored the chair and the result can be seen in the picture above. He made a splendid job, and we both felt a deep sense of satisfaction of having rescued a valuable historical piece of vernacular furniture.

The maker of this chair remained a mystery to me, but as you may have heard me say before, the maker always leaves his finger prints all over his chairs, if you just know where to look. The give away was the incised ring around the back legs to indicate where the hole needed to be drilled to take the side stretcher. The only signed chairs, that have this feature, are those that are signed TAYLORS, so those made in the workshop of William Taylor. There remains the possibility that those made in his brother's workshop (John), could have the same implicit mark but as I had never handled one, and am most unlikely ever to find one, so the final identity of the marker remains uncertain.

© William Sergeant 2019

Lincolnshire Windsor bow back medium armchair stamped TAYLORS GRANTHAM with 3 piercing fleur de lys upper splat, teardrop pierced lower splat, 6 long spindles, 8 short, crook underarm supports, bell-shaped seat, with cut-and-shut Nottinghamshire 3 ring leg turnings with vase-shaped feet and crinoline stretcher WS 206

Lincolnshire Windsor bow back medium armchair stamped TAYLORS GRANTHAM with 3 piercing fleur de lys upper splat, teardrop pierced lower splat, 6 long spindles, 8 short, crook underarm supports, bell-shaped seat, with cut-and-shut Nottinghamshire 3 ring leg turnings with vase-shaped feet and crinoline stretcher WS 206

Thanks to former Regional Furniture Society member, James Drake, for allowing me to record and publish an image of this chair, stamped TAYLORS GRANTHAM. I would ask you to study the picture of this chair closely. It certainly took me by surprise: there is something clearly wrong with it. The legs, with the three ring turning motif are not something that I would associate with an early Lincolnshire Windsor armchair, and sure enough, on close inspection it soon became obvious that legs belong to another chair, probably from Nottinghamshire. There has been some serious damage to this chair as the underneath of the seat shows, while the legs are quite a different colour to the rest of the chair. It's a splendid example of a 'cut and shut' chair! However, I am sure the seat and every component above are by William Taylor's workshop in Grantham, as the name stamp would indicate.

© William Sergeant 2019

Lincolnshire high back bow back Windsor armchair with 5-piercing fleur de lys upper splat with lower diamond, double pierced lower splat, 6 long spindles, 8 short, no underarms, straight seat sides, ring and cove front leg turnings with1 lower ring x 4, crinoline stretcher WS 153 & WS 152

Lincolnshire high back bow back Windsor armchair with 5-piercing fleur de lys upper splat with lower diamond, double pierced lower splat WS 153

Lincolnshire high back bow back Windsor armchair with 5-piercing fleur de lys upper splat with lower diamond, double pierced lower splat WS 153b

Another Windsor chair of little value, mainly due to the huge fracture in the armbow (which can not be seen in these pictures) and the missing underarm supports. However, it is not without some interesting points even though the maker did not stamp it. The seat is made from ash while the rest of the chair is made from yew wood. Every feature would suggest a Grantham maker but without the underarm supports for some design clues it is difficult to work out who made this chair. However, one of the benefits of keeping pictures of stamped chairs is that they make a hugely important reference library.

If you have read my few lines under picture WS 131 you will have noted that I normally take no notice of the design of the cut out fret work on back splats. However the only exception to that rule is a tiny feature that appears on several AMOS stamped chairs. Compare this back splat to the signed chair in picture WS 132 and I will leave you to draw your own conclusions.

© William Sergeant 2015 and 2020.

Medium bow back Lincolnshire Windsor armchair stamped Brand Marsh Sleaford with 9 long spindles, 8 short, crook underarm supports, bell-shaped seat, ring and cove turned front legs with 1 lower ring, plain back legs, crinoline stretcher WS 164 & WS 163

Medium bow back Lincolnshire Windsor armchair stamped Brand Marsh Sleaford with 9 long spindles, 8 short, crook underarm supports, bell-shaped seat, ring and cove turned front legs with 1 lower ring, plain back legs, crinoline stretcher WS 164 

Medium bow back Lincolnshire Windsor armchair stamped Brand Marsh Sleaford  WS 163

Many thanks to Robert Williams, a fellow collector of vernacular furniture, for alerting me to the sale of this chair in Bury St. Edmunds. I had missed the pre-auction advertisement and if it not had been for the diligence of Robert this chair could have slipped back into oblivion for ever! What makes this chair so special is that it is stamped BRAND MARSH SLEAFORD, which was fortunately mentioned in the auction notes on this lot. The Sleaford chairmakers John Brand and Thomas Marsh are well known, with chairs stamped by them individually having been recorded, but this is the very first time that one has turned up with both names, indicating that they worked together in partnership for a while.  

Both appear in Pigot's Directory for 1822, John Brand as 'turner & chair maker', Thos. Marsh as 'Windsor chair maker'. Marsh died in April 1844 aged 67 and Brand on 26 March 1850 'advanced in years', according to the Stamford Mercury.  John Brand is shown in the 1841 census as then aged 55, although ages in that census are often not accurate. He seems to have been baptised in 1785 or 1786 and was thus a handful of years younger than Thomas Marsh.

I got in touch with the auction house after the sale and asked for my details to be passed on to the purchaser. In due course we made contact and I travelled to Suffolk to meet the new owner, who now appreciates the significance of this chair and will be a good custodian. I set up an improvised photographic studio in the kitchen and the result can seen above.

Description: thick elm seat with chamfered under-edges grain running from front to back. Bell shaped in plan. Cherry spindles, 8 short and 9 long, one of which is broken. Very delicate bent underarm supports secured by screw underneath. Yew wood front legs with ring and cove decoration. Plain back legs, one of yew and one with an inappropriate later replacement. Yew crinoline stretcher with two ash short connecting stretchers to back legs. There are no securing pins in the top of the back bow unlike Marsh signed chairs were they are always present. 4 pins in the armbow, two to secure the backbow and two to secure the frontmost spindles. Seat dimensions : 19 5/8 by 15 3/16 inches. A fine example of an early Lincolnshire Windsor chair.

© William Sergeant 2015 and Julian Parker 2020

Lincolnshire high back bow back Windsor armchair by Amos Grantham with 5-piercing fleur de lys upper splat with lower diamond, double pierced lower splat, 6 long spindles, 8 short, crook underarms, straight seat sides, ring and cove front leg turnings with1 lower ring, plain back legs, crinoline stretcher WS 132

Lincolnshire high back bow back Windsor armchair by Amos Grantham with 5-piercing fleur de lys upper splat with lower diamond piercing, double pierced lower splat, 6 long spindles, 8 short, crook underarms, straight seat sides, ring and cove front leg turnings with1 lower ring, plain back legs, crinoline stretcher WS 132

This superbly photographed chair is in the collection of Tom Wells and he kindly sent this picture and gave me permission to reproduce it here.

Please note that this chair has the maker's name stamped on the seat edge which is not very common amongst for these Grantham makers who tend to favour the upper rear of the seat in the centre just below the lower splat.

© Tom Wells and William Sergeant 2013 and 2020 

Lincolnshire bow back spindle back Windsor armchair stamped T SIMPSON BOSTON with 8 long spindles 6 short, crook underarm support, bell shaped seat with fantail and two angled spindles, ring and cove leg turnings with 1 lower ring x 4 with crinoline stretcher WS 130

Lincolnshire bow back spindle back Windsor armchair stamped T SIMPSON BOSTON with 8 long spindles 6 short, crook underarm support, bell shaped seat with fantail and two angled spindles, ring and cove leg turnings with 1 lower ring x 4 with crinoline stretcher WS 130

There are several outstanding features that make a Lincolnshire chair easily recognisable from a Thames Valley chair, one of which is that a Lincolnshire chair never has two spindles angled upwards from a fantail from the back of the seat. Well this chair completely disproves the rule!

Thank you to Mitch Mitchell for allowing me to record his chair here. I was allowed to make a brief inspection of this chair before photographing it and I am completely satisfied that it was made in Boston; the legs, spindles, bows and seat are exactly as you would expect so I have no doubt that it was made in the county. A further very rare feature in a Lincolnshire chair is the scribe line round the back bow: this feature is common in Nottinghamshire but almost never found in Lincolnshire.

That just leaves the extra spindles for a back support : well, perhaps this one was made as an experiment to see what was the extra expense and whether or not it made the chair more stable. It's certainly the only armchair that I have ever seen from the East Midlands with this configuration. If you look at the side chair in WS 118 you will see something similar but that chair was made in Nottinghamshire. Perhaps journeymen who had experience in Thames Valley workshops made both chairs.

© William Sergeant 2020

Lincolnshire low bow back Windsor armchair with 3 x quatrefoil pierced splat, 6 long spindles, 8 short, crook underarm supports, straight seat sides, ring and cove front legs, plain back legs, crinoline stretcher WS 113

Lincolnshire low bow back Windsor armchair with 3 x quatrefoil pierced splat, 6 long spindles, 8 short, crook underarm supports, straight seat sides, ring and cove front legs, plain back legs, crinoline stretcher WS 113

This chair was brought to a talk that I gave about chairmaking in Caistor by a local resident. It was in excellent original condition, just in need of a good dust and wax. The seat is of elm and the rest of yew except for the two back legs which were ash. The ring and cove front leg turnings and plain back legs would point towards it being made in Lincolnshire and the shape of the seat is typical of Grantham. The crinoline stretcher and the crook underarm supports suggest a date of of early 1800s. The quatrefoil piercings on the splat are similar to chairs shown in Dr B D Cotton's The English Regional Chair (1990) at Plate 12 on p. 110 made by John Amos and William Taylor of Westgate, Grantham at figure NE 28 on p. 118.

I am sorry about the carpet but it was the best I could do in Caistor Town Hall. Just take a moment to study this chair as it is probably nearly 200 years old and of a type that rarely appears on the market.

Further chairs with quatrefoil pierced splats may be seen in yesterday's post, WS 184 and also this post. 

© William Sergeant 2013 and 2020

Lincolnshire hoop back side chair stamped WILSON GRANTHAM with 3 x quatrefoil pierced splat, 6 long spindles, straight seat sides, 4 x ring and cove leg turnings with lower ring, crinoline stretcher, WS 184

Lincolnshire hoop back side chair stamped WILSON GRANTHAM with 3 x quatrefoil pierced splat, 6 long spindles, straight seat sides, 4 x ring and cove leg turnings with lower ring, crinoline stretcher, WS 184

Vernacular furniture is sometimes  referred to, in a slightly disparaging way, as 'country furniture' which carries with it the implication that is not of such good quality or design. When I find chairs like this one pictured above, made probably 200 years ago, I marvel at the superb quality of craftsmanship of these Lincolnshire county makers. My research has been unable to reveal who actually made this chair, whether it was John Wilson himself or a journeyman that was employed in his workshop, but the quality of balanced design along with beautifully executed turnery to the legs just shows what excellent work was being produced.

I had come across this maker at least ten years ago while doing research in to the Grantham chairmakers but he was described as a chairmaker of Little Gonerby and it was unclear as to exactly what type of chairs he was making.  So I was delighted when an auctioneer in the south of the county contacted me to say that a set of 4 side chairs with the stamp of WILSON GRANTHAM had been consigned to his sale. I accordingly secured the chairs as they make a valuable contribution to my museum as well as a graceful addition to my front room.

The seats of all the chairs are made from ash wood while all other components are of yew. I get the impression that the turners liked to use yew as its incredibily tight grain means that wonderful detail can shown in their execution of the leg turnings. That's why the best chairs were made from yew and today command the highest prices.

© William Sergeant 2020

Lincolnshire medium bow back Windsor armchair probably William Taylor, with 3 quatrefoil and flea de lys pierced splat, 6 long spindles, 8 short, crook underarms, bell-shaped seat, ring and cove front leg turnings, plain back legs, crinoline stretcher WS 165

Lincolnshire medium bow back Windsor armchair probably William Taylor, with 3 quatrefoil and flea de lys pierced splat, 6 long spindles, 8 short, crook underarms, bell-shaped seat, ring and cove front leg turnings, plain back legs, crinoline stretcher WS 165

Shaped elm seat, two inches thick , chamfered under edges. Back support all ash wood except cherry splat . Eight short and six long spindles. Distinctive quatrefoil pattern on splat. Four blind square pins on back bow and five on the arm bow let in from the back.

Ash wood front legs with typical Lincolnshire ring and cove decoration, slightly shortened, one with evidence of torn fibres from cleaving blank. One plain ash back leg and one elm replacement leg and two elm replacement short stretchers. Ash crinoline stretcher. Weight : 13 ¼ lbs.

This chair was made by William Taylor, of that I have no doubt. If you look in Dr B D Cotton's The English Regional Chair (1990) at figure NE 28 on p. 118 you will see an identical chair which is signed Taylors Grantham. That is the stamp of William Taylor of Grantham. Also on the original rear leg there is an incised mark to show where the hole centre is to be drilled for the cross stretcher. I have only seen one chair with this constructional aid before and that is on chair WS 126 and if you look at that chair you will see that it is also signed Taylors Grantham.

© William Sergeant 2015 and 2020

Lincolnshire bowback spindle back Windsor armchair stamped AMOS GRANTHAM, 9 long spindles, 8 short (some of laburnum), turned fruitwood underarm supports, elm seat, ring and cove front leg turnings with single lower ring, plain back legs, crinoline stretcher

WS 135 Spindle bowback Windsor armchair stamped AMOS GRANTHAM

This chair, mostly made of yew wood, is clearly stamped on the side of the elm seat AMOS GRANTHAM. Everthing about the chair was original and one would not have guessed that it was by this maker, were it not for the name stamp . The underarm supports are not what one would expect: they are not too dissimilar to the pattern used by Taylor and also by Marsh. The front legs are of the common and typical pattern of early Lincolnshire chairmakers and not of the multiple rings that are associated with Amos. This chair had been well used and there were several issues with splits and cracks. The remarkable feature of this chair is the wood used for the short spindles and underarm supports.

WS 134 Detail of spindle bowback Windsor armchair stamped AMOS GRANTHAM

A close-up of these is in the picture above and it is clearly seen that laburnum has been used for the short spindles and a fruitwood, possibly plum, has been used for the underarm support. Many thanks to Christopher Pye for allowing me to photograph his chair. It is rare for laburnum to be used in chair making, certainly in Lincolnshire*, but it just goes to show how these makers would make use of almost any wood that was available on the day.

© William Sergeant and Julian Parker 2020

* Laburnum is not uncommon in Scottish chairmaking tradition.

Unstamped medium bow back Lincolnshire Windsor armchair, crook underarm supports, 6 long spindles, 2 x 4 underarm spindles, ring and cove front leg turnings with single lower ring & plain back legs, crinoline stretcher

WS 137 Lincolnshire Windsor bow back armchair

Well crafted and full of understated elegance - a typical early nineteenth century Lincolnshire windsor chair - but we do not know who made it. The outstanding feature of this chair is the quatrefoil motif in the splat; they are rarely seen. The seat and most of the components are made from ash, the splat probably from fruitwood. However the two steam bent bows are made from a wood that I am not familiar with and could even have been constructed from hazel. This chair is in the collection of Brian Gray.

I have made the bold statement that this is a Lincolnshire Windsor chair, even though it does not have a makers stamp on it to verify where it was made. I have been asked many times how I know if a chair was made in Lincolnshire and after giving some talks to groups of people this year my thoughts have focused on answering that question. The first reason I am so confident I am able to recognise them is that I have handled a significant number of signed chairs and a pattern emerges that is common to all Lincolnshire chairs. Always remember that the chairmaker has left his finger prints over every component, whether on purpose or not (these could be explicit or implicit features).

The first most obvious feature that can be spotted at some distance is the design of the legs, namely a ring and cove on the front legs (later to become just two rings) and plain back legs, tapered towards both ends. The lack of decoration on the back legs just typifies the frugal attitude these makers had to the manufacture of their chairs to remain competitive with other chairmakers. On the front leg the ring design tends to be small whereas the cove is flat and elongated (made with a gouge chisel rather than a nail chisel).

The next pointer I look for is the seat - I reckon that at least 85% of signed Lincolnshire chairs have seats made from the ash tree (the other 15% are made from elm). The early makers used flaired seats to get the front legs further apart and I have yet to see a Lincolnshire chair with the legs let right through seat (a common practice on Thames Valley chairs).

The design of the back splat holds no interest to me at all - I have not come across any association of the fretted design with the maker. However, it appears to me that all the Lincolnshire makers made spindle backed chairs with no splat but where there is a splat it is let through the back bow, not let into the front of the bow that is so very common on the southern chairs. I have yet to see a Lincolnshire chair with a roundel or cartwheel motif on the splat though I believe ones may exist.

Chairs from other regions usually have a scribe mark on the backbow and sometimes around the edge of the seat; I would not expect to see such decoration on a Lincolnshire chair - remember the word to describe these chairs is frugal with no unnecessary decoration.

Finally the most telling design feature that distinguishes East Midlands chairs from their southern counterparts is the joint where the backbow meets the arm bow: Lincolnshire makers tapered the back bow like the sharpening of a pencil whereas the Thames Valley makers seemed invariably to have been taught to cut a square shoulder which sits on the arm bow  Its always the first point that catches my eye whenever I come across a new chair to inspect.

A fuller discussion of what distinguishes a Lincolnshire chair from a Nottinghamshire chair or a Thames Valley one, written several years after I made these observations, may be found here.

© William Sergeant 2014 & 2019

John Amos, high bow back Lincolnshire Windsor armchair with 3-piercing fleur de lys upper splat, single pierced lower splat, 6 long spindles, 8 short, crook underarm supports, crinoline stretcher, 5 ring then ball then 3 ring turning w lower ring & cove, plain back, straight seat sides

WS 131 John Amos, Grantham

What a fine example of an original Grantham Windsor chair.

A word on splats: I have found absolutely no connection between the maker and the fretted design on Lincolnshire chairs. So much so that on inspection of a new chair I do not even look at the splat or its design. The pattern shown here appears in a similar form on all stamped makers chairs. However , there is a little feature that I have noticed on this chair which I believe may be peculiar to Amos. If you look at the top section of the splat, at the bottom of the two long vertical frets there are two tear drops , connected by a small gap. I have only seen this on Amos chairs and could be a design feature specific to him. If any one has come across that else where then please let me know. For another splat from another Amos chair please see figure TBS2 on p. 105 of Dr D B Cotton's The English Regional Chair (1990).

© William Sergeant 2019

26

Windsor side chair, signed WILSON GRANTHAM, so turned out by John Wilson of Little Gonerby. A hoop back design with a pierced splat made out of yew wood. Chairs by this maker are rare.