Child's Windsor chair
Category
Furniture
Date
1869
Materials
Yew, elm
Measurements
66 cm (H); 35 cm (W); 27 cm (D)
Place of origin
Worksop
Order this imageCollection
Mr Straw's House, Nottinghamshire
NT 740692
Caption
The Straw family enjoyed going to auctions and kept many of the listing booklets from both general local sales, and the breaking down of some of the estates in the area providing a fascinating glimpse into the lifestyles of the upper classes. Florence and her family had a few ties to the upper classes, Florence attended the coming of age celebration of the Duke of Newcastle from nearby Clumber Park and the Straw’s grocers shop provided goods to more than one Ducal estate. Matching scribbled notes in the margins of auction listings to items in the house gives an idea as to when and where some pieces may have come from. Worksop in the past had a booming Windsor chair industry, of particular note are the chairs made in the Gabbitass workshop, as after the death of her husband Elizabeth kept the business going and even had her name stamped into the chairs produced, quite an achievement in 1844 when business was still so solely the reserve of men.
Summary
A yew and elm child's rocking Windsor armchair, by Gilling's, Eastgate, Worksop, Nottinghamshire, circa 1869. With a pierced back splat, spindle supports and turned legs with twin bowed rockers.
Full description
A hand written label underneath the seat 'Child's rocker bought for Florence Ann Winks by Sarah Hett for her 5th birthday, 19th March 1869 at Gilling's Eastgate Worksop'. There were several chair makers with the surname Gilling in Worksop during the second half of the 19th century, see Cotton, Bernard 'The English Regional Chair' for further discussion and extensive research. (James Weedon, October 2019)
Provenance
Straw collection bequeathed to the National Trust on the death in 1990 of William Straw.
Marks and inscriptions
Child's rocker bought for Florence Ann Winks by her godmother Sarah Hett for her 5th birthday, 19th March 1869 at Gilling's Eastgate Worksop (note written underneath on base of seat)
References
Cotton 1990: Bernard D. Cotton, The English Regional Chair, Woodbridge 1990, pp.160-172