A HISTORY OF BUCKINGHAMSHIRE 



At the close of the i8th century the value of 

 the woods had considerably increased, frequent 

 felling having been found more advantageous to 

 the owners than allowing the trees to come to a 

 considerable size. 3 Even then, however, the 

 wisdom of carrying this new system too far was 

 doubted. The uses to which the wood was put 

 were much the same as in Defoe's time spokes, 

 felloes, bedsteads, and chairs. 4 Chesham be- 

 came noted for its turnery ware early in the 

 following century, but in 1862 its wooden ware 

 and turnery trade was declining.' There are, 

 however, a considerable number of manufac- 

 turers still carrying on the trade in the town 

 and neighbourhood, wooden dairy utensils being 

 a speciality of some makers. Several firms also 

 make brushes of various kinds. Chair-making, 

 though possibly of later development than the 

 wooden-ware manufactory, has outstepped it in 

 importance. Both Defoe and Langley mention 

 chair-making as one of the uses to which the 

 beechwoods on the Chilterns were put, but the 

 industry does not seem to have become of great 

 importance until the igth century. 6 In 1830 

 there were said to be only two chair manu- 

 facturers in High Wycombe, 7 which has since 

 become the centre of the industry. In 1862 

 one of the chief manufacturers of the town 

 described the early condition of the business in 

 the following words 8 : 'When I began the 

 trade ... I loaded a cart and travelled to 

 Luton. All there was prosperous. There was 

 a scramble for my chairs ; when I came home 

 I laid my receipts on my table, and said to my 

 wife : " You never saw so much money before." ' 

 The demand for chairs grew rapidly, and the 

 Wycombe chair-makers supplied the chairs for 

 the Crystal Palace, for St. Paul's Cathedral, and 

 many barracks, 9 and a large export trade, espe- 

 cially to the Colonies, was developed in the 

 middle of the igth century. 10 It was then the 

 boast of Wycombe that it turned out a chair a 

 minute all the year round, or 1,800 doz. per 

 week, 11 that is, over 1,100,000 per annum. 



In 1885 there were about fifty chair-makers, 

 large and small, in Wycombe, 12 and at the present 

 day the number has reached nearly a hundred. 

 The trade has, however, suffered a depression of 

 late years, owing to the loss of some of the 

 foreign trade, which has passed into American 



s Langley, Hist, of the Hund. of Desborough, 9. 



4 Ibid. 



6 Pinnock, Hist, and Topog. of Engl. i, 24 ; Lips- 

 comb, Hist, of Bucks, iii, 263 ; Sheahan, Topog. of 

 Bucks. 838. 



6 Tour in Gt. Brit, ii, 72 ; Hist, of Hund. of 

 Desborough, 9. 



' Factory and Workshops Rep. xv, 185. 



8 Sheahan, Topog. of Bucks. 220. 



Ibid. 



Ibid. 



11 Factory and Workshops Rep. xv, 185. 

 Ibid. 



and Austrian hands, and the competition at home 

 is so severe that some of the work done is unre- 

 munerative. 13 Nevertheless nearly every village 

 round Wycombe has its manufactory, employing 

 both men and women, boys and girls. 14 



The falls of timber take place in November 

 and March, when the trees are sold by auction, 

 and the manufacturers lay in their stock of wood. 16 

 Beech wood forms the greater part of the raw 

 material, but elm is used for the seats, and ash 

 for the bows of Windsor and similar chairs. 

 Oak and walnut are only as a rule procured for 

 special orders. 16 



The manufacturers in 1885 were divided 

 into three classes, which still obtain at the present 

 day. In the first place there are those who have 

 their own steam saw-mills, and turn out the 

 finished article ; then come manufacturers who 

 send their wood to public saw-mills to be cut up 

 into lengths, and afterwards turn out the chair 

 complete ; and lastly, there are smaller men 

 who live in the surrounding villages and supply 

 the manufacturer proper with what is called 

 ' turned stuff,' i.e., with fore-legs, stretchers, 

 and lists of chairs according to pattern. Thus 

 it often happens that only the backs, hind-legs, 

 and seats are made at the factory proper, other 

 parts being sent in from the country. There 

 much of the work is done in the cottages, the 

 wood being turned by hand, after it has come, 

 cut up in lengths, from the saw-mill. 



Certain factories in High Wycombe specialize 

 in a particular part of the chair, and turn out 

 nothing but chair-backs, or seats. The seats are 

 made by women and girls, who learn the trade 

 at an early age. When the work is done at 

 home, they can earn about ijrf. an hour for 

 caning, and rather more for ' matting,' a dirtier 

 and harder process. 17 The greater number of 

 chairs made in this district are, however, seated 

 with cane, not rushes, and the splitting is all 

 done by hand. All kinds of chairs are made, 

 from the common kinds known as Windsor, 

 cathedral, bedroom, kitchen, barrack chairs, to 

 the more elaborate patterns made by the larger 

 manufacturers of High Wycombe. The oak 

 chairs, for instance, made for the judges at the 

 Royal Courts of Justice were manufactured at 

 Wycombe, and, more recently, the mahogany 

 chairs used by the peers and peeresses at the 

 coronation of King Edward VII. 18 



Besides the actual chair-makers there are 

 several firms who make articles used in the manu- 

 facture, such as varnish and chair-makers' tools. 



13 Ibid. 



14 Information given by Miss E. Johnson, Lane 

 End. 



15 Factory and Workshops Rep. xv, 185. 

 " Ibid. 



17 Information given by Miss Johnson, Lane End. 



18 Copies or examples shown at an exhibition held 

 at Aylesbury, July 1905. 



IIO 



