BY WILLIAM TURNER OF LANCASTER, CIRCA 1820, POSSIBLY FOR GILLOWS

The stamp 'HH' has been found on numerous Gillows chairs and is discussed in S. Stuart, Gillows of Lancaster and London 1730-1840, vol. II, p.244. Stuart also records (p.291) the upholsterer William Turner (1797-1837) in partnership in Lancaster with John Hodgson from c.1820. It is possible that Turner was sub-contracted by Gillows as upholsterer, but equally likely that freelance chairmaker-journeymen such as 'HH' produced Gillows-type chairs for independent local upholsterers like Turner. Whatever the case, the legs, the cushion-moulded seat rails, the superb mahogany and construction of the present chairs are classic Gillows characteristics of the 1820s, while the hollow-cornered double-panelling of the top rail derives from an 1810 design shown by Stuart, vol. I, p.136, fig. 4.