Armchair of oak with rush seat; possibly made either by Morris & Co., or by William Birch Ltd., for the Tabard Inn, Bedford Park, English about 1880

Oak with turned front legs with ringed decoration, square section front and side stretchers, flat scroll arms on vase-shaped supports, indented back rail and solid splat; drop-in rush seat.

Given by Patrick & McGregor Ltd

In 1958 Elizabeth Aslin, the nineteenth-century furniture specialist in the Department of Circulation, visited the Tabard Inn, Bedford Park, Chiswick, which was then being refurbished, and saw a collection of furniture, intended for disposal, in the upper room. She recommended the acquisition of this chair, one of several examples, from the licensees, Messrs. Patrick & Macgregor.

When originally acquired, the chair was thought to have been possibly designed in the office of the architect, Richard Norman Shaw, who designed the Tabard Inn 1879-1880. In 2008 Andrew Saint, author of the standard work on Shaw, confirmed that it was unlikely that Shaw's office were responsible as there is no evidence to support this theory. The chair might have been made by Morris & Co. who illustrated a similar design, 'Hampton Court', for an armchair, price 53s 6d (£2 92p), and a single chair, price 32s (£1 60p), in their catalogue c. 1912. A much closer design, with an upholstered seat instead of the rush drop in seat on Circ. 24-1958, was illustrated by William Birch & Son, High Wycombe, in their catalogue of Dining Room chairs, n.d., page 16, no. 2766 (photocopy in Craftsmen file, FTF Information Section), and it is possible that this firm was actually responsible for the Tabard Inn chairs.

There is no evidence that this chair was designed in the office of Richard Norman Shaw, the architect responsible for the Tabard Inn, as originally thought when the chair was acquired. Andrew Saint, author of the standard work on Shaw, thinks it is unlikely that he, or his office, were responsible for any furniture for Bedford Park, apart from the pews in St.Michael's Church.

The Tabard Inn was part of the Bedford Park garden suburb in Chiswick, developed in the 1870s. Designed by the architect, Richard Norman Shaw, the inn was furnished with a set of settles and chairs, including this example. The shape of the chair, with its back splat and shaped arms, shows the influence of eighteenth-century furniture designs on Arts and Crafts makers. It may have been made by Morris & Co., who illustrated a very similar chair in their early twentieth-century catalogue, or by William Birch, a firm of chair-makers in High Wycombe, who produced an upholstered version of the chair for dining rooms.

CIRC.24:1, 2-1958