It’s a classic chair whose origins have been lost in the mists of time. But what we do know about the Windsor chair is that people have been making them for more than 300 years. Some stories suggest that King George – the tales vary between Georges I, II and III – was visiting the home of some of his humble subjects and was offered a seat in a very comfortable wooden chair. He liked the chair so much, he had the design replicated and made for use in Windsor Castle.
Another, perhaps more plausible, story says that the chair became popular because of changes in the design of English gardens. In the mid-18th century, garden designers such as Capability Brown were turning away from the rigidly formal geometric designs of French gardens and adopting a more naturalistic, landscaped approach. This coincided with – and perhaps contributed to – a move towards using gardens as a place to sit and socialise and entertain guests. Furniture that was strong but light and portable was needed, and the Windsor chair was ideal.
What is a Windsor chair?
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But what is a Windsor chair? What makes it different from other chair designs? The main difference is that the Windsor chair’s legs are not connected to the spindles at the back. It is essentially a stool, with back spindles attached. The seat is made from a solid piece of wood, with legs attached. The back spindles form a comfortable backrest which comes in various arrangements; in some Windsor chairs, the spindles form a high back with arm rests, others have a bowback design. Some designs feature a back splat – a wider piece of wood in the centre of the chair back, featuring decorative designs such as a carved wheel or the Prince of Wales’s three-feather motif. Others have spindles all the way round.
Many furniture historians believe that the Windsor chair was originally called a “Forest” chair, because it came from the Forest of Windsor, where they were made in small workshops; from there, they could be easily transported to London for sale. The earliest example of a Windsor chair that can be attributed to a particular manufacturer was made by John Pitt of Slough, which at the time (the early 18th century) was part of Windsor. It was made from cherrywood, with an elm seat.
The chairs were traditionally made from two or three types of wood: elm for the seat, with the spindles and legs being made from woods such as ash, cherry or beech. Different parts of the chair were made by different craftsmen, including wheelwrights, who used their specialist skills to make the spindles, and “bodgers” – wood-turners who, despite their name, were actually highly skilled. Steam-bending was used to create the characteristic “bow” of the chair’s back.
A chair for America
These basic designs have given rise to regional and national variations. In the 19th century, many chairs were made in Lancashire, while the area around the Chiltern Hills north-west of London became a centre of production (this was where the bodgers used to ply their trade, and presumably the beech forests provided an abundant supply of wood). Chairs made in the Suffolk village of Mendlesham were distinguished by their square backs.
The chair was taken to America, where it became hugely popular – it has been said that when the American Declaration of Independence was signed in 1776, many of those present were seated on Windsor chairs. . A drawing from the 18th century shows Benjamin Franklin, one of the founding fathers of the United States, seated on a Windsor chair. And a 1772 painting by American artist William Williams, “The Williams Family With Dog”, shows the distinguished-looking Mr Williams seated on a Windsor chair .
The Windsor chair - A pub classic
Early Windsor chairs were painted green to match the outdoor settings where they were to be used, but later examples were stained or varnished. As time went on, Windsor chairs became popular for indoor use – especially in inns and taverns, where their robust and comfortable design was ideal for drinkers and diners. They were also portable enough to be moved around, or moved aside for cleaning. Today the Windsor chair is still widely used in pubs and restaurants, in particular the bow-back design with a decorative splat.
Trent Furniture’s Wheelback chair is a classic Windsor side chair with a wheel design on the back, made from European beechwood in a dark oak finish. It is available with a solid seat or an upholstered seat. The spindles behind the Wheelback chair’s backrest are a typical Windsor chair feature, giving the chair extra strength. Trent Furniture’s Spindleback chair is a simple, elegant variation on the Windsor chair design.
The English furniture maker Ercol has long been a champion of the Windsor chair. Since the 1920s the Windsor has been part of Ercol’s identity, and now a whole range of Ercol Windsor furniture is available. And there’s a satisfying link going back to the chair’s origins – Ercol’s factory at Princes Risborough nestles at the base of the Chiltern Hills, where the bodgers of the 18th century used to ply their trade.
And today, it’s possible for Windsor chair enthusiasts to follow in the footsteps of those bodgers and furniture-makers of the 18th century and make their own Windsor chair. James Mursell runs five-day residential courses at his farm in West Sussex. No previous experience is necessary, but at the same time Mursell says that experienced woodworkers will be fully challenged. A maximum of eight people will attend each course, ensuring that everyone gets plenty of individual attention.
Sitting on a piece of history
If you run a pub, bar or restaurant, it’s likely that Ercol’s Windsor chairs would be prohibitively expensive to purchase in large quantities, while making your own chairs in any numbers is clearly impractical. And antique and vintage chairs, though often beautiful pieces, are frequently expensive and not always robust enough for commercial use.
So your best option is to buy from a reliable supplier such as Trent Furniture, whose chairs (and other furniture items) are built to withstand the rigours of regular use in a busy commercial environment. They may not know it, but your customers will be sitting on a fascinating piece of English history