Gillows of Lancaster and London as a design source for American chairs

Magazine Antiques, June, 1999 by Susan Stuart

Although the chair in Aitken's advertisement is similar to the Gillows chair, it is unmistakably American, bearing particular resemblance to Baltimore examples, such as the one in Plate XVIII, which is attributed to Singleton and McFadden (or McFadon), a firm active in Baltimore between 1790 and 1796.(27) Several intriguing questions spring to mind, not the least of which are: Did the American heart-back chair originate in Philadelphia? And does it owe its origin to a Gillows chair? Current evidence suggests that the answer to both questions is yes.

The chair on the left in the Gillows drawing in Plate XIX is a variation on the heart back, incorporating three carved feathers tied with a ribbon.(28) Vestiges of the feathers and festoons of drapery appear in American chairs of about 1795 to 1800, although these chairs invariably have shield-shape backs [ILLUSTRATION FOR PLATE XVII OMITTED],(29) rather than the heart shape of Gillows chairs. The carved fan-like decoration at the base of the splat is similar on both English and American chairs, although the latter sometimes have inlaid rather than carved fans in this position.

As the pieces discussed here demonstrate, the correlations between Gillows designs and American furniture are numerous, suggesting that Gillows furniture was available to cabinetmakers in the United States. Research on how Gillows furniture or designs could have reached this country is still in its early stages, but already a number of interesting avenues merit further investigation. Gillows had a wide range of private and commercial customers in Britain, the West Indies, and Europe, and the company was unique among British furniture makers in having easy access to two ports - London and Lancaster. By the late eighteenth century the latter was recognized as second only to London as a fashionable furniture-making center in England. According to Thomas Pennant's Tour in Scotland and Voyage to the Hebrides, MDCCLXXII (1774), Lancaster had "some very ingenious cabinet-makers...who fabricate most excellent and neat goods at remarkably cheap rates, which they export to London and the plantations."(30)

Although between 1775 and 1805 there were only twelve sailings directly from Lancaster to mainland North America, it is certainly possible that furniture was included in these ships' cargoes, lists of which have not been located to date. However, Lancaster's primary transatlantic trade destination was the West Indies, and except when the American Revolution interrupted trade, there was a great deal of coastal trade from these islands to mainland North America, suggesting a likely route for Gillows furniture. Between 1781 and 1813, 183 voyages were recorded between Lancaster and Saint Christopher (now called Saint Kitts).(31) One of the merchant firms on Saint Christopher in the late 1780s and early 1790s was Worswick and Allman. Thomas Worswick Jr. (b.c. 1761), a native of Lancaster, was a nephew of Richard Gillow I and Robert Gillow II, and quite naturally he purchased furniture from his uncles' firm.(32)