Georgian Campaign Furniture

Magazine Antiques, June, 2000 by Nicholas A. Brawer

During the Georgian period (1714-1830) it was commonly accepted among commissioned officers of high social position that, while on campaign in one of Britain's far-flung colonial outposts, their standards of comfort should approximate those at home. While "under canvas," as life in camp was called, an officer and a gentleman of the period was assured a high degree of comfort by equipping himself with specially designed pieces of knockdown, or portable, furniture. Such pieces were designed to look very much like regular Georgian household furniture and were constructed by some of the most eminent cabinetmakers of the day. As the name suggests, knockdown furniture was built specifically for traveling and could be quickly folded or disassembled without the use of nails, tacks, or tools (see Pls. IVa-b and Va-b). Although compact and portable, this furniture was by no means light and invariably required numerous servants to carry it from camp to camp. As late as 1845 a captain in the Sixteenth Lancers, while on c ampaign in India, wrote: "I should say that for 560 officers and men we must have 5,600 followers....I have in my own service 40 men, 10 camels, and a hackery, five horses and two ponies." [1] One can only imagine the state of luxury in which his commanding officer must have traveled.

As an abundant supply of cheap labor was almost always on hand in Britain's colonies, designs for knockdown furniture during the Georgian period became quite grand. When assembled, a full range of furniture could be had, from beds, chairs, and desks to gaming tables, dining tables, and cabinets. As Stanley Northcote-Bade explains:

In the eighteenth century folding furniture became fashionable, and designers vied with each other to invent furniture with adjustable, movable, and retractable parts. Cabinets were often specially equipped with sliding, adjustable, or disappearing mirrors; folding or swiveling candle brackets; specially equipped drawers for the toilet or for shaving; writing slides; adjustable reading flaps, etc. [2]

Because space was at a premium, knockdown furniture figures prominently in the gentleman officer's choice of furnishings while in the foreign service. Designers and manufacturers who bent their minds and genius to the task of portability included Thomas Shearer, George Hepplewhite, Thomas Sheraton, Thomas Chippendale, and William Ince and John Mayhew These men saw primarily mechanical, not aesthetic, differences between knockdown and regular household furniture.

In the 1762 edition of his Gentleman and Cabinet-Maker's Director, Chippendale illustrates six elaborate "Designs for Field Beds" (see Fig. 1). About them he wrote, "The Furniture...is made to take off, and the Laths are hung with Hinges, for Convenience of folding up." [3] In The Universal System of Houshold [sic] Furniture (1762), William Ince (d. 1804) and John Mayhew (1736-1811) illustrate a "Single headed couch or field Bed," as well as a "Sofa Bed," which they describe as "A Bed to appear as a Soffa, with a fixt Canopy over it; the Curtains draws on a Rod; the Cheeks [cushions] and Seat takes off to open the Bedstead." [4]

When a senior officer decided to commission a piece of knockdown furniture, he might consult a pattern book such as The Cabinet Dictionary (1803) by Thomas Sheraton (1751-1806), where he would have read the following words of caution: In encampments, persons of the highest distinction are obliged to accommodate themselves to such temporary circumstances, which encampments are ever subject to. Hence every article of an absolutely necessary kind, must he made very portable, both for package, and that such utensils may not retard a rapid movement, either after or from the enemy.

The articles of cabinet work used in such services, are, therefore, each of them required to be folded in the most compact manner that can be devised; yet this is to be done in such a way as, that when they are opened out, they will answer their intended purpose. And it is to be observed, that most of the things which are of this nature, will also suit a cabin or sea voyage.

Imagine the pity not to mention the absurdity of having to abandon one's beloved Sheraton escritoire or four-post tent bedstead [see Pls. VIIa-b and Fig. 2] on the field of battle due to a hasty retreat. [5]

After consulting Sheraton's book, our officer might then have patronized any one of the popular knockdown furniture makers near Covent Garden in London, such as Thomas Butler(w. c. 1787-1814) at 13 and 14 Catherine Street, Morgan and Sanders at 16 and 17 Catherine Street, or William Pocock (1750-1825) at 26 Southampton Street. [6] A complete, printed record of a Georgian officer's camp equipage has been preserved and gives a rare account of sixty-two effects. The officer was then Lieutenant Robert Ballard Long (see P1. II) of the First, or King's, Regiment of Dragoon Guards, who, on July 5, 1793, ordered forty-nine of these articles for himself and his servant from John Trotter and Company of Soho Square, London, in preparation for the ill-fated Flanders campaign of 1793-1795. His order cost [pounds]47 17s. 4d. [7] and consisted, in part, of the following: