Georgian Campaign Furniture

Magazine Antiques, June, 2000 by Nicholas A. Brawer

Captains Marquee and Tent; Curtain for the Boot, of Ticking; Cot with Case; Bag to pack ditto, and Stools, &c.; Palliass; Hair Mattress; Bolster; Pillow; Sheets and Pillow Cases: Two upper and one under Blankets; Cotton Counterpane; Bag, &c. for Bedding, Bedside Carpet; Floor Cloth; stools, Table; Round Tent for Servant (which in case of necessity may answer for the officer himself). [8]

Interestingly, Lieutenant Long contented himself with a cot rather than the more expensive folding field bedstead. However, that a mere lieutenant felt it necessary to out-fit himself with so much camp equipment makes one wonder just how much these massive loads might have retarded what Sheraton called "rapid movement, either after or from the enemy," or even have contributed to the ultimate failure of the Flanders campaign. Nonetheless, even the military historian T H. McGuffle, writing as late as 1948, admired Long's "fixed determination to campaign like a gendeman, even taking a bedside carpet," [9] while making nomention of his abilities as a fighter. Others took a dim view of this sort of excess, among them the playwright Charles Shadwell (d. 1726), whose satire The Fair Quaker of Deal: Or; The Humours of the Navy (1710) takes to task the gentlemen captains who "must wear white linen, have field beds, lie in Holland sheets, and... hate the sight of an enemy for fear bullets and gunpowder should spoil th e beau wig and laced jacket." [10]

As Sheraton observed, the knockdown furniture required by army officers was also suitable for naval officers aboard ship. In Shadwell's play a captain in the navy and "finical sea fop" called Mizen describes his cabin thus:

I dare affirm it no town lady's withdrawing-room nor country gentlewoman's closet, is nicer furnished than my cabin; 'tis wainscoted with most charming India Japan and looking-glass; I have a very noble scrutore [escritoire], and the most celebrated screen in Europe: I have an invention, which makes the great guns in my cabin appear to be elbow chairs covered with cloth of tissue [woven silk often shot with gold and silver threads]; I have six and thirty silver sconces, and every vacancy is cramm'd with china. [11]

William Hickey (1749-1830), an attorney and diarist residing in Calcutta, who traveled on board the Plassey in 1769, described the captain's cabin as

painted a light pea-green, with gold beading the bed and curtains of the richest Madras chintz, one of the most complete dressing tables lever saw, having every useful article in it--a beautiful bureau and bookcase, stored with the best books, and three neat mahogany chairs. [12]

The dressing table that so impressed Hickey may have been similar in design to a thirty-eight-inch-tall mahogany sea chest that Captain Sir John Poo Beresford (c. 1766-1844) brought on board when he took command of the frigate HMS Cambrian, in 1804. His chest was specifically designed for use aboard a warship and illustrates the flexibility and ingenuity of knockdown furniture. Two heavy brass rings on either side enabled the chest to be lashed to the floor of the cabin in stormy weather, and each drawer was fitted with a lock that allowed it to be secured with ease. Beresford's chest was designed to serve all facets of life at sea, whether working, dressing, or entertaining. For work, one of the chest's ten drawers served as a desk. For dressing, the top opened to reveal a retractable shaving mirror that could be raised on an adjustable stand. For entertaining, bottles of wine or liquor could be stored in a deep drawer adjacent to a slide-out serving shelf.