British Campaign Furniture

British Campaign Furniture: Elegance under Canvas 1740–1914

By Nicholas A. Brawer

232 pages, hardcover: $45.00

ISBN 0‑8109‑5711‑6

Reviewed by Richard S. Toone

The need for portable furniture to be carried by armies goes back before the time of Julius Caesar. The knights on crusades were responsible for the design of a folding tester (frame to hold the drapings around the tall posts at each corner of their bed). They wanted the beds that they were used to in their cold, drafty castles. Centuries later European military and commercial expansion, especially British Colonial enterprises, fueled a market for portable furniture that did not reach its zenith until the beginning of the 20th century. Renowned British furniture designers such as Thomas Chippendale, Thomas Sheraton and Hepplewhite vied for the business of supplying the needs of this blossoming market. "Knock‑down" chairs, tables, desks, bookcases, sofas and beds became all the rage in the 18th century and, by the latter part of the 19th, a British furniture style in and of itself.

British Campaign Furniture: Elegance under Canvas 1740–1941 by Nicholas A. Brawer traces the development of the style and technology of this special type of furniture with beautiful photographs of original pieces in museums and private collections. This hardbound 230-page book provides the most comprehensive study to date of this special furniture and, along the way, a fascinating glimpse of the lifestyles of the people who commissioned and used this furniture. The pioneering families that came to the North American Colonies, the military officers and gentlemen who became our Founding Fathers all inherited their tastes and customs from the civilization they left and thought best. British campaign furniture is very much a part of our history, and not until the American Revolution, with the democratization of our people and their demand for independence and more equality, did the Old World tastes and customs subside.

The book is laced with many interesting examples of lifestyles then by way of quotations from suppliers of campaign equipage, including tents, and from the people who used the items. Thomas Sheraton in 1804 observed, "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 absolute necessary kind, must be made very portable, . . . and that such utensils should not retard rapid movement, either after or from the enemy" (31). A list of articles of "absolute necessary kind" purchased by a Lt. Robert Ballard Long from equipage supplier John Trotter & Company of London (1793) for the upcoming Flanders Campaign lists 62 items including tentage, of which eight items were for his servant. This lieutenant spent 47 pounds 17 on equipage, which was approximately 3-1/2 times the yearly salary of an English porter of that time.

Sheraton's description of a typical field officer's tentage is as follows:

A Captain's tent and marquee is generally 10-1/2 feet broad, 14 feet deep, and 8 feet high. The subalterns' are one foot less; the Major's and Lieutenant Colonel's a foot larger. The subaltern foot lie two in a tent, and those of horse but one. The tents of private men are 6-1/2 feet square and 5 feet high, and hold five soldiers each . . . the inside of the [Captain's] tent is lined with cotton, and hung with draperies. The plan of the tent is semi‑circular at each end; and where the circle commences, a curtain is hung extending the whole width of the tent, parting in the middle for easy admission of company to dine. Within the circular ends servants wait, . . . the circular room at the end of the [marquee] tent, is the sleeping [circular] tent, which has a passage to it leading straight from the body of the [marquee] tent, in a length of about 12 feet, and 8 feet wide, having a curtain on each side, behind which they put the trunks and other articles out of the way. (43)

Imagine how the generals lived!

Campaign furniture designed for use under canvas was also able to "suit a cabin or sea voyage" (31). Made of the finest materials, this expensive furniture was intended for years of use by officers, Colonial administrators and wealthy civilians whenever traveling. Remember that in these times, servants to carry and attend to the needs of people of means were the norm.

The book also includes a directory of designers, makers, outfitters and patentees, including pictures of their advertisements, furniture labels and the periods in which they worked. Anyone interested in presenting a "proper" person of means in the 18th or early 19th century encampment should avail themselves of this book to see how things really were, and how impossible it would be to duplicate today.