MANLY ANTIQUE CENTRE

The term knockdown furniture basically refers to any furniture made specifically for travel, being designed in such a way that it can be quickly folded or disassembled without the use of nails, tacks or tools and carried or transported to any destination by both land and sea. This ingenious form of furniture has in fact been in use for thousands of years. Conquering Roman generals went to war well equipped with knockdown furniture and one of the greatest of these, Julius Caesar, was known to have even carried parquets of wooden mosaics to be laid in each new location as his tent floor.

But it was the conquering British military hundreds of years later who really inspired this form of furniture to reach new levels of luxury and ingenuity. During the Georgian period (1714-1830) it was commonly accepted among commissioned officers of high social position that, while campaigning 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 while on campaign and it is from this era that the better known term campaign furniture was derived.

Just as Savile Row tailors made the officers' uniforms, England's leading furniture makers produced campaign furniture that was fashionable and of the highest quality. Firms like Chippendale and Hepplewhite were early manufacturers of this furniture and hence in the Georgian period good pieces of campaign furniture were available only to officers of high rank with deep pockets but by Victorian times even mid-level officers began to take whole suites of campaign furniture with them not only for the comfort it afforded but as a visual symbol of the splendour of the empire itself.

Although compact and portable, this furniture was by no means light and invariably required numerous servants to carry it from location to location. Many records exist of huge retinues of retainers following regiments of the British Army as well as local government officials just going on a short sightseeing tour. As late as 1845 a captain in the Sixteenth Lancers, while on campaign 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.”

These suites were made to help recreate life as it would have been at home and were designed primarily with mechanical rather than aesthetic differences to the regular household furniture of the day. In 1865, when the English campaign furniture makers S W Silver and Co exhibited a line of folding furniture at the New Zealand Exhibition in Dunedin, the Reports and Awards of Jurors stated that the company’s portable chairs “although fit for luxuriantly furnished apartments in point of appearance, can yet be folded and removed with all the readiness of a camp stool.” A fascinating publication of the nineteenth century was called The Complete Indian Housekeeper and Cook aimed squarely at highborn Brits living in India during the golden years of Empire, it advised its readers that while traveling up-country, the first rule of camp was:
“do not make yourself uncomfortable for want of things to which you are accustomed.”

At first woods such as walnut and mahogany were utilized. As the empire expanded, more exotic timbers such as camphor, teak and cedar found their place in campaign furniture. Chests were made in two sections with handles fitted to the sides of both sections and brass edges to protect vulnerable corners. Their recessed brass drawer handles lent the furniture a neat, almost nautical appearance. Often made completely of one timber some of the more expensive pieces (see photo) were inlaid with ebony stringing to project the wealth of their owners.

Design was as clever as it was functional and elegant. The ingenuity of these elegant pieces was vast. The folding metal armchair in photo ???? became your chaise for a relaxing afternoon snooze and then turned into your bed in the evening. A lady’s leather traveling case could convert into her bidet when the need arose. Chiffoniers that housed a couch and cabinets 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.

Mahogany dining tables capable of seating 20 people (always a necessity in the middle of the jungle) could break down into components small enough to fit into a 10-inch-deep box. And of course the appropriate number of balloon backed chairs to suit that also completely disassembled for easy transportation.

Campaign furniture wasn’t used only on land, either. Those traveling to India or Africa would spend up to three months at sea. Most of us would have spent the voyage being sick in steerage, but the lucky few who could afford large cabins needed furniture. Campaign furniture was perfect, as it could be easily packed away and stored if the captain ordered it, as he might have done because of bad weather – or in case the decks needed to be cleared to make way for cannon and fighting should the ship be threatened by pirates or an enemy man o’ war.

Because the campaign furniture was as fashionable, stylish, and of the same quality as the furnishings back home, once landed safely in port the same furniture used at sea could then be used to furnish their new homes in the colonies, or if their travels continued it would make life that much more bearable and civilized whilst living under canvas.

The most famous of all types of campaign furniture must be the Wellington chest. These were tall and narrow chests of drawers with a hinged side flap which locked over the edges of the drawers. This unique locking system prevented the drawers from opening in transit, and also protected the drawers’ contents from unwanted hands while living in camp.

Wellington chests date from the early part of the nineteenth century, around the time of the Napoleonic wars, and were named after the Duke of Wellington. There are no locks on the drawers, as the locking side-flap provides all the security, and on some of the more expensive Wellington chests, a false drawer disguises a pull-out writing surface. For the travelling naturalist of the day, or collector, a Wellington chest might have been fitted out as a specimen chest with the drawers lined with cloth, or fitted with compartments to receive such items that were valuable and treasured at the time as eggs, butterflies, insects, fossils, and the like.

For wealthy British army officers or merchants abroad, ordinary campaign furniture was not enough. They required wine tables, bookcases, games tables, four-poster beds, and reclining chairs, to mention just a few necessities. There was also an element of competition, particularly between army officers, as to who could furnish his tent in the most fashionable and affluent manner; some had fireplaces built under canvas, and some even had electrified lamps. The big irony here, though, is that the more portable the furniture became, the more the army officers and colonialists ordered to take on their journeys. This was great news for the furniture makers back in Britain, but in order to transport the fabulously transportable campaign furniture, the travelling adventurers had to hire even more elephants, horses, oxen, and paid help.

In 1837, when George Eden (1784-1849), Lord Auckland, the governor-general of India, and his two sisters took a trip “up the country” from Calcutta, they had at their disposal 60 horses, 140 elephants, 200 to 300 baggage camels, and “bullock carts without end.” They also had a staggering 12,000 camp followers!