FDA-A.350-2013
Parts
Object number
FDA-A.350-2013
Object type
Identification
Title
School Hall Presentation Chairs
Title Type
assigned by cataloguer
Description
Set of 23 oak and elm chairs; top-rail carved with dedication with the name and the date, saddle seat, block and turned legs joined by stretchers, bun feet; some variations in carving
Comments
This impressive and extensive set of 23 English oak chairs were made for use in School Hall at Eton. Formerly known as ‘The Presentation Chairs for School Hall', they are carved with the names of Old Etonians who paid for the chair (or a Old Etonian relative of the donor of the chair) and the dates when the person entered and left Eton College as a pupil. The chairs are part of a commission that was started in 1913, before the Great War. One hundred and twenty-five were donated by before the War, which interrupted production. Two hundred were initially promised.
The chairs were designed by Mr Laurence Kirkpatrick Hall, (O.E.), architect of the Memorial Buildings (School Hall and Scholl Library), and made by the renowned carver Mr Herbert Read of St Sidwell's Art Works, Exeter. The Eton Chronicle, (No.1342, January 17th, 1911) reported under the headings ‘Events of the year 1910', 'Chairs in the School Hall': “The proposal to provide chairs of good material and design by means of gifts from Old Etonians - such chairs to bear the names and Eton dates of the donors - has not been lost sight of and it is hoped that some definite scheme may shortly be put forward. It is clearly a matter in which haste is undesirable”.
On 24 December 1912, The Eton Chronicle reported: ‘The design for a “leaving chair” has been approved, and further details with regard to it will be circulated among old Etonians'.
Then again on 6 June 1922 (The Eton Chronicle, No. 250): stated that, in 1913, Mr F. H. Rawlins, Lower Master and afterwards Vice-Provost, acting on behalf of the Committee of Management of the Memorial Buildings, sent to the members of the O.E.A., a circular, which was also given to the boys on leaving Eton, suggesting that anyone, who liked to do so, should present a chair to School Hall, as a reminiscence of his own, or of a relation's or friend's Eton life.
The Eton Chronicle, no. 1971, October 22nd, 1925, reported that nearly two hundred chairs had been presented and were in School Hall, mainly in the orchestra area. They were placed roughly in alphabetical order. But owing to the fact that the School Hall is used for so many different purposes, necessitating movement of chairs, complete accuracy in arrangement must not be expected.
The original price was £1 12s 0d which had been raised to £2 13s 0d owing to the increased cost of materials and wages. It was also stated that the chairs would now be made as soon as possible by Mr Read and sent to Eton in batches of 25 and 50.
The chairs were designed by Mr Laurence Kirkpatrick Hall, (O.E.), architect of the Memorial Buildings (School Hall and Scholl Library), and made by the renowned carver Mr Herbert Read of St Sidwell's Art Works, Exeter. The Eton Chronicle, (No.1342, January 17th, 1911) reported under the headings ‘Events of the year 1910', 'Chairs in the School Hall': “The proposal to provide chairs of good material and design by means of gifts from Old Etonians - such chairs to bear the names and Eton dates of the donors - has not been lost sight of and it is hoped that some definite scheme may shortly be put forward. It is clearly a matter in which haste is undesirable”.
On 24 December 1912, The Eton Chronicle reported: ‘The design for a “leaving chair” has been approved, and further details with regard to it will be circulated among old Etonians'.
Then again on 6 June 1922 (The Eton Chronicle, No. 250): stated that, in 1913, Mr F. H. Rawlins, Lower Master and afterwards Vice-Provost, acting on behalf of the Committee of Management of the Memorial Buildings, sent to the members of the O.E.A., a circular, which was also given to the boys on leaving Eton, suggesting that anyone, who liked to do so, should present a chair to School Hall, as a reminiscence of his own, or of a relation's or friend's Eton life.
The Eton Chronicle, no. 1971, October 22nd, 1925, reported that nearly two hundred chairs had been presented and were in School Hall, mainly in the orchestra area. They were placed roughly in alphabetical order. But owing to the fact that the School Hall is used for so many different purposes, necessitating movement of chairs, complete accuracy in arrangement must not be expected.
The original price was £1 12s 0d which had been raised to £2 13s 0d owing to the increased cost of materials and wages. It was also stated that the chairs would now be made as soon as possible by Mr Read and sent to Eton in batches of 25 and 50.
Description
Dimensions
height (actual size): 900mm
width (actual size): 400mm
depth (actual size): 370mm
width (actual size): 400mm
depth (actual size): 370mm
Material
oak
elm
elm
Physical description
Set of 23 oak ‘School Hall Presentation Chairs'; the top-rail carved with seven roundels above the dedication with the name and the date, foliage and flowers including acanthus, husks and bellflowers, the side-rails with a bun finial, above a horizontal splat and saddle seat, on composite block and turned legs joined by stretchers on flattened bun feet; restorations and replacements
Production
Person
Organisation
St Sidwell Art Works, Exeter (Maker)
Date
1913-1928
