POSSIBLY BY GILLOWS, CIRCA 1780

The arms are those of Bewicke with Spearman in pretence, for Calverley Bewicke (1755-1815) of Close House, Northumberland and Urpeth Lodge, co. Durham and his second wife Margaret (1761-1859), daughter and heiress of Robert Spearman of Old Acres, Northumberland, whom he married in 1781. Close House, the mansion house at their country estate near Heddon-on-the-Wall, Northumberland, was built in 1779 on the site of a former monastic settlement. After marrying Margaret, Calverley was High Sheriff of Northumberland in 1782, and later M.P. for Winchelsea from 1806 until 1815, the year of his death. Margaret lived to the advanced age of 97. Their tomb can be found in Cathedral Church of St. Nicholas, Newcastle upon Tyne. Designed by William Theed (1804-1891) and sculpted by Edward Hodges Baily (1788-1867) it was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1819. Close House remained in the Bewicke family until its sale in 1953. Four matching hall chairs, each a side chair presumably from the same suite, were sold anonymously, Sotheby's, New York, 11-12 April 1997, lot 790.

The ‘RE’ stamps to these chairs remains unidentified, but may belong to either of a pair of journeyman brothers connected with Gillows, Robert Edmundson (or Edmonson), Jr., active 1778-1785, and Richard, active 1779-1810. Their joint Liverpool-based cabinet-making firm was formed in 1781, with an upholstery branch added in 1788. Both Richard and Robert are recorded as freemen of Lancaster and are known to have worked for Gillows on a number of occasions. ‘RE’ stamps are recorded on all the components of a suite supplied to John Harvey of Bedfordshire by Gillows, circa 1780, described in C. Claxton Stevens, 'A Group of Seat Furniture Stamped RE', The Journal of the Regional Furniture Society, Vol. XII, 1998, pp. 156-159. Two armchairs from that suite were sold from the Apter-Fredericks Collection by Christie’s, London, 19 January 2021, lot 47. Further suggesting a Gillows connection are a pair of George III hall chairs, also stamped 'RE', sold anonymously, Christie's, London, 11 February 1999, lot 2. These chairs follow a design by Gillows, illustrated L. Boynton (ed.), Gillows Furniture Designs 1760-1800, Royston, 1995, fig. 255. Claxton Stevens also raises the possibility, however, that the ‘RE’ may be the brand of a journeyman in the employ of Messrs. George Seddon, Sons and Shackleton, as it can be found on a caned painted beech chair similar in design to a set of eighteen painted satinwood chairs supplied by George Seddon, Sons and Shackleton to D. Tupper for Hauteville House, Guernsey, in 1790 (C. Claxton Stevens, op. cit., p. 158, fig. 6).