Britain at Work
A Pictorial Description of Our National Industries

 154 SAWING LOGS FOR CHAIR LEGS. A CHAIR-MAKING TOWN. THE chair plays such an important part in our modern social economy that it is difficult for us to imagine a •chairless state of society. Though Orientals may be content to squat or recline upon the ground, we feel that it would be impossible to support the dignity of our Western civilisation" without chairs. A throne, which is but a glorified chair, is the symbol of the most exalted rank ; to invite a man to take the chair is to pay him a recognised compliment, and to invest him, for the time being, with almost despotic authority over some section of his fellows ; while the offer of a chair is one of the commonest forms of conventional politeness. There is one district in England where the demand of the civilised world for chairs is being met in a very effective manner, and under conditions that are probably unique. At High Wycombe, and in the villages surrounding it, the one aim of the population seems to be to produce chairs in endless variety and almost unlimited quantity. Amsterdam is said to be built upon herring-bones, and with at least equal truth High Wycombe may be said to be built upon chairs. For generations past the youth of this part of Buckinghamshire have been brought up as a matter of course to take some share in converting the beech, ash, and elm trees of their native woods into chairs, just as the boys of a mining district almost inevit- ably become miners. Within recent years the industry has increased enormously, stimulated by the introduction of machinery and the impor- tation of foreign timber. One result of this growth is the curious one that the casual visitor is likely to be less struck with the extent of the trade than he was formerly. In the earlier days of the industry nearly every inhabitant of the town was a chair- maker, and nearly every cottage was a work- shop. The visitor walking through the town on a summer clay would see through the open door of each cottage the occupier at work at his bench or lathe, while stacks of chairs or parts of chairs stood around, and the women, and often the children, sat at the door caning or rushing the chair seats.