This low stool was used by several generations of chair seat caners, between about 1870 and 1950. During this time, caning seats was a job mainly done by women. Workers needed a low stool to work comfortably. This stool like a Windsor chair without the back. The last woman to use the stool was Mrs Rolph, who lived in Bowerdean Road, High Wycombe.
To see an example of a chair with a caned seat, see our Chair of the Month for March 2023.
To find out more about women’s work in chair seat making and other Chilterns crafts, visit the museum’s exhibition Hidden Hands, on until 10 September 2023 Hidden Hands: Women and Work in the Chilterns | Wycombe Museum Official Site. You may also be interested in the talk ‘Chairmaking, A Cottage Industry’ Talk: Chairmaking as a Cottage Industry | Wycombe Museum Official Site.
Chair of the Month is a partnership between Wycombe Museum and the Regional Furniture Society.