Chair of the Month for March is this bedroom chair with a caned seat, made in about 1875 and selected in recognition of International Women’s Day on 8 March. In the 1870s in the Wycombe area, caned seats were increasingly made by women as work in lace making became harder to find and paid less. Women caners worked in the factories, workshops and their own homes, fitting their work around child care, cooking and cleaning. 

This chair is not currently on display. It has been recently cleaned, as part of Wycombe Museum’s Chair Store project. 

Chair of the Month is a partnership between Wycombe Museum and the Regional Furniture Society.

Museum number HIWLH : 1990.38