Chair of the Month for July is a Windsor armchair, made by William Birch in about 1904.

This unusually decorative Windsor chair is made from mahogany, an imported timber not usually used in the High Wycombe furniture industry. It was made for the St Louis World’s Fair, in Missouri, United States. The Fair was held in 1904 and showed products from over 60 countries. Nearly 19.7 million people attended. 

William Birch traded from about the 1840s or ‘50s until 1954. In 1901 they opened a new, large modern factory in Leigh Street on the west side of High Wycombe. Birch were taken over by E Gomme in 1954, who were ready to expand after launching their successful G-Plan range. 

You can see this chair in Wycombe Museum’s newly refurbished chair galleries, which are now fully open.  

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