A near pair of deep seated upholstered Howard & Sons armchairs, early 20th Century

A near pair of deep seated upholstered Howard & Sons armchairs, early 20th Century

With later upholstery, with turned front mahogany legs and square tapering rear legs on brass caps and castors, stamped 'HOWARD & SONS LONDON', the inside of the back right legs also stamped with numbers.

Of similar form to Grafton chair.

Dimensions: 74cm high, 68cm wide, 84cm deep

Provenance: These armchairs were bought by William Dale Shaw (1850-1929) at some point in the 1870s for Homefield, in Longwood, on the edge of Huddersfield. It was a new house which was built for him and his wife, and is still there today. In the 1911 census, it is described as having eleven rooms, three attic rooms, and five cellars.

He was a cotton and woollen mill owner with four hundred staff in 1881, having inherited the business from his father in 1875 when he was 25.

Once William Dale Shaw died in 1929, the chairs went to his son Mortimer Haigh Shaw (1878-1962) at his home in The Elms, Tutbury in Staffordshire.

On his retirement Mortimer Haigh Shaw moved to Coombe Eden House, Armathwaite in Cumbria, and the chairs went with him. And by descent to the current owner.