This year we celebrate Philip Clissett's birth two centuries ago in January 1817. He was born on the 8th, according to family sources and, as we can see from the Birtsmorton parish register entry shown here, baptised on the 26th, a Sunday.
Born shortly after the battle of Waterloo, in the Regency times of George III, he saw no less than six monarchs on the throne, and lived to ride in a motor car and wonder at aeroplanes. He outlived three wives and all his children. His family involvement in chair-making dated to at least the mid-18th century, and he brought their simple methods into the 20th century with little or no modernisation. He had resisted the industrialisation of his craft in a way that was, perhaps, only possible in a quiet rural area like Herefordshire. This resistance to change, the simple fact of his longevity, and his late renaissance under the Arts & Crafts movement are a unique combination. He died in 1913, just before the start of World War I (1914).
Philip's long life, and his work as a chairmaker, are recorded on this website. Please take some time to look over the details and, if nothing else, examine the great range of chairs he made with his own hands and a few simple tools. Celebrate, with us, a simple craftsman with a unique legacy.
Born shortly after the battle of Waterloo, in the Regency times of George III, he saw no less than six monarchs on the throne, and lived to ride in a motor car and wonder at aeroplanes. He outlived three wives and all his children. His family involvement in chair-making dated to at least the mid-18th century, and he brought their simple methods into the 20th century with little or no modernisation. He had resisted the industrialisation of his craft in a way that was, perhaps, only possible in a quiet rural area like Herefordshire. This resistance to change, the simple fact of his longevity, and his late renaissance under the Arts & Crafts movement are a unique combination. He died in 1913, just before the start of World War I (1914).
Philip's long life, and his work as a chairmaker, are recorded on this website. Please take some time to look over the details and, if nothing else, examine the great range of chairs he made with his own hands and a few simple tools. Celebrate, with us, a simple craftsman with a unique legacy.
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