One of the many possible lines of enquiry is the Clissett legacy. In other words, how did Philip Clissett's life's work live on after he was gone?

The Clissett workshop folded soon after Philip's death in 1913, apparently because of the First World War. Despite this, Clissett-style ladderbacks have been made throughout most of the ensuing period - right up to the present day.

The tradition was continued principally, at least in the first instance, by Edward Gardiner who had been Ernest Gimson's chairmaker partner. Gardiner produced a range of chairs he called "The Clissett" (it's often claimed that Gimson designed this range, but this is almost certainly not true - I'll write about this some other time). A photograph of Gardiner making "The Clissett" is reproduced below. "The Clissett" continued to be made after Gardiner's death by his apprentice, Neville Neal, and more recently by Neville's son Lawrence.

Who would have thought that "The Clissett" would find its way into one of the Festival of Britain exhibitions in 1951, yet here it is listed in the Guide to the Exhibition of Architecture, Town-Planning and Building Research. Quite why it was exhibited in this particular context, I really don't know. Gardiner had another chair, "The Gimson" exhibited in the Travelling Land Exhibition; it would have been seen all over the country. Good to know that these more or less traditional designs were still being appreciated at that time.

I’ve known for some time that Clissett produced his ladderback side chairs in three-, four- and five-rung versions, but I’d only ever seen three- and five-rung armchairs. When I first saw this chair, I thought that perhaps it wasn’t by Clissett, but it has all the right characteristics – and fills the gap nicely! Perhaps it could have been predicted that one would turn up sooner or later. Do let me know if there are any others out there.

I’ve added this image to the Ladderback Gallery. Do have a look and let me know if any other models can be added to the range.

Amongst Hereford Museum’s small collection of Philip Clissett’s chairs is this strange little chair. It’s quite unlike anything else by Clissett, but one of them (there are two) is clearly stamped PC on the tops of both the front legs. The tops of the front legs are visible, because the seat lifts up, making these the only known examples of metamorphic chairs by Clissett.

The museum has these classed as “chapel chairs”, but nothing else is known about them. The lift-up seat led to the suggestion that these were stacking chairs, but the low front stretcher wouldn’t allow this. I think the clue to their function is in two holes drilled in each of the lower stretchers, one of which contains the remains of a broken screw. My view is that the chairs originally had kneeler boards (hopefully with padding!) screwed to the lower stretchers, and that these were originally kneeler or prayer chairs. This explains the single low front stretcher, and the lack of a font rail below the seat.

Another clue to the function of these chairs is the top rail, angled so that the arms can be comfortably rested when in the kneeling position. One of the chairs has a number, 106, fixed to the top rail suggesting that there may have been a large number of them originally.

I knew nothing about this type of chair, but a trawl of the internet threw up a range of examples in a variety of styles, including a mid-20th century plywood version attributed to Hans Pieck. I’ve included some of them below.

There seems little doubt that the chairs in the Hereford Museum were made by Clissett. Aside from the stamped initials, the construction is clearly a modification of the standard West Midlands elm-bottomed chair, and retains the slotted back rail which holds the fixed part of the seat. They also show Clissett’s usual method of marking up the legs for the side stretchers.

Are there any other examples of these Clissett-made chairs out there? And does anyone know who they were made for? [This chair has now been incorporated into a page on the main website.]