KIRKHAMFurniture-Making1982.pdf

The unspecialised nature of cabinet-making in the quality trade
in the mid-nineteenth century is confirmed by Natthew Digby Wyatt. In
1856, he reported on the furniture displayed at the Paris Exhibition of
1855 and argued that the poor quality of British design and production was
due, in part, to the lack of division of labour 31 . He recommended the
abolition of the piece-rate price books used in the West End and the
introduction of a 'better' division of labour whereby 'the men would be
kept each one at a particular process of which he was the most thorough
master'. He felt that this, together with the introduction of more
processes, would lead to better and cheaper furniture 32 . But even by the
end of the century, when the supremacy of the West End trade had declined,
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there was little division of labour in the quality cabinet trade
The development of the comprehensive manufacturing firms in the
quality trade ensured that a wide range of cabinet work was undertaken
and gave the cabinet-maker the opportunity to retain all-round skills.
It was the smaller firms, some of them producing good quality work, however,
which restricted their scope. Thomas Sheraton commented in 1792 that
craftsmen were 'sometimes strangers to particular pieces of furniture'
because certain pieces were made in one shop and not in another 34 . It
was this type of production rather than a division of labour within workshops
which produced specialisation in cabinet work.
For most of the eighteenth century, there was little specialisation.
Even when the increasing use of specialised rooms led to a great demand for
a wide variety of tables in the second half of the eighteenth century35,
there was no division of labour between table-making and other aspects of
cabinet-making. The exception was the production of games tables,
particularly backgammon and billiards tables. In this case, it was not
simply demand which affected specialisation but also the fact that very
particular skills were involved. In the case of backgammon tables, a
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