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What Is Campaign Furniture?

During the Georgian and Victorian periods (1714-1901), campaign furniture allowed military officers and gentlemen in the field to enjoy the same standard of living as at home in Britain. They invested large amounts of money to enjoy a high degree of comfort, and this was enhanced by furniture made to quickly fold or pack down for ease of transport. Specially designed pieces of campaign, or knockdown, furniture included, chests, writing desks, bookcases, games tables, chairs, beds, sofa-beds, washstands, and, in some cases, bidets or toilets.

Campaign writing desks were designed with compartments for paper and ink, and were fitted with locks and recessed brass carrying handles. This made them both secure and highly portable. They included baize-lined fitted interiors with a sloping lid that folded out into a writing surface above a concealed drawer, as well as trays and compartments for pens, papers and documents. In some instances these desks also included an extendable sand drawer and blotter in the base (activated by a detachable winding crank handle), as well as false bottoms and secret compartments for concealing valuable personal effects and sensitive documents.

Travel in the late 18th and early 19th Centuries was slow and rugged, and campaign furniture was designed specifically to be folded and packed into manageable loads that could be quickly and easily stowed in the close quarters of a ship or for being carried by porters and animals on overland trips in foreign lands. Outfitting oneself was an expensive exercise, and Lachlan Macquarie on several occasions throughout his India service described and bemoaned the costs that he had incurred in fitting himself out for duty in the field. In some instances where he was forced to abandon his luggage and equipage, such as during Mysore campaign in 1791, he described his losses:

[24 May]
"... I was for some time in great pain and anxiety about my Baggage; having received information on the Line of march, from my Cook, who came up to me, puffing and blowing and terribly frightened, saying, that he was obliged to quit the Bullock he led which carried my Tent, in order to save his life from a Looty that attacked him, and that he saw my Head Servt. Francis run away from an other Looty; and as he was with, and had charge of all, my Bullocks and Baggage, I, of course, concluded, that I had lost every thing belonging to me; what distressed me, above all, was the idea of losing all my Paymaster's Books and Papers, which would occasion great perplexity and doubts in the settlement of accts. with the Regiment: – but, I was happily relieved from all my fears and anxiety on this score, in the course of an hour, by the agreeable appearance of my Head Servant Francis with the part of my Baggage: – having only lost One Bullock with my Tent, my Table, and some Baskets with Wine and Liquors and sundry small articles for Messing; – in all amounting to about Two Hundred Rupees in value; but, as I had saved my Money Books and Papers, these articles I lost, comparatively speaking, I reckoned trifling and of no consequence."

Whilst, in the instance of preparing for service in Gujerat in 1806, Macquarie listed his costs in fitting himself out for field duty as follows:

[October 25]
"... I must therefore still prosecute my original intention of joining the 86th. Regt. in the Field, for which I have already made all the necessary arrangements and preparations by Equipping myself completely for Field Service at an enormous Expence; having already laid out not less than Five Thousand Rupees on my several Field Equipments ! — "

Portable writing boxes were supplemented by other items, such as 'camp writing desks', which were collapsible. These could be be moved about easily during field duty.

Writing Desk home page

Sources:
Brawer, Nicholas. British Campaign Furniture: Elegance Under Canvas 1740-1914. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 2001; Brawer, Nicholas. Britain's Portable Empire: campaign furniture of ths Georgian, Victorian and Edwardian Periods. [Exhibition catalogue: 8 July - 30 September 2001]. New York: Katonah Museum of Art, 2001; Christopher Clark (Antiques) Ltd. The Portable Empire: a catalogue of 18th, 19th and early 20th century campaign furniture and travel equipment. [Catalogue: 2003]. Stow on the Wold, UK: 2003; Christopher Clark (Antiques) Ltd. Essential Baggage: campaign furniture and travel equipment of the 18th, 19th and early 20th century. [Catalogue: 9-23 October 2004]. Stow on the Wold, UK: 2004; Jaffer, Amin. Furniture from British India and Ceylon: a catalogue of the collections in the Victoria and Albert Museum and the Peabody Essex Museum. London: V&A Publications, 2001 p.69.