The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1904-03-27
SHAl<ESPEARE'S CHAIR
IS FOUND IN SUSSEX
Verit6ble Seat Occupied by the Bard When He Was
Resting Is Discovered and Documents Proving
Its Verify Are Also Turned Up.

I Mr.. Taylor, who lived next door, saved
! the "Abbots Chair" as it was called
from the sacrilegious wreck. The his
tory of this chair when Shakespeare
/ first possessed it was that a former
| owner of New Place, it was thought a
! William Clopton, had brought it to this
! house in Stratford- on-Avon from
Glastonbury.
Arrived on the spot, Mr.. Ireland went
| to Shakespeare's birthplace and found
| there descendant of Joan Harte, the
sister of Shakespeare. From this Mr..
| Harte he CLEANED a great deal of infor-
nation about the scattered contents of
New Place. On this he went first to
| Clopton house, where a farmer lived.
and to his horror he was told by the
/ farmer that he certainly had possessed
| a great deal of manuscripts from
Shakespeares house, but that only a
| few days previously he had cleared
out a whole closet full of them and
burnt them to make room for some
cartridges. He had seen the name Of
| Shakespeare upon some of the papers,
and his wife said at the time that she
| did not think he ought to have burnt
them. But they were gone beyond re-
call, and the searcher had to confine
his quest to the lesser relics of the
| great bard. On later date he went to
see Mr.. Taylor, who had Shakespeare's
| chair.
| The Western Herald, in 1862, in an
article upon Shakespearean relics.
mentions the chair as an antique relic,
which originally belonged to the un-5
| fortunate and last Abbot of Glaston-
| bury, Richard Whiting, man of great,
learning and courage who, resisting
| the order of Henry VIII to deliver up
the property of the monastery, was
| charged with embezzling some of the
! MI nd hx,t Ii 70 hn
hanged in 1889. The chair, which is
an old Glastonbury one, subsequently
became the property, in 1897, of our
| immortal bard, Shakespeare, and was
| afterwards purchased at Stratford- on
! Avon by Mr. S. Ireland, father of the
notorious Ireland, who was a most re =
spectacle and honorable man, collect
or of rare manuscripts and other
works of art, and he used to exhibit
this chair So repeatedly was Mr.. Ire
lands shop visited by the curious to
! inspect this valuable relic that young
Ireland's cupidity was awakened and
| he admits that the thought of forging
| the manuscripts was suggested by the
| idea that large sum would be realized
by the production of some additions to
| ShakeSpeares existing works.
| 1t was Edward Malone who exposed
the wicked forgeries of young Ireland,
| which had deceived not only his own
| father, but scholars of considerable
renown, including Parr, Wharton and
] Chalmers Young Ireland in his Com
| fessions," mentions that the Shake
| spearean chair (which had a place in
| Mr.. Irelands study, on being conveyed
to London, was perfectly well known
| to all the inspectors of the manuscripts,
many of whom l have often seen seat
| ed therein to hear the peruSal of the
| (forged) papers; and their settled
| physiognomies have frequently excited
in me a desire for laughter which it
required every effort on my part to re-
] strain"
The perfidy of his son, who after
wards ran away in a fit of remorse,
broke poor Samuel Ireland's heart and
| he did not live long. The old chair at
| his death became the property or a
! well-known club known as the AN
cient and Honorable Lumber Troop
sort of literary and powerful political
club to which Samuel Ireland himself
belonged. This club, which existed for
! two or three centuries, was said to
have been originally formed from one
of the trained bands raised at the time
| of the attempted raid by the Spanish
| Amanda.
In Queen Anne's time, her consort,
| Prince George of Denmark, was q
Lumber Trooper and later on, Ho-
|
| escutcheon of arms which long after
hung in their troop hall. It's aims
were chiefly political and it was a rec
| ognized matter that any candidate for
the city of London aspiring to success
| should become a trooper" and be adj
mitted by their colonel. Their anthem
commencing, I'VE are full ten thou
sand boys was probably not far from
| the truth, for even in 1888 their num-
| bers were credibly estimated at 5000
! to 5000 members. Their troop hall
was what was afterwards known as
Dr. Johnson's tavern, in Holt court,
Fleet street, London. But with the
disuse of the punch bowl came the end
of the days of the Lumber Troop"
and in 1859 the properties and arms of
| the troop, including royal and cele-
! brated autographs, furniture, paint
| ings, etc, were put up for sale by auc-
| ton at Messrs. Price & Clark's rooms
| in Chancery lane, London.
| The catalogue, which now lies be-
| fore the writer, gives Lot 16' as the
| "Oak Glastonbury chair which be-
| longed to Shakespeare and called the
| 'abbot's chair!' Full particulars of this
| lot to be obtained at the offices Of the
auctioneers."
| The chair was sold to Mr.. Joseph
Drew, of Weymouth, and was later on
purchased by Lieut.. Col Money Carter.
/ 1t was purchased by Mr.. Charles Daw-
son, a fellow of the Society Of An
| tiquities, London, from Col. Carriers
daughter in 1900, and is now in his
possession at Uckfield, Sussex.
Kate Lintott.