A TASMANIAN BLACKWOOD ARMCHAIR BY GEORGE PEDDLE, CIRCA 1890

Millwood Family, Tasmania

"In 1884, George Peddle, aged 29 came to Australia in the S.S. Gulf of Carpentaria from High Wycombe, the centre of the chair making industry in the county of Buckinghamshire, England.  He arrived in Hobart July 18, 1884 and found employment at Risby's Furniture Factory where he remained for about four years.  However, he was an ambitious man and wanted to strike out for himself, so he moved to Launceston in northern Tasmania and set up a back room workshop in the Windmill Hill area.

Peddle's chairs were made of solid hand-tooled wood and designed for comfort and durability.  These qualities together with the intrinsic beauty of the wood, the superior workmanship and the highly polished finish earned for the maker a reputation as an artisan.  He also made some rocking chairs, and armchairs including one for the late Mr. Jim Millwood who was a very big man, reputed to weight twenty stone.  That chair is 51cm width and is now known as the Grandfather Millwood Chair.

His big break came when at the turn of the century he tendered among others, to supply chairs to every railway station in Tasmania.  In the course of the interview regarding the job he was asked for a reference, whereupon he picked up a couple of chairs he had brought along and threw them down a long flight of stairs.  He then invited his interviewers to examine them.  They were found to be perfectly sound.  'That's my reference!' he said, and got the contract."

Reference:
Veale, V ‘The Making of History’

'In 1884, George Peddle, aged 29 came to Australia in the S.S. Gult of Carpentaria from High Wycombe, the centre of the chair making industry in the county of Buckinhamshire, England.  He arrived in Hobart July 18, 1884 and found employment at Risby's Furniture Factory where he remained for about four years.  However, he was an ambitious man and wanted to strike our forhimself, so he moved to Launcestion in northern Tasmania and set up a back room workshop in the Windmill Hill area...
'Peddle's chairs were made of solid hand-tooled wood and designed for comfort and durability.  These qualities together with the intrinsic beauty of the wood, the superior workmanship and the highly polished finished earned for the maker a reputation as an artisan.  He also made some rocking chairs, and armchairs including one for the late Mr. Jim Millwood who was a very big man, reputed to weight twenty stone.  That chair is 51cm width and is now known as the Grandfather Millwood Chair...
His big break came when at the turn of the century he tendered among others, to supply chairs to every railway station in Tasmania.  In the course of the interview regarding the job he was asked for a reference, whereupon he picked up a couple of chairs he had brought along and threw them down a long flight of stairs.  He then invited his interviewers to examine them.  They were found to be perfectly sound.  'That's my reference!' he said, and he got the contract.'