A Victorian oak tub armchair, circa 1890

The stamp '292, 136, LNER' on the present lot places it within the quaint and intriguing history of British train furnishing. LNER (London and North Eastern Railway) operated from 1923 until the nationalisation of the railways in 1948. LNER was an amalgamation of multiple pre-existing rail companies such as Great Northern Railway and North Eastern Railway. As such, its early trains contained carriages that dated back to the Victorian period. It is possible that this chair, dated c.1890, was part of the property absorbed by LNER during its formation and was then stamped accordingly. There is little recorded history of individual furniture items and their use within LNER; however there are several possible roles this chair could have played. In 1893 North Eastern Railway commissioned four new carriage interiors from designer David Bain, which are described by railway historian David Jenkinson as having been of exceptional quality, containing an “extraordinary cornucopia” of furnishings.¹ While there is no existing record to confirm this, it is possible that the chair on sale here was commissioned or acquired during such a refurbishment. Given its nature as an unfixed and moveable object, it would likely have been situated in a dining car or lounge. 

¹ Jenkinson, D, The History of British Railway Carriages, 1900-53, Pendragon Publishers 1996, p.47