Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 10.djvu/13

 12 S. X. jAJf. 7, 1922.] NOTES AND QUERIES. Lancashire Assize Rolls, 30-31 Henry III., we find Dyke de Chypendale as a surety for a defendant's appearance. The earliest church registers of Chipping are in 1559, but there are no Chippiiidales in them. Another very strong proof that the cabinet -maker's family was of Yorkshire extraction is afforded by these researches, in which is mentioned an Indenture of Lease and Release of April 30, 1770, now in the West Riding Registry at Leeds, in which the name of " Thomas Chippindale (sic) of St. Martin's Lane, London, cabinet- maker," appears, together with those of three of has uncles, William, Benjamin, and Joseph. These documents are in re- spect of a messuage, gardens, orchards, &c., in Broughgate, in Otley. May I conclude on a more personal note ? There had been some doubt expressed as to what was the age of Thomas Chippendale when he died. Mr. Percy Macquoid, in his great work on the ' History of English Furniture' (1906, vol. iii., p. 134, 'Age of Mahogany '), says that " facts go to prove that he died at the age of about 70." Miss Simon claims to be the first to give the actual date of his burial as Nov. 13, 1779, and that he was buried at St. Martin's-in- the-Fields. But no age was stated. Her statement is confirmed by a personal in- spection I made a short while ago of the clearly written parchment transcript of the burial entries of the parish, and there, under date Nov. 13, 1779, appears the name " Thomas Chippendale. M.," plainly enough. But there is no entry of age. Of course this can now be arrived at by his baptismal entry at Otley on June 5, 1718, as shown in the before -mentioned pedigree. And further, it is confirmed by the copy which Mr. A. W. Chippindale has made of the Account Book of Funeral Expenses belonging to the parish (which was not accessible when I was at the church), and which he has shown me, in which the age is given as "62 yrs " ; and further, pre- sumably, the cause of his death " Consp." This undoubtedly means " consumption," as it often occurs, whilst others are given as " dropsy," " fever," and " S. P." for small- pox. His body was probably amongst those removed to the burial-ground belonging to St. Martin's, near the almshouses at Camden Town, when the mother church was re- stored some 80 years ago. Those also in the spacious crypt were removed, but, relaid as a flooring. It should be remem- bered that the site of the present National Gallery once formed part of the churchyard of old St. Martin's. I may say that there are a couple of old, j large, square-backed, wide-seated arm-chairs, ! covered in dark red plush velvet, preserved ! in the royal pew at the eastern end of the south gallery by the chancel. The wooden part of the arms ends in a lion's face or mask ; the same on the knee of the cabriole- leg, which itself is supported on a lion's- claw-fobt. The legs at the back are simi- larly designed. The wood is probably mahogany, but covered by a thick coating of varnish or some other disfiguring sub- stance. Whether the chairs were pre- sented, as has been suggested, by the great cabinet-maker himself when he was a neigh- bouring parishioner, there is no evidence to show ; but, to my mind, though they may be of the " Chippendale period," they seem to disclose a heavier and more foreign character possibly Dutch than is usually associated with Engish " Chippendale "" furniture. With scarcely an exception the interior of the church is devoid of monu- ments. Ajud now, in conclusion, let me say that having once formed the opinion that there were three Thomas Chippendales in succes- sion and, worse still, having recorded it in ' N. & Q.' now that I have very good reason to believe that it is not the case, it only remains for me to make my humble amende in the same pages, and so prevent your readers in future from falling into that error to which, I am afraid, I may have led some of them in the past. J. S. UDAL, F.S.A. THE SO-CALLED SPANISH ARCHITEC- TURE OF ARRAS. IT is at last being recognized by writers on Arras that the architecture of the Grande and Petite Places in that town is not in the " Spanish style " but is of purely local origin. It is, therefore, disappointing to find in the ' Blue Guide to Belgium and the Western Front ' a statement to the effect that both squares were enclosed by seventeenth- century houses built in a quaint uniform style during the Spanish domination (p. 80). It is true that nothing here is said as to the architecture being Spanish, but to the
 * apparently, most of the principal monuments
 * and tombstones are still preserved there or