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The Dayrolles Inheritance - 1773
A chair worth passing on
How a Single Chair Became an Icon
The story of the Chesterfield is often told in fragments, a rumour here, a portrait there, but at its heart lies a moment between two men: Lord Philip Stanhope, the 4th Earl of Chesterfield, and his godson, Mr Dayrolles.
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A Chair Worth Passing On
On 24th of March 1773, as the Earl approached the end of his life, he is said to have instructed his butler with a simple request:
“Give Mr Dayrolles a chair.”
Whether he meant offer him a seat or gift him the chair has been debated ever since. But the butler, loyal to the last, interpreted the command literally. And so Mr Dayrolles left Chesterfield House carrying a chair, a piece whose silhouette would become the ancestor of the modern Chesterfield.
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A Design That Captured a Generation
The chair he inherited was unlike the formal seating of the day. Upholstered in rich leather, marked with deep-set buttons and brass nailheads, it carried a presence that was both stately and inviting. Years of use had softened its edges, giving it a character that only time can create.
Friends admired it. Acquaintances commissioned copies. And slowly, the design spread, from private libraries to drawing rooms, from aristocratic homes to the salons of Europe. An enduring style had taken root.
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Separating Myth from History
Like all great stories, the truth is more nuanced. The deep button tufting we now associate with the Chesterfield did not appear until the 19th century, long after Lord Stanhope’s time. And yet, the spirit of that early chair, its comfort, its poise, its unmistakable silhouette, lived on.
By the mid‑1800s, the Chesterfield had become a fixture of British interiors. Paintings from Balmoral Castle show Queen Victoria’s drawing room furnished with early examples. A photograph of Buckingham Palace’s Bow Room in 1860 reveals another, low-backed, rolled-armed, unmistakably Chesterfield.
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A British Original
From these early forms came the designs we know today: the London, the Viscount, the grand Victorian silhouettes with their sweeping arms and generous tufting. Each one a quiet evolution of the chair Mr Dayrolles carried out of Chesterfield House.
A Legacy That Endures
The Chesterfield has survived centuries not because of myth, but because of merit. It is a marriage of comfort and dignity, of craftsmanship and character. Whether upholstered in leather or velvet, it remains a symbol of British refinement, a piece that invites you to sit, stay, and settle in.
A Story Winchester Has Carried Since the 1970s
While most Chesterfield makers repeat the same familiar Stanhope legend, Winchester’s heritage includes a perspective that has been part of our identity for over half a century. In the 1970s, our brochures already told the Dayrolles inheritance story, long before the internet, long before the modern industry standardised its 1780 narrative, and long before other manufacturers began echoing the same paragraph.
This means Winchester isn’t following a trend or borrowing a myth.
We are preserving a regional tradition, rooted in local archives and passed down through our own history for more than forty years.
The moment said to have taken place on 24 March 1773, the Earl’s final instruction to “give Mr Dayrolles a chair”, has been part of Winchester’s recorded heritage for decades. It offers a second, equally plausible origin for the Chesterfield: one grounded in real individuals, a real date, and a story that belongs uniquely to our region.
Winchester doesn’t repeat what everyone else says.
Winchester continues the story we’ve carried for generations.