England, probably London, ca. 1765
Mahogany with beech
Catalog no. 27
Most of the British furniture used in the Chesapeake was imported by colonists or private citizens, but some came with British officials. This chair is part of a set abandoned by Lord Dunmore, Virginia's last royal governor, when he fled the Palace at Williamsburg in 1775. Records confirm that Dunmore's predecessor, Lord Botetourt, brought quantities of furniture to Williamsburg from England in 1768. This chair may have been among those goods. After Botetourt's death in 1770, the colony purchased many of the late governor's possessions for his successor to use in the official residence.