Charles Harold Hayward

"Self-Employed Carpenter" -- Prolific Author of Woodworker's Manuals -- Editor of Woodworker Magazines

under construction 8-10-08

Bio: Hayward was born April 26, 1898, in London, England. The son of a woodworker, Albert Charles Hayward, and mother, Elizabeth (Richards) Hayward, Hayward married Ivy Edith Peronne on April, 1939, and his marriage produced three children: C. G. Alan, Sylvia R., Lorna H.J.

Educated in London, England, Hayward served in World War I for two years, 1916-18.

Hayward -- a Self-employed cabinetmaker in London, England, for 12 years, 1913-25, became editor of ; Handicrafts, London, 1925-35,later Woodworker, London, editor, 1935-68. For two years, he lectured, Shoreditch Training College, 1938-39, the same institution where Percy Wells and John Hooper worked.

(Aside: Three other London-based woodworkers, Paul Hasluck, Percy Wells and John Hooper, were active writers during this same era, suggesting the likelihood that the three where acquainted, although I am only speculating about the Hasluck connection. (Like Hayward, Wells and Hooper were connected with the Shoreditch Technical Institute in London. I will keep on the lookout for evidence that confirms whether Hayward was acquainted with Hasluck.)

We have to look at R J DeCristoforo as a parallel to Hayward as an example of rare individuals in woodworking circles: both both prolific writers, both started out at a very young age -- Hayward 25 years old, DeCristoforo 30-odd years old -- and, significantly, both were "self-taught", that is, in the sense, neither had formal training in woodworking and neither went to college. According to my calculations from data in Contemporary Authors, Hayward's writing career extends to at least a phenomenal 56 years, 1923 to 1979; overall, Hayward authored, edited, or contributed to 36 books, and was the editor of at least two periodicals, a truly astonishing output.

WRITINGS BY THE AUTHOR:

1924: English Furniture at a Glance: A Simple Review in Pictures of the Origin and Evolution of Furniture from the Sixteenth to the Eighteenth Centuries, Architectural Press, 1924, Putnam, 1925.

(For a partial online version in pdf of this book, click on the linked title above.)

By "doing the math", we inevitably calculate that Hayward started writing very early. Exhibit 1: The 1924 date on English Furniture at a Glance tells us that this book was written when Hayward was in his early 'twenties. A glance at this book tells us several other things. Taken together, all figures -- "pen-and-ink" -- including 8 stools, 16 chairs, 4 settles, day-beds and settees, 10 chests, 16 armoires, 10 tables, 8 desks, 6 beds, 4 wardrobes, 4 china cabinets, 4 bookcases, 8 mirrors, 8 miscellaneous, total up to just over 100 illustrations. Since no credits are given for the drawings, we have to assume that Hayward is responsible for them. Of greater surprise, though, is the evidence that Hayward both capably researched the extensive background of the history of English furniture and, for his youth, exhibited an unusual maturity of writing ability.

1926: English Rooms and Their Decoration at a Glance: A Simple Review in Pictures of English Rooms and Their Decorations from the Eleventh to the Eighteenth Centuries, Architectural Press, 1925, Putnam, 1926.

1928: Hayward wrote material for Richard Greenhalgh, the editor of Joinery and Carpentry, a six volume set, London: Pitman, 1928, 2nd edition, 1939. (More on this shortly.)

1936: English Period Furniture: An Account of the Evolution of Furniture from 1500 to 1800, 1936, revised edition as English Period Furniture: An Account of the Evolution of Furniture from 1500 to 1850, Evans, 1957, revised edition published as English Period Furniture: An Account of the Evolution of Furniture from 1500 to 1900, Evans, 1977.

Introduction

In writing this book I have endeavoured to show the kind of furniture in common use in England from about 1500 up to the middle years of the Victorian period. It is an extraordinarily interesting subject, one which goes far beyond a mere recitation of styles. It tells of the lives people led and the conditions they had to face, the whole linked up with the historical events that went to the evolution of Britain as we know it today.

The fact is that the furniture made at any particular period was largely the result of the circumstances of life at that time, particularly in the early years. Later when choice was largely dictated by fashion rather than by necessity there was not the same strong reflection of life in general, because when people do things merely because other people do them the result has less meaning than when cicumstances force a line of action upon them.

... I have a theory that practical considerations have always had a stronger influence on design than is generally realized, and I hope that this will become obvious to the reader. It is a subject that I have developed more fully in my book, Antique or Fake?

In conclusion I should like to thank those who have been kind enough to give me permission to take down details of old furniture in their possession, or to provide photographs of it for this new edition.

1937: Practical Veneering: The Theory and Practice of Veneering in Cabinet Work, 1937, Lippincott, 1938, new edition published as Practical Veneering: Hammer and Caul Methods, Presses, Built-up Patterns, Marquetry, Inlays 1949, Lippincott, 1950, revised edition, 1979.

1938: The Carpentry Book Van Nostrand, 1938, new edition published as Teach Yourself Carpentry, English Universities Press, 1938, 2nd edition, 1941.

1942: Hammer and Nails Carpentry 1942.

1942: How to Make Strong Wooden Toys 1942.

1943: Home Hobbies in Wood: Useful Things that You Will Enjoy Making 1943.

1943: New Woodwork from Old: What to Make with Old Wood 1943. 1945: The ABC of Woodwork 1945.

1945: (Editor) Staining and Polishing, 1945, revised edition published as Polishing Your Furniture: Staining, French Polishing, Ebonising, Limed Oak Effect, Jacobean Rubbed Finish, Ivory Bleached Treatment, Wax Polishing, Repolishing 1953, revised edition published as Staining and Polishing, Evans, 1963, revised edition published as Staining and Wood Polishing, Sterling, 1980.

1946: Tools for Woodwork: The Sharpening, Care and Use of Hand Tools 1946, reprinted, Lippincott, 1949, revised edition, Evans, 1973, reprinted, Drake, 1976.

1946: Wood Carving for Beginners 1946.

1946: How to Make Woodwork Tools, 1946.

1947: Cabinet Making for Beginners 1947, reprinted, Lippincott, 1948, revised edition, Sterling, 1980.

1949: (Editor) The Woodworker's Pocket Book: Recipes, Materials, Fittings, Tools, Geometry, Woodworking Data 1949, revised edition, Evans, 1980, revised edition, revised by Robert Lento, Prentice-Hall, 1982.

1950: Woodwork Joints: Kinds of Joints, How They Are Cut and Where Used 1950, reprinted, Lippincott, 1951, revised edition, Evans, 1975.

1950: (Editor) Carpentry for Beginners: How to Use Tools, Basic Joints, Workshop Practice, Designs for Things to Make 1950, reprinted, Lippincott, 1951, revised edition, Evans, 1976.

1950: (Editor) Furniture Designs for Dining Room, Sitting Room, Bedroom, Kitchen and Hall 1950.

1951: The Junior Woodworker 1951, reprinted, Lippincott, 1952, revised edition, Evans, 1963, reprinted, Drake, 1973.

1952: Light Machines for Woodwork: Saws, Planers, Spindles, Sanders, Powered Hand Tools 1952, revised edition, 1960.

1952: (Editor) The Handyman's Pocket Book: Materials, Processes, Repairs, and Data for the Householder 1952, 2nd edition, 1960.

1953: (Editor) The Second Book of Furniture Designs 1953.

1953: Polishing Your Woodwork 1953.

1955: The Complete Book of Woodwork Lippincott, 1955, reprinted, Drake, 1974.

1956: Period Furniture Designs 1956, revised edition, 1968, reprinted, Sterling, 1982; published as English Period Furniture Designs, Arco, 1969.

(Editor) The Complete Handyman, Lippincott, 1960, reprinted, Drake, 1976.

1961: (Editor) Garden Woodwork: Greenhouse Sheds, Seats, Beach Chalet, Swings, Gates, Frames, Cycle Sheds, Garage, Poultry House, Pigeon Cote Lippincott, 1961.

1962: Modern Power Woodwork English Universities Press, 1962.

1963: (With William Wheeler) Practical Wood Carving and Gilding 1963, revised edition, Evans, 1973, reprinted as Wood Carving, Drake, 1972, reprinted as Wood Carving: The Beginner's Guide, Sterling, 1979.

1963: (Editor) Making Toys in Wood< 1963, revised edition, Sterling, 1980, updated and revised edition, revised by Alan and Gill Bridgewater, Sterling, 1993.

1965: Practical Woodwork 1965, revised edition, Sterling, 1978.

1966: Making Furniture 1966. Furniture Repairs, Van Nostrand, 1967, revised and reset as Antique Furniture Repairs, Scribner, 1976.

1968: (Editor) English Period Furniture Designs 1968 Reissued by Arco 1976

Chairs with cabriole legs

Quote on right comes from Hayward's 1936 English Period Furniture, above:

The introduction of the cabriole leg seemed to strike a new note in the design of chairs. It was not simply that a new motif was being used, but that the whole conception of the design became altered. Compare, for example, the two chairs Fig. 9 and 10. It is obvious that the one has turned uprights whilst the other has shaped ones, but, in addition, there is an entirely new spirit in that in Fig. 10. In the earlier example, Fig. 9, one is conscious of a series of parts jointed together in an obvious sort of way. It is not suggested that this is a fault, but simply that the construction is at once apparent. One can count up the parts - two uprights, cresting rail, lower rail, seat rail, stretcher, and so on. And the earlier the chair the more obvious the parts and their purpose becomes.

Now turn to Fig. 10. It is not easy to see where the uprights and the top rail of the back begin and end. They merge one into the other, and the same thing applies to the slat and the rail beneath. The back is one whole, so to speak, and we shall find that this feeling becomes still more apparent in later chairs.

Reverting to the legs again, these are an early form of the cabriole type, and exemplify the Dutch influence which the accession of William of Orange brought with it. The probability is that many of these chairs were the work of foreign craftsmen who settled down here. A cabriole leg is by no means an easy thing to make, and it is doubtful whether a native craftsman could have turned out a really fine shape without previous experience. The awkward point about making the leg is that it is difficult to set down the true shape on paper. It can be drawn at the front, side, and possibly three-quarter positions, but the actual leg is seen from all angles and is normally viewed from above, a viewpoint which the drawing does not present.

Furthermore, in the very nature of the work the guiding lines on the wood are cut away as the work proceeds, because the whole thing is more or less rounded in section. In actual practice the leg is cut out of a square right through to the over-all shape when looked at from the front. A corresponding shape is cut at the side, this producing a square-cut shape. The point to realize is that the cutting of the first shape automatically removes the lines of the second shape, and it is only by temporarily replacing the sawn-away parts that the shape can be cut true. In any case the resulting shape has only a distant resemblance to the finished line, and it is in the final shaping that experience is needed, because there are no square lines to which to work. Everything is curved in both directions and it is only by eye that a really fine shape can be produced, one which looks well when seen from every angle. The whole thing is complicated when carving is to appear, because sufficient thickness has to be allowed for this, and the presence of these plain lumps is apt to give a false impression of the shape as a whole.

We have gone into these practical points at some length because the cabriole leg became so characteristic a feature of furniture for the following seventy-five years or so. Really fine legs are few and far between, the majority being overdone in the shape, and we shall find that they deteriorated considerably after Queen Anne's reign until rescued by the school of Chippendale.

In the present instance, Fig. 10, it will be noticed that the legs terminate in a hoof foot, whilst at the top the sides are scrolled in imitation of the horns of the goat. These details are often found in William and Mary furniture, after which they gave place to the turned club foot, as illustrated in Fig. 11. In the meantime it should be noted that the legs are still linked together with stretcher rails. It is true that the last-named are on an altogether lighter scale than in earlier pieces (see Fig. 5, page 53) and are gracefully shaped, but the chair-maker has not yet felt confident enough to omit them entirely, which was the next stage in the development of the chair.

Another feature of the chair in Fig. 10 met with for the first time is the curve in the rake of the back, and it is interesting to glance at the diagram in Fig. 12, which shows the various stages of development. There is the earliest straight post J cut from a square of timber and continuing from leg to back in a straight line. This was used mostly in the old settles of Gothic times (see Fig. 18, page 31). Then came the idea of setting the back at an angle K, a phase which lasted until past the middle of the seventeenth century. An example is given in Fig. 2, page 49. In the same period in a few chairs little blocks were added at the bottom as at L to help to counterbalance the weight. This is exemplified in Fig 20, page 33. Next, the legs were at last splayed as at M, though the back still remained straight without any curve (see Fig. 6, page 74). N gives the next development, as in the chair in Fig. 10, whilst 0 shows the shape which the majority of chairs in the later eighteenth century had, of which Fig. 2, page 116 is an example.

A last point to note about the chair in Fig. 10 is the shaped splat. This was something quite fresh (see last example in Fig. 9), and had certain definite stages in development. It is shown in the armchair in Fig. 11 in its most characteristic form. Apart from its shaped edges it follows the general line of the back when viewed from the side.

1968: (Editor) Woodworker's Question Box 1968, Drake Publishers, 1971.

1970: Antique or Fake?: The Making of Old Furniture 1970, St. Martin's 1972, reprinted, Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1981.

1970: Antique Furniture Designs C. Scribner's, 1979.

1970: Editor Woodworkers Annual Evans Brothers, 1949-50, 1956-59.