Dawe(s) (or Daws) Robert 

17 Margaret St, Cavendish Sq., London, cabinet maker, upholder and recumbent chair manufacturer (1820–39)

 Trading at 33 Edgware Rd in 1839. Also listed at Harlington, Middlx in 1838. [D] Patented his ‘Improved Recumbent Chair’ in 1827, and advertised it in Liverpool Mercury, 1 August 1828, describing the mechanics: ‘By elevating a spring beneath the arm of the chair, where the hand rests, it may be converted into a couch, & any required inclination given to the back & arms; & by drawing out a sliding panel beneath, the length may be increased’. One such chair, covered in claret morocco, was bought for £14 on 17 September 1831 by Edward Hurt of 34 Dorset Sq., London, to be sent to Miss Hoskins at Claremont House, Gloucester. [Herefs. RO, Arkwright papers, A63/161] Daws made several variants of the chair, examples being illustrated in Loudon's Encyclopaedia, 1833 and 1839. Several survive, and are generally of oak or mahogany, with out-scrolled, adjustable backs, padded arms carved with Gothic or lotus leaves; baluster, reeded or octagonal legs on brass castors; and upholstered in leather. Some have pull-out leg supports or adjustable book-rests. The chairs are generally stamped with the maker's name and address, and bear labels dated 1833–34 with instructions. One label, dated January 1833, reads: ‘respecting the permanence of the principle of this chair, but little need be said, since R. Dawes is willing to make OATH that the least derangement has not to his knowledge averaged one in FIVE HUNDRED during five years’. Probably the maker of the mahogany arm chair at Heveningham Hall, Suffolk, stamped ‘DAWES PATENT GR’. Seven examples showing variant designs in his recumbent chair and a brass plate die-stamped ‘DAWS PATENT’ above the Royal Arms and an instruction label are illustrated in Gilbert (1996), figs 279-286. [Antique Collecting, February 1979, p. 13; C. Life, 7 February 1963, supplement, p. 18; Apollo, August 1965, November 1975, p. 104; Conn., December 1979, p. 260; Sotheby's 5 July 1968, lot 249; 13 November 1970, lot 247; 10 July 1970, lot 74; 20 October 1972, lot 106; 12 July 1974, lot 135; 11 October 1974, lot 145; 25 July 1975, lot 184; 22 April 1977, lot 155; Christie's 15 May 1975, lot 31; 19 January 1978, lot 24; 10 May 1984, lot 22; V & A archives]

Source: DEFM; Gilbert, Pictorial Dictionary of Marked London Furniture 1700-1840 (1996).