Randel

Thame, Oxfordshire; chair maker (fl. 1836)

The Autobiography of Benjamin North, published in 1882, recounts his travels in 1836 for his employer, Mr Randel, a chair maker of Thame in Oxfordshire. Using a horse drawn cart and van loaded with chairs, he visited various towns in the counties of Northamptonshire, Gloucestershire, Warwickshire, Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire, selling the products of the workshop.

Randel was the first recorded pioneer in the business of exporting Wycombe chairs from the locality.

Source: DEFM; Boram, ‘Trading Networks of the Chiltern Chairmakers’, Regional  Furniture (1995).