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I have been working on a wooden gun case for an English style long range rifle. While looking for appropriate hardware I ran across a phrase I was not familiar with: "Campaign Hardware." Apparently English officers had special portable furniture which could be easily broken down and reassembled for transport. The brass hardware was specially designed to not protrude so the pieces could easily fit together in wagons, horseback, train, etc. I have seen similar items used by Civil War officers as well.

http://www.astoriedstyle.com/index.php/ ... bathrooms/

http://www.rockler.com/woodworking/Camp ... 4AodKXwA7A

Some more info and pictures of British Campaign Furniture:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Campaign_furniture
http://www.campaignfurniture.com/

An Indian company with a fascinating site with all the furniture and cases needed for a safari:
http://www.jandrguram.com/

An American Civil War example of an officer's field desk on Pawn Stars:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XEdUFnXA5ek

Evidently, this is a good references for British campaign furniture. Amazon sure is proud of it:

http://www.amazon.com/British-Campaign- ... 0810957116

Frank Brower

The reviews are fascinating...too bad it is so expensive.

Philip S wrote:I have been working on a wooden gun case for an English style long range rifle. While looking for appropriate hardware I ran across a phrase I was not familiar with: "Campaign Hardware."

Thanks Philip, et al. Neat stuff. I've never heard the term either and I wonder if it might be of fairly recent coinage applied retroactively to delineate, dare I say exalt, a subset of knockdown furniture. Maybe, maybe not. I'm working under the handicap of a borrowed computer but the earliest use of the term that I could find was from the 1990's. Maybe some of our British friends could shed some light on the etymology of the term.

Sandy

Phillip,

I think the term has been around since at least the early 1800s probably before. I certainly remember seeing references to it in my teens, the 1960's. I don't know when items started being specifically made for officers on campaign but it was surely commonplace by the Napoleonic wars.

Thanks, Reese. Good to know; it was new to me.

Sandy

Some nice illustrations of campaign furniture:

http://www.pinterest.com/hmrenne/campaign-style/

Here's a modern incarnation. -- not near the quality of some of the finer furniture:

http://www.viralnova.com/not-a-box/

The purpose of campaign furniture was to make transportation easier. In the days of animal transportation bulk was just as important as weight. Below are two illustrations of pack transportation of campaign furniture from the book "British Campaign Furniture, Elegance under Canvas 1740-1914."

In case you would like to make your own Campaign chest:

http://www.popularwoodworking.com/proje ... -furniture

Confederate General Robert E. Lee's campaign headquarters furniture on display in the Gettysburg Visitor's Center:

Lee's medical chest is very clever and compact:

Lee's medicine chest may have had a significant impact on the Battle of Gettysburg:

http://www.gatehouse-press.com/?p=517

At the end of "British Campaign Furniture, Elegance under Canvas 1740-1914" detailing the history and usages of portable furniture is this ironic note:

"The British Army is a social institution prepared for every emergency except that of war."

H.O. Arnold-Forster Secretary of War, 1903