In this splendid Edwardian shot, J W Rawson-Ackroyd is in the chair. On the far right is his close friend, Fitzgerald Verity Dalton, owner of Dean House, and his son Louis Dalton. The gentleman on the extreme left is not known. The person with the unenviable task of pushing the chair across fields and along rutted lanes is probably Jim Allen, the gamekeeper.
CLFD writes: ".. being an invalid and going everywhere in a chair entailed many hands when he went out shooting and for some years he would not have the assistance of a pony until my father said he would make a 'slip' chair so that he could discard the pony in a moment if need be. His chair for 'field work' must have been anything but comfortable as it was very rigid with strong springs but it enabled him to negotiate rough ground. He always had 3 men "on the chair" and one leading the pony and another in charge of several dogs; he used to come to our Long Walk for the rook shooting and sitting out in the Park waited for "flyers". A stranger meeting the "cortege" on the road must have been astonished to see such a unique turn-out - his other mode of transport was a high wagonette - not cosy or comfortable and we often wondered why he didn't have a well-upholstered "phaeton" or something similar instead of being perched sideways on a draughty hard seat. His valet, William Robinson, a portly gentleman, was also his coachman. As he got older and couldn't do the lifting, Joe Allen took over, he was Grange gardener with John Bradley and they "manned" the chair with Farey Allen as pony leader and Jim Allen as gamekeeper and leader of the dogs. He always had black retrievers and in my earliest recollections some pointers."
Photo courtesy Wade Family