Oak Wardrobes

Oak, the traditional choice
It has been explained on many parts of this site that the origin of the wardrobe was as a complete room in which to keep the robes of the nobility.  The person charged with this duty would, of course, have been the ward of the robes.  As the country prospered, a new class of people began to own their own houses which were more elaborate than the simple huts or hovels of the majority.   It was not practical or necessary for them to have separate rooms for their clothes and so the wardrobe as a freestanding upright chest came into existence.

Traditionally furniture that was made for the more affluent classes in society would be made in the better quality timbers – and this would typically be oak.  Therefore the earliest wardrobes as we might recognise them would have been oak wardrobes.  Oak was in plentiful supply as it covered large parts of the country in the 16th and 17th Centuries.  It was an almost universal construction material – the plastic of its day.  Oak was used for buildings, furniture, carts and boats or ships, in fact almost everything that was made would have had a version made of oak.  

Oak 'does most things well'
Oak is a slow growing tree.  It has a dense timber that does most things well.  For example, it is not as rot resistant as sweet chestnut when used for fencing, but it is still a very good material for fencing.  It does not work as well (it cannot be carved as easily) as lime, but is still a good wood to carve.  It may not be as pretty as walnut or mahogany, but still has a beautiful grain pattern.  A perfect material in fact, for making an oak wardrobe.  

The oak was in plentiful supply until the middle of the 18th Century when the demands for more ships for Britain’s Royal and Merchant navies began to use timber at greater rates.  This was later exacerbated by the onset of the Industrial Revolution that demanded wood for iron making before the method of using coal was perfected.  This took far more timber than would have been needed to make an oak wardrobe for every household in the country and was a time when people first realised that maintaining oak woodlands for the value of their timber was important.  One of the areas where woodland management with a view to future timber needs started to be practiced was the Forest of Dean on the Gloucestershire borders.

The connection between HMS Victory and oak wardrobes
The forest of Dean is generally thought to have been the source of the oak used for building such famous ships as the Mary Rose and HMS Victory – the world’s oldest naval ship still in commission.

The next big depredation of the oak woodlands of Britain came about with the advent of the First World War.  The trench warfare that characterised fighting on the Western Front needed large supplies of wood to shore up the sides of the trenches and dugouts.  Oak woodlands were clear felled to meet this huge demand.  After the end of the First World War it was realised that Britain’s woodlands had a strategic value to the defence of the country – without timber supplies, it was argued, Britain would have been unable to prosecute the war.  Consequently in 1919 the Forestry Commission was established to protect and enhance Britain’s woodlands.  

Despite this, there was still a shortage of wood during the Second World War, to the extent that for a short period it was actually a criminal offence to make wooden furniture.