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Antiques! => Antique Questions Forum => Topic started by: talesofthesevenseas on August 20, 2009, 10:57:01 AM

Title: Who REALLY Invented the Davenport Desk?
Post by: talesofthesevenseas on August 20, 2009, 10:57:01 AM: I am finding conflicting information about who the inventor of the Davenport desk was. The Davenport desk is a small desk that utilizes the design of a child's school desk, often with legs in front. The desk was designed for use on ships and some of them even have hanging weights inside them to help stabilize them on rolling seas. A weighted Davenport desk just came up on Craigslist this morning, wish I had some dubloons in me pockets!!
http://sfbay.craigslist.org/sby/atq/1332877144.html (http://sfbay.craigslist.org/sby/atq/1332877144.html)

There seem to be two different Captain Davenports credited with having been the inventor of the Davenport desk. One is our local Captain John Pope Davenport, founder of the tiny town of Davenport CA, which was a 19th century whaling port just up the coast from Santa Cruz CA. This Capt. Davenport came from Tiverton RI originally, but made a name for himself here in CA. One of his homes, the first brick house built in CA still stands in Monterey.

Captain Davenport also gets my vote as Most Handsome Man of the 19th Century:
(http://image1.findagrave.com/photos/2008/357/19609781_123007644452.jpg)

But I am betting that ABC TV has it's history of the Davenport desk all wrong:
http://www.abc.net.au/tv/collectors/segments/s1648531.htm (http://www.abc.net.au/tv/collectors/segments/s1648531.htm)

I suspect, that the actual inventer of the Davenport desk was the other Captain Davenport, who came from Gillows in Lancaster, as listed in this Wikipedia entry which references encyclopedia and dictionary of furniture entries:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Davenport_desk (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Davenport_desk)
Title: Re: Who REALLY Invented the Davenport Desk?
Post by: D&b antiques on August 20, 2009, 11:30:35 AM: I have to agree. the Davenport is attributed to be and English Design supposedly started out as women's lap desk.
Title: Re: Who REALLY Invented the Davenport Desk?
Post by: talesofthesevenseas on August 21, 2009, 10:36:10 AM: What? No comments from the ladies on the handsome Captain Davenport?!!
Title: Re: Who REALLY Invented the Davenport Desk?
Post by: KC on August 21, 2009, 11:54:25 AM: Is that a mole below his left eye on his nose? :) Just trying to get you ruffled Tales!
Title: Re: Who REALLY Invented the Davenport Desk?
Post by: talesofthesevenseas on August 21, 2009, 01:00:30 PM: No, I think it is a small scratch, no doubt recieved the last time a fair lady swooned in his arms...
Title: Re: Who REALLY Invented the Davenport Desk?
Post by: regularjoe2 on August 21, 2009, 02:30:50 PM: I'd agree with origin .

(Captain Davenport)
Title: Re: Who REALLY Invented the Davenport Desk?
Post by: talesofthesevenseas on August 21, 2009, 06:07:29 PM: LOL.. My little Bostonian grandmother would have liked that joke, she always used the word davenport to describe a sofa. I understand that comes from an old sofa manufacuturer and that the brand name became a generic term, like the word band-aid.