Richard Johnson wrote: > I have someone who was described as a Squarewright which is a maker of > furniture. In other records he was also described as a house carpenter. There is a problem with the definition of a "squarewright". Some sources (eg the "Concise Scots Dictionary") give meanings like: "a carpenter, specifically one who makes furniture" But to anyone who knows about woodwork, this makes very little sense. The woodworking trades (in standard English usage) are divided, on a continuum of decreasing size and increasing complexity, into carpenters, joiners and cabinetmakers. And while there is a degree of overlap, you would not expect the same craftsman who raises roof-beams and lays floors to also turn out delicate inlaid credenzas. I suspect this dictionary entry was contributed by an academic whose understanding of the practical crafts was limited. The online "Dictionary of the Scots language" rather opaquely defines a "squarewright" as: "The section of the wrights craft specialising in work involving use of the carpenters square" But again, as an amateur woodworker (and as a purchaser of the woodwork of others) I would rather hope that *all* woodworkers used a setsquare, and did not just guess at their angles! Other entries in this article and others in the dictionary do not make a clear case for suggesting that the term "squarewright" applied to one specific division of the woodworkers' craft to the exclusion of others, but rather supports the idea that the word may simply be a local variation on "wright", meaning "woodworker". Gavin Bell