A COTSWOLD SCHOOL WALNUT AND EBONY-BANDED WARDROBE

Peter Waals answered an advertisement in the Times for a cabinet maker and joined Ernest Gimson and Ernest Barnsley in Cirencester early in 1901. From 1902 he worked as foreman of Gimson's furniture workshop at Daneway House near Sapperton. About ten cabinet makers ranging from skilled men to local apprentices worked at Daneway.
Waals had very high standards as a craftsman and a good eye for choosing timber. He was the person who would normally go to timber merchants in London to purchase the more exotic woods and veneers for both Gimson and Sidney Barnsley. After Gimsons death in 1919, Waals set up his own workshop making domestic pieces in the village of Chalford.