The Bergen collection owes a style debt of gratitude to the Campaign furniture of the 19th and 20th centuries. Historically, this style of furniture was made for military campaigns and was designed to be packed up and carried on the march. With the rise and expansion of the British Empire in the 19th and 20th centuries the demand by the military, administrators and colonists increased. British officers of high social position in the Georgian and Victorian periods (1714–1901) often carried high-quality portable furniture.