Straw plait industry Bucks

[pacemaker]

Many of my ancestors were fully and part time employed in the straw plait trade.  The censuses show them as dealers and plaiters. I have read a couple of booklets on the trade associated with the hat industry in Dunstable and Luton.

For such a breadwinning trade, there seems  to be  very little in respect of records from the time, also its' rise and decline

Is anyone else interested in this subject.

Pacemaker

[Marton]

Yes, my ancestors also straw plaiters in area, how may I help
Marton

[pacemaker]

You may have noticed from other posts that my enquiries centre on the Grays of Edlesborough. My ancestor John Gray 1745 was first a butcher, but soon his family took the straw plaiting seriously as a way of making a living. Plaiting became important to the villages of Edlesborough and Eaton Bray throughout the 1800s, but very little of the day to day records are available to us today. My grandfather George Gray 1852 was a dealer with his brother  at the age of twelve . The English plait trade fell apart when the Napoleonic blockades were lifted and the Italian and Chinese  plait was cheaper to import. Even though my great uncle Walter Gray stayed dealing until his death in 1939, I have no record of this one time important addition to the employment of ordinary people. Would you have any book titles worth investigating? Pacemaker

[Marton]

Hi Pacemaker, certainly the straw plait trade continued down the road in Marsworth, Ivinghoe  and elsewhere as my Mother remembered her mother hiring a pony and trap to take the rolls of plait to Dunstable i n the  early 1910's to the dealers for the hat trade there
If you go to Genuki ,click Hertfordshire ,and enter Chris Reynolds site ,he has items on the strawplait trade in that area, where Herts, Beds and Bucks boundaries all meet up He may be able to point you in the right direction
best wishes      Marton