Any Lacemaking Ancestors?

[Sophie30]

I went to a really interesting talk last night at my local historical society on the history of lace. Although I love crafts and embroidery I knew nothing about lace making. It got me thinking, as I understand lace was predominantly made by the poor to supplement their meagre incomes (and sadly in most cases lace dealers made more from the craft than the talented lacemakers) - my ancestors were all poor agricultural labourers - I wonder if any of them made lace?

Would love to hear from anyone who happened across a lacemaker in their family?!

[Captain2]

Hi Sophie,

Yes got a couple,  Dean Street Holborn - father (1794)  and then son - lace maker's & weavers

KR Angie

[Sophie30]

Hi Angie
Excellent! So they weren't living in Bedfordshire then? Apparently that was an area famous for lace. How fabulous! I would love to come across a lace making ancestor.
Sophie

[Emine]

I have some lace-making ancestors - Morgans from Nottingham - though I think they were also framework knitters/stockingers/cordwainers/glovers, depending on the individual and the year. Because many people doing research first come across occupation information from the census returns, a lot could be hidden. Women and children are often given as "wife" and "scholar" (or even nothing), where in fact they also worked. If your female ancestors aren't listed as having an occupation of their own on the census, look around the local area to see what adult unmarried women were doing. It's a reasonable assumption that in a working-class household the women were economically active to some degree. Of course it isn't proof that they were X or Y, but it can act as a hint.

[Minimoo]

On an episode of Larkrise poor Queenie was bemoaning the fact that she couldn't sell her handmade lace because of the new machine  made stuff !!

[Captain2]

Mine guys were 'coach lace makers & weavers' I expect their wife's were too, but like eminie said, there is no record of their occupations. I expect it was hard work for very little reward

[Sophie30]

I saw that particular episode and apparently by lace makers in the know the BBC didn't quite get their research right. The lace shown was not of the type she was referring to! Tut tut! Of course to non lace experts we wouldn't have known otherwise. Nottingham is another area apparently famous for it's lace as is Honiton, Devon. I believe Queen Victoria commissioned Honiton lace makers to make the lace for her wedding veil to help the cottage industry and keep it alive at at a time when the advent of machines effectively ruined the hand made lace industry. I guess it was a good thing that lace became cheaper and therefore accessible to all, notjust the wealthy but it of course drove the price down and highly skilled and talented lace makers suffered. It became a dying art. It's interesting that the poor made lace when it was usually more affluent ladies who became accomplished in needlework and needlepoint. I always thought lace would have come under this category and therefore made by the historical version of ladies that lunch! You were a nobody in the Tudor, Georgian, Victorian eras if you were not an accomplished needleworker so I was fascinated to learn that in fact the wives of poor agricultural labourers etc made these beautiful designs. Children were even sent to Lace school in some areas to learn from a young age the craft (not for their own development and security imight add - they were often exploited and mistreated). With family in the Staffordshire area and nearly all poor working class agricultural labourers I hope that maybe I had an accomplished lace maker in the family, although darn that lack of equality or whatever it was which meant a women's contribution to the household income was not recorded! I guess it simply wasn't important enough to mention. :-) 

[Ringoroses]

An old neighbour of mine died aged 104 in 2004. She'd been a lacemaker in Nottinghamshire in the interwar years. Fascinating lady.

[Sophie30]

That's quite some age! Goodness I bet she was really interesting. What a shame she isn't still with us. Let's hope she passed some samples or lace items on to her family for generations to come to appreciate.