1964 Lace Makers Interviewed

By 1964 several elderly lace makers had been interviewed as follows:-

1930. A VANISHING CRAFT.   Bucks Free Press.

Mrs. Mary Janes, lace maker, of Loosley Row has been making lace for over 60 years.   She is now 68 but her clear complexion, the brightness of her eyes and the speed with which her fingers intertwine the threads upon the pillow, all belong to a younger age.

SKILL PASSED DOWN

“Of course, it is simple for me after making lace all these years”, she said, her fingers flying.   “My mother taught me and I have been making lace ever since.   The craft has been in my family for generations,   My Grandmother made exquisite patterns, and I believe taught my mother”    While she spoke, the bobbins rattled on, their threads weaving round a tiny forest of pins pricked in the pattern.

(Comment added by Rosemary Mortham "This is a popular misconception amongst those watching lace makers at work.   In fact the stitch is made first and the pin then put into position in the pricking to hold the work firm while the bobbins are still pulling the thread.   The pins may later be removed")

LACE AS CURRENCY

Mrs Janes can remember a time when lace passed for currency at the village store.   “In those days”, she said, “Good lace was appreciated.   There was no finer lace in the land than Buckinghamshire lace.   All we lace makers were proud of our craft.  I remember that we went to “Bobbin Castle” – our name for the shop in High Street High Wycombe – to sell the lace”.  But if Mrs Janes had to rely upon Lace making for her food today, she would often go hungry, for few workers earn more than two or three pence an hour.

SIX INCHES IN THREE WEEKS

When Mrs. Janes is working upon her most intricate patterns she has only six inches of lace after three weeks of incessant toil.

WOMAN'S SOCIAL STANDING

“Lace of that kind is hardly ever begun now,” she says, “Ladies don’t appreciate it today.   There was a time when the social standing of a woman was measured by the quality of the lace she wore.   Those days are past.   There is little or no market for handmade lace now.   It would be impossible to make a living at it.   I only make it occasionally for exhibitions and when a few orders come my way” Years ago, lace makers used to buy their patterns, but now, one maker copies them from another.   These patterns have the curious name of “etches”.

MINNIE BROWN told by Rosemary Mortham

Minnie Brown was born in 1889.   The daughter of Ellen Brown.   They lived at no.1, Belle Vue, Lacey Green.   Ellen was widowed in 1897 when Minnie was 8 years old.   Ellen kept a little shop in the back room of their house, selling a few groceries and sweets.

CHRISTMAS “RICE PUDDING”

Money was very tight.   The first Christmas they only had a bowl of rice pudding.   Minnie had been taught to make lace by her mother.   She would run home at school dinner break to add to the “Little knot” design lace that she had learnt to do.   It would fetch tuppence - halfpenny (approx. 1p) for a yard.  They both spent every evening lace making by candlelight to make enough money to live.    Minnie said that every now and then her mother’s bobbins would stop and she would nod off for a few moments.  

SPECIAL LACE

When she was 13, Mrs Forrest, the squire’s wife bought some of her lace.  Minnie said that she had made lace incorporating gold thread, but no examples remain.    Ellen and Minnie also did bead work.   In later life Minnie, now married to Fred Adams, specialised in making handkerchief borders for brides.    Her daughter Phyllis still had a number of examples in traditional Bucks patterns like Duke’s Garter and Water Lily.   She made proper shaped corners and often did her own thread work on the handkerchief.   In 1948 Minnie made 16 yards of lace for her daughter Phyllis’s wedding veil.   This has since been cut up for her grandchildren’s christening gowns.   What a labour of love!

WW2 MAPS

During WW2, Phyllis worked at Bomber Command, making maps on thin cotton fabric.   Later her mother used this to make the hankies for her lace edgings, once the map pattern had been washed off.   

In 1955 Clara Rixon, wife of Fred Rixon gave an interview to “Buckinghamshire Interest”.

EVERY LITTLE HELPS

She states that she has been making lace for over 60 years.    Her efforts, when young, helped to eke out the family budget, but she never made lace for a living.

MOTHER & GRANDMOTHER

Her mother learned lace at the age of 5 and her grandmother made “real old Bucks lace” at half a crown a yard (12.5p) for the Countess of Buckinghamshire.

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