My husbands g, g, g, grandmother (I think I have enough greats, born in
1816) was shown in the census as a lace maker as was her sister and her
mother I think! After she married that changed over the years to
Agricultural worker and her and her husband appear to have worked on a named
estate. But their daughters were then listed as lace makers.
In this country most farm labourers was not well paid and mostly the same as
lace makers. Queen Victoria organised to have lace made for her Wedding
Gown and then a Christening gown to help the women of the area around
Honiton and districts close to there in Devon, UK. We went to a Lace Event
since then and were shown samples in a book and other items from that time.
http://www.barbara-fay.com/index.php/en/component/virtuemart/bobbin-lace/devon-trolly-lace-patterns-and-lace-for-queen-victoria-detail?Itemid=0
This link will show you a book and give you just a little information about
what I am saying here.
I think the added skill might well have made the girls a better catch,
because they could make lace, while looking after their children, to bring
in some extra money when times were tough for the farming.
Sue T
Dorset UK, which is the county next to Devon.
My great, great grandmother was a lacemaker; on the 1861 census she was
aged 20 and her trade was described thus - 'Farm labourer's daughter'. I
always thought this was because her parents were trying to make her look
like a good catch (i.e. 'our daughter doesn't have to work we have the
funds to keep her') but now I am wondering whether they were actually
trying to pretend she was not a drug addled whore.
I suppose that's better than the acquitted murderer allegedly on my
maternal side!
On 25 May 2018 at 13:30, Devon Thein <[email protected]> wrote:
One concept that I seem to have gleaned from my reading is that the
lacemakers in England did well during the Napoleonic Wars because
trade with the continent was cut off. Then after the Napoleonic Wars
things became much worse for them. Perhaps their number swelled during
the period when people had to buy English lace. After the wars the
English were able to buy European lace which they preferred.
Devon
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