About the Project Stories
Lace making in Chinnor and the Donkey Lane Community Orchard.
Chinnor was historically an agricultural area, but by 1851 things began to change. Compared to 1841 almost as many men were now engaged in trade as in agricultural work. This was a direct result of the many resources available to use in the area created by the geographical location and the local soil. The wood on the hills was particularly useful for making furniture and the proximity to High Wycombe, an important location for furniture production, meant that there was a local market for lathe turned chair legs in particular. There was an abundance of flint stone that could be used for building and the chalk provided more opportunities, one being lime wash and latterly cement production.
Lace making was a very popular skill, often providing enough extra income to keep families fed and widows or spinsters out of the workhouse. The skills came to this area from about 1560 when French and Flemish refugees fleeing religious persecution settled in the East Midlands, Buckinghamshire, Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire. Chinnor was part of the Buckinghamshire lace production area, sending most of the lace produced to High Wycombe. These Counties were close enough to the fashion scene in London where lace was a popular commodity used to enhance and add luxury to outfits. In Chinnor as in most of the neighbouring villages, it was a very popular way for the women and girls of all ages to supplement the household income. Poverty statistics are well documented in the history of Chinnor, where agricultural work was poorly paid, seasonal and weather dependent.
The photograph on the left is a local lace maker, Jane Oxlade born Jane Tibbles in about 1849. She married George Oxlade, a woodsman in 1878. It is thought she lived at the top of the High Street just after WW1. She died in 1934 aged 85. The photograph shows very clearly the bobbins on her pillow with a support stick below to help take the weight. She would have had a paper pattern on the pillow which looked like a stencil punched with holes which guided the lace maker to locate her pins into the pillow on which to make her lace. This was often called Bucks Pillow Lace.
Lace making was convenient because it allowed women to earn extra money whilst carrying out all of their fairly heavy, domestic duties and bring up the children. Often lace making earned more money than the agricultural pay and was consistent throughout the year with a slight difference in hours between Summer and Winter because of the daylight hours. Families with a lot of daughters would have multiple lace wages which was very helpful especially if the main breadwinner was an agricultural labourer.
The 1841 census told us that there were 268 lace makers in Chinnor, which was approximately a quarter of the recorded population. At this point 21 of them were recorded as living in the cottages in the Orchard. By the time of the 1851 census the number had reduced to 11. It is interesting to note that they were mostly either very elderly or very young, not too many middle-aged lace makers just here. In 1861 it remained at 11 but fell to 9 in 1871, still 9 in 1881 because of the large number of daughters of the Rogers family. It fell to 5 in 1891 and just 3 or 4 in 1901 and only 2 remaining in 1911.
The table below shows for each census year the lace makers who lived in the orchard cottages. Wives and daughters of agricultural labourers are highlighted in yellow. eg. In 1841 the Howlett family had 7 ‘lace’ wages to enhance the agricultural wages of the head of the household. Highlighted in green are ladies with no breadwinner such as widows or single ladies. A red star indicates a lodger or widowed relative.
Lace making would have been a way of making enough to exist. Priest’s survey of 1810 reported that a fine lace maker from Princes Risborough could earn between 7/- (35p) and £1.10.0 (£1.50) per week. After this time the lace making machines began to appear. In 1817 a machine was developed in Nottingham by frame maker John Leavers, which had improved the quality of machine-made lace that could compete with all but the finest handmade lace. It began to have an impact on the home produced, cottage industry however, this took many years to completely die out. There were still lace makers in Chinnor well into the 20th Century. An example of this, Jane Oxlade is featured at the beginning of this piece.
When agricultural workers were earning 11/- (55p) to 12/- (60p) per week, a skilled lace maker could make 5/- (30p) to 9/- (45p) per week. This would be a significant contribution to the family income. Two lace makers in the family could potentially double the family income. As lace making was neither seasonal, nor weather dependent this could mean that the lace maker earned more annually than an agricultural labourer. Some of the agricultural labourers had other skills that would enhance their income. This included turning chair legs by making crude shelters and setting up pole lathes up in the woods in the winter months. This would mean they could exercise their ‘Hillwerke’ rights to access wood from the hill for construction firewood or personal use. They could then sell the chair legs to chair makers to refine. These woodturners were referred to as bodgers.
A lace making lodger would also help the household budget. We see that in the 1851 census where Esther Wade (76), now a widow, still had a lodger Mary Munday (70). Both were lace makers, their joint wages would help to pay rent and provide food for themselves. It would also help that their cottage had a garden where they could grow some food and possibly have some chickens to enhance their budget.
Children commonly went to Lace Schools to learn lace making skills. Children locally were first taught simple patterns such as little pea design. The pea design was woven around a diamond pattern of pins pictured left.
Here is a picture of Mrs Dobbin’s Lace school at Stokenchurch around 1860 from the book ‘Victorian and Edwardian Buckinghamshire from old photographs.*
This shows very clearly the age range of the girls learning to make lace, some look very small indeed! It was not unknown for boys too young or small for farm work to attend lace school although it does not look like there are any in this picture.
The elementary Education Act was revised many times to develop the right to an education for all children and received royal Assent in 1880. By the 1881 census there was a noticeable change in the youngest age of lace makers as there were fewer or no children less than 10 recorded as lace makers. They were now listed in the census as scholars as we can see from this census entry for the cottages in 1881 for the Rogers families.
The 1841 census told us that there were 268 lace makers in Chinnor, which was approximately a quarter of the recorded population. At this point 21 of them were recorded as living in the cottages in the Orchard. By the time of the 1851 census the number had reduced to 11. It is interesting to note that they were mostly either very elderly or very young, not too many middle-aged lace makers just here. In 1861 it remained at 11 but fell to 9 in 1871, still 9 in 1881 because of the large number of daughters of the Rogers family. It fell to 5 in 1891 and just 3 or 4 in 1901 and only 2 remaining in 1911.
The table below shows for each census year the lace makers who lived in the orchard cottages. Wives and daughters of agricultural labourers are highlighted in yellow. eg. In 1841 the Howlett family had 7 ‘lace’ wages to enhance the agricultural wages of the head of the household. Highlighted in green are ladies with no breadwinner such as widows or single ladies. A red star indicates a lodger or widowed relative.
Lace making would have been a way of making enough to exist. Priest’s survey of 1810 reported that a fine lace maker from Princes Risborough could earn between 7/- (35p) and £1.10.0 (£1.50) per week. After this time the lace making machines began to appear. In 1817 a machine was developed in Nottingham by frame maker John Leavers, which had improved the quality of machine-made lace that could compete with all but the finest handmade lace. It began to have an impact on the home produced, cottage industry however, this took many years to completely die out. There were still lace makers in Chinnor well into the 20th Century. An example of this, Jane Oxlade is featured at the beginning of this piece.
When agricultural workers were earning 11/- (55p) to 12/- (60p) per week, a skilled lace maker could make 5/- (30p) to 9/- (45p) per week. This would be a significant contribution to the family income. Two lace makers in the family could potentially double the family income. As lace making was neither seasonal, nor weather dependent this could mean that the lace maker earned more annually than an agricultural labourer. Some of the agricultural labourers had other skills that would enhance their income. This included turning chair legs by making crude shelters and setting up pole lathes up in the woods in the winter months. This would mean they could exercise their ‘Hillwerke’ rights to access wood from the hill for construction firewood or personal use. They could then sell the chair legs to chair makers to refine. These woodturners were referred to as bodgers.
It is thought that there were 3 lace schools in Chinnor. Girls as young as three or four years old were sent to these lace schools where they also learned their alphabet. One such school was situated in the old ‘British School’ on the Lower Road which is now the Chinnor Silver Band practice room. Research done by U3A group states that this was run by a Mrs Green.
‘Chinnor in Camera’ states that in the 1880’s there was a lace school at the top of the High Street where it meets Keens Lane. It is now a hairdresser’s salon, Reflections, which many will know. When it was a lace school it was owned by Mr John Pestell and run by his wife. It looked very different then. This picture shows the road mending team in front of it just after WW2.
This shows very clearly the age range of the girls learning to make lace, some look very small indeed! It was not unknown for boys too young or small for farm work to attend lace school although it does not look like there are any in this picture.
An inspector for The Royal Commissioners, J.E. White reported in 1863;
“They (the pupils) are also deprived of the opportunities for education. It is considered however in many places that the duty of the mistress to teach reading as well as lace making and though but a few minutes in the day are devoted to this, when it is practised, its good effects seem translated in a power of reading which their other instruction would have been insufficient to give. Conversely in Parish and other schools, children are sometimes taught lace making as the only means of inducing them to attend at all”
This would seem to be a forerunner of OFSTED. As a result of these inspections and their subsequent reports by 1871 the ‘Factories and Education Act’ was passed which brought about the closure of most of the lace schools.
According to Chinnor resident John Neighbour, his grandmother told him ‘very young girls were sent to learn lacemaking’. He thought his grandmother possibly attended a lace school, certainly she made ‘Bucks Pillow Lace’ into the 1950’s. He remembers watching her doing it. He said her fingers moved so quickly the bobbins flew in all directions and you had to stand back to avoid them. She had lots of fine thread, probably supplied by a dealer. She had a “holey piece of paper” on a pillow on her knee which she followed to complete the pattern. The lace was most likely sold in High Wycombe by a dealer. John’s wife still has some of his grandmother’s lace, an example of Bucks Pillow Lace.
John’s sister Norah Neighbour, a local teacher who wrote about the ‘Poor Law’ in Chinnor, wrote in her memoir of Chinnor ‘Many a family would have starved or gone to the dreaded workhouse if the women had not been able to make lace. There were three lace making schools in the village and my Granny and Great Aunt were sent to one when they were tots.' Which backs up John’s statement.
This would seem to be a forerunner of OFSTED. As a result of these inspections and their subsequent reports by 1871 the ‘Factories and Education Act’ was passed which brought about the closure of most of the lace schools.
According to Chinnor resident John Neighbour, his grandmother told him ‘very young girls were sent to learn lacemaking’. He thought his grandmother possibly attended a lace school, certainly she made ‘Bucks Pillow Lace’ into the 1950’s. He remembers watching her doing it. He said her fingers moved so quickly the bobbins flew in all directions and you had to stand back to avoid them. She had lots of fine thread, probably supplied by a dealer. She had a “holey piece of paper” on a pillow on her knee which she followed to complete the pattern. The lace was most likely sold in High Wycombe by a dealer. John’s wife still has some of his grandmother’s lace, an example of Bucks Pillow Lace.
John’s sister Norah Neighbour, a local teacher who wrote about the ‘Poor Law’ in Chinnor, wrote in her memoir of Chinnor ‘Many a family would have starved or gone to the dreaded workhouse if the women had not been able to make lace. There were three lace making schools in the village and my Granny and Great Aunt were sent to one when they were tots.' Which backs up John’s statement.
The elementary Education Act was revised many times to develop the right to an education for all children and received royal Assent in 1880. By the 1881 census there was a noticeable change in the youngest age of lace makers as there were fewer or no children less than 10 recorded as lace makers. They were now listed in the census as scholars as we can see from this census entry for the cottages in 1881 for the Rogers families.
In the cottages it must have been very difficult for lace makers to keep their hands clean enough to work the lace. Water had to be pulled up from the well and the newly developed soap bar was an unimaginable luxury for these families. The ordinary lace makers spent long hours, usually in excess of 12 hours per day in dark, damp and cramped conditions. The lack of daylight and a very unhealthy atmosphere caused them to develop sallow complexions and because of the long periods hunched over the lace pillows, with only very short and infrequent breaks their bodies often became misshapen. It was a very debilitating way to make a living. There were many cases of tuberculosis amongst lace makers.
The fine lace makers could not have a fire in the room where they worked because the threads had to be kept clean, untainted by soot. Often embers from the bakery were placed in ‘chaddy’ or ‘dicky’ pots beneath the lace makers‘ stools, with the added hazard of setting petticoats alight. Most of the old photographs of lace makers show them busy outside their cottages which could be explained by lack of light indoors but also, to keep fine lace soot free. In Summer months it was possible to work outside always supposing that you have some suitable space.
Gardner’s Trade Directory for Chinnor, published in 1852, shows that the village hosted a fortnightly ‘Lace Feast’ which was attended by lace workers from adjoining villages and by purchasers from different parts of the country. Lace was bought and sold at this event. The event was mentioned
In the 1841 census Sarah Guntrip (aged 45) and her mother, Mary Gomme (aged 85) were listed as lace makers living in Hollans Lane, at one of the Orchard cottages along with Sarah’s husband John, a woodman. By 1851 Sarah was listed as a lace dealer and John as a wood dealer and the lane was now listed on the census as Guntrip Lane. Presumably the lane became known as Guntrip Lane after Sarah and John, probably as a way of helping people find them in order to do business. Moreover, Sarah was the only lace dealer mentioned on the census for the village. This would have been a significant position in the area as an outlet for the lace made in the cottage industry. Lace dealers supplied the lace makers with patterns and materials such as silk to make the lace for a fee on the understanding that they would sell completed lace on for them. It was very likely that Sarah got her supplies from the major dealer in the area, Thomas Gilbert of High Wycombe.
Thomas Gilbert was a very successful lace dealer from High Wycombe. His quotes give us an insight into the world of lace making in the 1850’s and 60’s. He claimed to indirectly engage nearly 3000 lace makers in Bucks and the adjoining strip of Oxfordshire. When he gave evidence to the Children’s Employment Commission’ he explained that they were not employed directly by him but that he sold them materials, i.e. patterns and silk or thread. There was an understanding (although no obligation) that he would take all the lace for which he had sold the patterns whether there was a demand for it or not and that they would not sell to any other buyer.
He explained that he did not deal directly with the lace maker but through small buyers to whom he supplied the materials and patterns. These small buyers who often had small shops operated a type of ‘credit’ system which he felt was not a good idea but often used in villages. Might Sarah Guntrip be one of these buyers?
We believe that the cottages were either derelict or demolished around 1920 so would no longer have had any lace makers by the 1921 census. We may find out soon.
* Victorian and Edwardian Buckinghamshire from old photographs. Margaret Lawson and Ivan Sparkes publ. 1976 by B. T. Batsford
The fine lace makers could not have a fire in the room where they worked because the threads had to be kept clean, untainted by soot. Often embers from the bakery were placed in ‘chaddy’ or ‘dicky’ pots beneath the lace makers‘ stools, with the added hazard of setting petticoats alight. Most of the old photographs of lace makers show them busy outside their cottages which could be explained by lack of light indoors but also, to keep fine lace soot free. In Summer months it was possible to work outside always supposing that you have some suitable space.
Gardner’s Trade Directory for Chinnor, published in 1852, shows that the village hosted a fortnightly ‘Lace Feast’ which was attended by lace workers from adjoining villages and by purchasers from different parts of the country. Lace was bought and sold at this event. The event was mentioned
In the 1841 census Sarah Guntrip (aged 45) and her mother, Mary Gomme (aged 85) were listed as lace makers living in Hollans Lane, at one of the Orchard cottages along with Sarah’s husband John, a woodman. By 1851 Sarah was listed as a lace dealer and John as a wood dealer and the lane was now listed on the census as Guntrip Lane. Presumably the lane became known as Guntrip Lane after Sarah and John, probably as a way of helping people find them in order to do business. Moreover, Sarah was the only lace dealer mentioned on the census for the village. This would have been a significant position in the area as an outlet for the lace made in the cottage industry. Lace dealers supplied the lace makers with patterns and materials such as silk to make the lace for a fee on the understanding that they would sell completed lace on for them. It was very likely that Sarah got her supplies from the major dealer in the area, Thomas Gilbert of High Wycombe.
Thomas Gilbert was a very successful lace dealer from High Wycombe. His quotes give us an insight into the world of lace making in the 1850’s and 60’s. He claimed to indirectly engage nearly 3000 lace makers in Bucks and the adjoining strip of Oxfordshire. When he gave evidence to the Children’s Employment Commission’ he explained that they were not employed directly by him but that he sold them materials, i.e. patterns and silk or thread. There was an understanding (although no obligation) that he would take all the lace for which he had sold the patterns whether there was a demand for it or not and that they would not sell to any other buyer.
He explained that he did not deal directly with the lace maker but through small buyers to whom he supplied the materials and patterns. These small buyers who often had small shops operated a type of ‘credit’ system which he felt was not a good idea but often used in villages. Might Sarah Guntrip be one of these buyers?
We believe that the cottages were either derelict or demolished around 1920 so would no longer have had any lace makers by the 1921 census. We may find out soon.
* Victorian and Edwardian Buckinghamshire from old photographs. Margaret Lawson and Ivan Sparkes publ. 1976 by B. T. Batsford
Carol Stewart February 2022
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