http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2236-2278
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Abstract
The Battle of Britain commemorative lace panel was made by Dobson & Browne between 1942 and 1946 to commemorate the famous air battle that was a pivotal moment in World War II. It is a huge piece of machine-made lace measuring 180 × 65 inches (450 × 163 cm). This paper considers the collaborative nature of the endeavor and aims to reveal some of the hidden heritage behind the lace. It also considers the myths that have grown up around the production of the panel and shows how these are refuted by the materiality of the lace and the capacity of the lace machines. As well as exploring the genesis and production of the panel, this paper considers a commission for a contemporary textile response to the panel and its associated archive material.
Notes
Notes
1 Brian Farr became interested in the panel and its history when he retired and joined the Royal Australian Air Force Association Aviation Heritage Museum at Bull Creek in Western Australia as a volunteer guide. My thanks to Jane Bealby for introducing me to Brian and for sharing her knowledge of the Nottingham machine lace industry.
2 My thanks to Judith Edgar, Curator of Lace, Costume and Textiles at Nottingham City Museums and Galleries, for allowing me access to the archive.
3 This document entitled “The Story of the Battle of Britain Lace Panel” is unpublished and was received in 1986 by Jeremy Farrell, at that time the keeper of costume and textiles at Nottingham.
4 This account was found as an undated photocopy but I have discovered that it was published in February 1948.
5 There is a note at the end of Streat’s article noting that the images are available to purchase from the RAF, suggesting that they were taken specifically for his article.
6 Neither Barber nor Rowe acknowledges Streat. Barber only acknowledges two sources (Jack Richards, and C. Connell, Production Executive for E. & A. Richards Ltd., late Dobson & Browne Ltd.). Rowe does not acknowledge Barber although he does acknowledge 29 people or institutions. I therefore suggest that they were both given the information contained in Streat’s original article by others in the lace trade.
7 For example an illustrated catalogue of the Great Exhibition of 1851 was published by The Art Journal.
8 The other panels exhibited were based on the stories of Hamlet, Don Quixote, and the Magga Dan polar expedition by Stiebel as well as a facsimile of the Battle of Britain panel.
9 Cité Internationale de la Dentelle et de la Mode de Calais.
10 A detailed yet readable account can be found in Kate Moore (Citation2010).
11 My thanks to Barbara Cross, Harry Cross’s granddaughter, for personal information about his life, obtained from an interview on 22 February 2017, and subsequent email correspondence.
12 My thanks again to Barbara Cross for this information.
13 They depict St. Paul’s Cathedral, a building in Queen Victoria Street, City Temple, the Old Bailey, Buckingham Palace, Bow Church, St. Clement Danes, the Guildhall, the House of Commons, and an anti-aircraft gun and are housed at Newstead Abbey.
14 An exhibition of some of these designs From Atoms to Patterns was held at the Wellcome Collection, London, in 2008.
15 The terms “draughting” and “drafting” are used for the same activity, I use the former in this article because it seems the more common spelling.
16 Richard Sennett discusses the difference between art and craft in The Craftsman (Citation2008, 66), suggesting that art is signed but craft is not.
17 A copy of J. W. Herod’s death certificate is held in the archive at Newstead Abbey and gives his profession as lace designer rather than draughtsman.
18 Excerpt from “Battle for [sic] Britain Lace Panel,” South Coast Times and Wollongong Argus New South Wales, March 18, 1948, and found in many other reports.
19 The only remaining Leavers lace manufacturer in England, based in Derbyshire.
20 The Imperial War Museum holds photographs by George P. Lewis of women working in a lace factory in 1918.
21 For an overview of the development of the jacquard system see Ellen Harlizius-Klück (Citation2017).
22 This figure seems very high and may, of course, be another myth.
23 The project was commissioned by Amanda Briggs-Goode at NTU and aided by a professional development award to the author from the Textile Society.
24 Personal communication with Barbara Cross 2017.
25 For a full account of the design and construction of the contemporary response see Carol Quarini (Citation2018).
26 With thanks to Steve Smith Photography for photographic assistance.
27 The project at Bentley Priory Museum was carried out with the help of the Learning Officer, Sarah Nicol.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Carol Quarini
Carol Quarini is a lace researcher and practitioner. She undertook her practice-based PhD entitled “The Domestic Veil: Exploring the Net Curtain through the Uncanny and the Gothic” at the University for the Creative Arts, Farnham. Her postdoctoral research focuses on the history, manufacture, and design of net curtains and lace panels. Her current practice is based on veiling critiquing the role of women in 19th-century gothic fiction. She has exhibited widely in the UK and internationally. She was commissioned to produce a contemporary textile response to the Battle of Britain commemorative lace panel and its associated archive material. She received a Professional Development Award from the Textile Society to further this work, which was exhibited at three venues during 2018 and 2019. [email protected]