http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1607-099X
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Abstract
This article offers reflections on a pilot study that examined an incomplete set of mid-20th-century lace manufacturer’s business records. The Nottingham Trent University Lace Archive holds the partial business records of W. J. Walker & Son Ltd., which offer an interesting insight into the industry in a complex trading period. The research interrogates these business records not to assess the profitability of the business but to evidence the large number of hidden hands, technology, and processes involved in the Nottingham lace industry. The breadth of the documents highlights the wide influence of this branch of the lace trade through direct employment and its external supply chain. Purchases include everything from soap to machine parts and thread to insurance, the latter including “war damage.” Wages books evidence the planned wartime contraction of the industry as well as the names of employees. Documents from lacemaking trade unions and entries in the wages books can be read as vivid accounts of the variations in pay scales according to skill levels and gender. Correspondence from companies in Ceylon (Sri Lanka) and Kenya highlights the international scope of the industry. This is further emphasized by the international lists of potential purchasers for the lace machines when the company ceased trading. The findings of this pilot study indicate that the business records of companies engaged in the lace trade, which are an under-researched area, are worthy of greater study especially in relation to their social history content.
Notes
Notes
1 The historical usage of the terms “lace manufacturer” and “lace maker” has varied within the industry. For clarity “lace producers” is used in this paper to denote companies that owned or rented machines that made Nottingham lace.
2 Accession numbers NOTLC:2007:08 to NOTLC:2007:49.
3 The samples in the collection indicated that Walker’s made dress laces, on Leavers lace machines, rather than plain net or curtain laces.
4 This particularly applied to cotton thread, since, although the UK had ample cotton spinning facilities, the raw material had to be brought in from abroad.
5 Vast numbers of men were called up for war duties and by 1950 skilled twisthands were so scarce that consideration was being given to allowing boys or auxiliaries to operate machines (Cuthbert Citation1960, 203)
6 One of a number of schemes suggested in the 1941 White Paper on the Concentration of Production.
7 Smaller makers often rented, rather than owned, the machines that they used.
8 Also known as “greige.”
9 Leavers lace machines may weigh in excess of 10 tons and be over 10 meters long and 3 meters high.
10 The samples in the collection indicate that these were Leavers lace machines.
11 Rayon, also known as “artificial silk” (or “art silk”), was introduced in the 1920s
12 International Centre for Lace and Fashion in Calais. Legal Deposit Register No. 1 (inventory number 2008.0.1). Deposit number 257, June 11, 1853, Champailler Fils, “Soie” (Silk).
13 Nylon was introduced to lace production on an experimental basis in 1943 but threw up a number of technical problems (Varley Citation1959, 160).
14 The traditional graphite lubricant ingrained itself into nylon thread, and would not wash out, making it impossible to produce truly white nylon lace prior to the introduction of this new white lubricant (Varley Citation1959, 161).
15 All figures quoted are in pounds, shillings and pence (i.e. £25.10.11) or shillings and pence (i.e. 9/4).
16 Known as the “rack rate.”
17 A twisthand working only one machine during a shift was a longstanding union rule but this was relaxed during the First World War and became more common again during the Second World War (Cuthbert Citation1960, 185).
18 The graphite powder used to lubricate lace machines settled on every available surface and, quite apart from personal hygiene, regular hand washing was necessary to shield the office staff from this gray grime.
19 “Warping” is the technical term for winding long lengths of threads onto cylinders.
20 For use on windows to guard against flying glass splinters in the event of a nearby explosion.
21 Birkin were one of the largest Nottingham lace houses with large premises in the Lace Market. They made lace in their own factories and also put out contracts to other producers when their own machines did not have spare capacity.
22 This forms another indication that Walker’s had their own design and draughting team.
23 The term “set” refers to the lace industry practice of producing a core design in a number of different widths, as edgings, insertions, and galloons and sometimes also as an allover fabric.
24 An example being the attempt to establish a “Bureau of Information” to assist the training of lace designers and draughtsmen (Nottingham Guardian, October 26, 1943)
25 Booklets and production manuals produced by Lace Productions (1948) Ltd. included a specific notice of confidentiality.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Gail Baxter
Gail Baxter is a Research Fellow in the Lace Archive at Nottingham Trent University. She completed her doctorate through the University of Brighton in 2015. Her expertise covers historic hand- and machine-made laces and contemporary lace practice. In addition she has insights into designing for machine-made lace, having originated the design of a new lace to be manufactured on a historic Leavers lace loom at the International Centre for Lace and Fashion in Calais. She is a PhD supervisor at the University for the Creative Arts, Farnham. [email protected]