Another source of information on this is Miss Channer's "Lace-making in the Midlands, Past and Present", with Miss Roberts. It was originally published in 1900. I have the reprint published by Ruth Bean in 1991, ISBN0 903585 26 x, with an introduction by Miss Buck, who also added a section on "Lacemaking in the three lace counties from 1900." For non-UK arachnids, the three counties are Buckinghamshire, Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire, the last as important as the other two, despite not having a type of lace named after it. This makes clear the effect of the UK education acts, the first of which was in fact 1870. On page 75, Miss Channer points out that it would be much better for girls to learn lacemaking rather than wasting their time on "sums" - not all her views are as we should hope! Lacemaking was to her quite clearly an occupation for the poor, whose other source of employment would be domestic service. The book also makes clear that the profitability of the trade varied greatly from year to year, and in 1900 Miss Channer could see a revival which she thought (or probably hoped) would make lacemaking a viable occupation. She notes that in 1837, a man (with a family to support) would make lace as providing a better living than working in the fields, while noting that at other times, it would scarcely provide the minimum a widow needed. The book is strongly recommended, not just for the information, but as an insight into the attitudes of the time - Miss Channer was very much a daughter of the empire, certainly for good works, but reflecting the attitudes of her class and time, and it wasn't all Downton Abbey! [email protected]
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