Lace-makers’s Bobbins

In the last issue Jack asked if anyone had collected any lace-makers’ bobbins. Here are some pictures of a lace pillow and bobbins with a small piece of lace that I have made. Some of the bobbins were ‘commemoratives’: of weddings, christenings, Royal events and weddings, special days when groups of us have met and so on. When teaching my daughter Davinia I made up a set with all the Kings and Queens of England and their dates, to help her to learn. It has not been unknown for me to turn to them to answer a question about the date of a special occasion!

Bobbins were often given as love tokens with captions like ‘kiss me quick!’ — the sort of caption found in much later days on seaside postcards and paper hats.

I was taught to make lace by Sarah Jiggle. She gave me the white bobbin with her name on it when she was in her late eighties. Her family was quite well-off and had all the children’s names put on ivory bobbins; a unique way of tracing family history!

The other bobbin shown in close-up is a very common wooden one, but the object on the end is a button from the uniform of the 3rd Bucks Yeomanry Cavalry. The reasoning behind this was that without the button the soldier was improperly dressed and would be sent back home; the lacemaker was saying, “Come home soon!”.

The 3rd Bucks was raised in the Vale of Aylesbury to fight in the Napoleonic Wars; the regiment existed for 25 years, for 21 years of which they received no pay! It became part of the ‘Oxon & Bucks’, now part of the Greenjackets.

The bobbin was given me by my history teacher, who also taught me lace-making; she was the one who inspired my enthusiasm for family history research. The button is a gilt officer’s button and from all the investigations I have made it appears to be the only piece of that regiment’s uniform left in existence. I have been trying to trace its family history, I have narrowed it down to one of six men; I have not given up!

Daphne Austin, Chalfont St Giles
April 2002

[Elizabeth Brennecke wrote saying that she too had some bobbins. She also had a lace collar that had been made for her and attached to series of red velvet ‘party’ dresses she had (and hated!) as a little girl. Ed.]