Peasant Arts - Haslemere: January 2018

Sunday, 28 January 2018

Women's Suffrage in Haslemere 1908 - 1913

With increased interest in this subject for 2018, I thought it was useful to outline what I think are the main facts on the suffrage movement in Haslemere.

In 1908 a NUWSS (National Union of Women's Suffrage Society) society was formed at Haslemere. The first secretary was Mrs Marshall of Tweenways, Hindhead. In 1910 Miss Rees of ‘By the Way’, Hindhead took over as secretary. “For the January 1910 election campaign the society opened a shop at The Gables, Haslemere.” (Crawford, Elizabeth, The Women’s Suffrage Movement in Britain and Ireland: A Regional Survey, Routledge, 15 April 2013). Mrs G.F. Watts of Compton Pottery was the president of the Guildford NUWSS.

The Haslemere Museum holds a photograph of the NUWSS marching down the High Street, the main banner announcing “NUWSS Non-Militant Portsmouth Road”, behind this might be the banner made by the St Edmundsbury Weavers announcing “Weaving Fair and Weaving Free, England’s Web of Destiny’ as mentioned in my previous post.

NUWSS march, Haslemere High Street c.1908
reproduced courtesy of Haslemere Educational Museum

The 1911 census shows that Godfrey and Ethel Blount no longer lived at Foundry Cottage, where they were living in 1901, but had moved to St Cross, Weydown Road. Foundry Cottage, Foundry Lane, in the middle of the Haslemere Peasant Industries, had as the head of the household an Ethel Leeds (aged 46), widow, living on private means. She is recorded as living their with one of her daughters, Mary Faith Leeds (23) an artist (miniature).

The signature for the census entry is of interest, as Ethel has a written suffrage protest in the signature: “protest” and “voteless taxpayer”. Ethel Leeds was the widow of Reverend William Howard Leeds (grandson of Sir George William Leeds, 1^st Baronet). Her daughter Mary Faith Leeds married Vice-Admiral Sir John Anthony Vere Morse in 1917.

Foundry Cottage, Foundry Lane, Haslemere
1911 census extract

In 1913 it was reported in various newspapers about a bomb in Haslemere:

“A BOMB ON A RAILWAY BRIDGE

At Haslemere Railway Station on Saturday evening a small box containing a clock-work arrangement and gunpowder, with fuse and electric battery, was found on the footbridge. It has a “Votes for women” label.”(The Yorkshire Post, 21 July 1913)

It has been more recently reported that there was further protest on this bomb in a note addressed to member of the Haslemere Urban District Council “Have we your sympathy? If not, beware!”. (Webb, Simon, The Suffrage Bombers, Pen & Sword, 2014) The bomb did not create any damage “a porter at Haslemere Station in Surrey found a box on the stairs leading from one of the platforms. He had the presence of mind to plunge the box into a pail of water, which was fortunate, because it was, of course, a time bomb.” (ibid.)

Compton, Watts Artists Village - some parallels Part 2

Exhibitions
There are a few references in Studio: International art where the work of the Haslemere Peasant Art movement is reviewed at the Home Arts and Industry Association annual exhibition in the same paragraph as the work of Mary Watts' pottery. For example in 1898 and 1899:

· Reporting on the annual exhibition of the Home Arts and Industries Association at the Royal Albert Hall, reference is made to “the admirable embroideries of Mr. Godfrey Blount’s section, the furniture of the Hon. Mabel de Grey, the terra-cottas after designs by Mrs G.F.Watts…” (Studio: International art volume 14 (no. 64, July, 1898, p.129) )

Reporting on the HAIA 1899 exhibition “Those who have visited the exhibition ….year by year will quickly recognise those features of interest which become associated with certain class-holders and the districts they have worked. We know, for instance… for good textiles and tapestries from Ashridge, Aldeburgh, Windemere, and from the Haslemere industries organised by Mr. and Mrs. Godfrey Blount …while the little group of workers inspired by Mr. and Mrs. G.F. Watts at Compton and Limnerslease may be counted on for something worthy in the direction of terra-cotta modelling and the minor decorative branches of church architecture.” (Studio: International art volume 17 (no. 76, July, 1899, p.99))

Artistic Subjects
As well as exhibiting at the same events, some of the works of the Haslemere Peasant and the Compton Pottery, and Mary Watts, seem to be closely aligned. There have been two Compton pottery pieces over the last few years that bear some resemblance to the works of the Haslemere Peasant Arts movement.

1. In December 2017 a "fine & rare Compton Pottery Arts and Crafts Church Wafer Box" was briefly for sale. The vine leaf and grape design is reminiscent of the repeated vine leaf patterns of the Haslemere Peasant Arts movement.

Compton Pottery, wafer box
sold on eBay here

2. This Compton Pottery bookend is inscribed with the phrase "Arbor Vitae" or perhaps it says "Arbor Vitat". This reminds me of the title of Godfrey Blount's seminal design book Arbor Vitae. It appears that a tree of life might be growing out of the head of the girl reading the book, which again feels like an analogy that the Haslemere Peasants would draw.

'Arbor Vitat'
Compton Pottery bookend

The panel designed by Mary Watts to decorate the Cambridge Military Hospital chapel at Aldershot contains vine leaf and grapes designs that are reminiscent of the Haslemere Peasant Arts designs, and also of Franz Paukert's Die Zimmergotik (written on in this previous post here).

Mary Watts' wall panels for Cambridge Military Hospital chapel, Aldershot,
Watts Gallery, Compton, Surrey

Haslemere & the Spitalfields Weavers Part 3

The last link that I have found with the Spitalfield Weavers is this photograph below of the 'Spitalfields Silk Weaving Works, Haslemere' from Winter & Collyer's Around Haslemere and Hindhead in Old Photographs (Alan Sutton Publishing Limited, 1991, p.153). The picture is described as showing "the business of Harry Hedges (left) and operated during the early 1900s from a small wooden building by the stream at the bottom of Wey Hill. The works produced silk damasks of the highest class, brocades and also velvets both for dressmaking , and domestic and church furnishings...The Spitalfields Works is now used as the Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses."

Locations of Spitalfields Silk Weaving, Wey Hill and Haslemere Peasant Industries,
Kings Road, Haslemere c.1900

I have been unable to find any other record of Harry Hedges in Haslemere or the Spitalfields Weaving Works in Haslemere,which makes me wonder if the report of them is entirely accurate. This photograph also reminds me that Luther Hooper and Edmund Hunter briefly established the Haslemere Silk Weavers in 1901 (see my previous post here) this "produced silk and cotton damasks, brocades, velvets, woven embroideries, tapestries and carpets. Their aim was to start and develop an industry, in which artistic design was combined with better craftsmanship than could be obtained by the power-loom. There was presumably a falling out with Hooper when Edmund declared that Luther was more interested in playing the piano than working on designs. Dorothea (Edmund's wife) assumed the driving force behind Edmund and by borrowing £500 from her widowed sister, helped him set upon St Edmundsbury Weaving Works on College Hill in 1902."(Meg-Andrews.com)

Could this photograph be of the Haslemere Silk Weavers in 1901?

The Spitalfields Weaving Works, Wey Hill, Haslemere
from Winter & Collyer, Around Haslemere and Hindhead in Old Photographs,
Alan Sutton Publishing Limited, 1991, p.153

Saturday, 27 January 2018

Haslemere & the Spitalfields Weavers Part 2

The dramatic decline of the Spitalfields silk-weaving industry clearly had far-reaching consequences for the large numbers of workers previously employed in silk weaving. In 1895, two years after Liberty's article announcing the revival of Spitalfield silk-weaving (in my previous post, here), it seems that Spitalfields silk weaving went into receivership: "Daniel Walters and Sons, of Braintree, had ceased operations... The Official Receiver made an offer of their mills, plant and machinery to Warner and Sons. The offer was accepted, and after the purchase, about sixty families of London silk weavers were at once removed from Spiltalfields to Braintree. Many, however, refused to leave London, and for some years both factories were kept going: but finally the Hollybush Gardens factory was closed and all the work concentrated at the Braintree mills. " (Warner, Frank, The Silk Industry of the United Kingdom, Dranes, 1921).

Female silk-weavers at work in Spitalfields, 1893,
reproduced from Getty Images

Luther Hooper was wood engraving and designing wallpapers for Messrs Carlisle and Clegg, when in 1884 he moved with his family from Stoke Newington to Bentley, near Ipswich. Hooper's mother originated from Long Melford, Suffolk so this move may have brought him nearer family. It was whilst at Bentley that Hooper, then aged 35 "studied the history, principles and technique of weaving and assisted in the formation and development of The Ipswich Silk Weaving Company, a hand-loom silk-weaving firm". (Suffolk Painters.co.uk) I expect that Hooper was learning silk-weaving from Spitalfield silk weavers in Ipswich, or Huguenot weavers, as Ipswich was the first Huguenot settlement. Hooper says in his autobiography "I throughly mastered the techniques of weaving rich silk damasks, brocatelles, velvets, etc. and the preparation of designs for the loom. This study of the craft enabled me to be of some use to the Art and Craft movement, in which I became interested about that time." (Luther Hooper biography online).

Spitalfield weaver's workshop, June 1885,
Tower Hamlets Local History Collection,
reproduced from Spitalfieldslife.com

It seems that Edmund Hunter brought some Spitalfield silk weavers to Haslemere. Meg Andrews writes that Hunter "employed four or five men including a master weaver, who had probably been trained in silk weaving at Spitalfields, London." (Meg-Andrews.com) Although Spitalfield weavers might also have been amongst the "three skilled weavers who had been with me (Luther Hooper) at Ipswich" (Luther Hooper online biography) that Hooper brought to Haslemere.

Various references can be found to the work of Spitalfields Weavers in Haslemere in the early 1900s. In 1924 Studio: International art (vol. 88, no.379, October 1924, p.221) wrote that “The St. Edmundsbury Weaving Works were started at Haslemere in 1901 for the weaving of rich damasks and brocades, in the Spitalfields tradition, by Edmund Hunter, then a designer of wallpapers, fabrics, etc.”

In 1904 the Luton Times and Advertiser (5 February 1904) reported that "In acknowledging the gift of a piece of silk woven at Haslemere Mr. Chamberlain expresses hopes for a revival of the British silk-weaving industry under Freer Trade." This appears to be a reference to Joseph Chamberlain MP, Secretary of State for the Colonies.

Providing a fuller account of this event, the Leamington Spa Courier (5 February 1904) reported on

“A Vanished Industry

Mr. Chamberlain has sent the following letter to Mr. Edmund Hunter, Bury St. Edmunds, who recently represented to him a piece of silk designed by himself and woven at the St Edmondsbury Weaving Works, Haslemere, Surrey. : Highbury, Moor Green, Birmingham, January 25th, 1904.

Dear Sir – I have had the honour to receive through Lady Dorothy Nevill a piece of silk which I understand was woven by a descendant of the original Spitalfields weavers, and have much pleasure in accepting the compliment. I have long regretted the almost entire disappearance of this once great and successful industry, and I sincerely hope that some change may yet be made in our fiscal system which will help to restore it. I know of no special reason why English weavers should not be able to compete with foreigners on fair terms, and the silk industry has appeared to me to be one of those which should receive early consideration. I hope every means will be taken to bring the circumstances and conditions of the trade to the knowledge of the Tariff Comission now sitting, and that it may be possible to work out a scheme which will give back to our English weavers some of the opportunites they have lost owing to our fiscal system.

I am, yours faithfully, J. Chamberlain."

The Dove Cross, designed by Edmund Hunter and Hand-woven in Silk
by the St Edmundsbury Weaving Industry, Studio International (1906,p.246)

In 1906 Studio International (p.246) reported on ""The “Dove Cross” in Mr. Edmund Hunter’s fine design, which we reproduce on this page, forms the central ornament in an altar frontal chosen from his work by Queen Alexandra for the private chapel at Windsor Castle. It was executed for Her Majesty in white and gold silk brocade by the St. Edmundsbury Weaving Industry, established by Mr. Hunter some three years ago at Haslemere, in Surrey. The work was woven on hand-looms by some of the historic Spitalfields silk weavers, brought to Haslemere by Mr. Hunter to start and develop his industry, in which he aims at uniting artistic design with better craftsmanship than can be obtained by the use of the power loom."

Haslemere & the Spitalfields Weavers Part 1

There are links with the Haslemere weaving to the Spitalfields Weavers (in addition to the link through Luther Hooper with the Harris weavers in my previous post here). Not knowing the details of what happened to the Spitalfields Weavers, and why some might find themselves in Haslemere, I found an excellent summary by Lasenby Liberty writing in 1893 on the industry which I reproduce here. The demise of the Spitalfield silk industry is an interesting example of economics in action.

On the demise of the Spitalfields weavers 'Spitalfields Brocades' (Studio: International art vol.1,1893, online here) Liberty wrote:

“To those in sympathy with the recent patriotic movement inaugurated on behalf of the English Silk Brocade Industry of Spitalfields, it may be interesting to briefly recall a few incidents in regard to the introduction, gradual development, and subsequent decline of this beautiful art industry….Even so far back as the beginning of the sixteenth century, the craft or mystery of silk-weaving was recognised as one of the most flourishing industries of France. But it was at a somewhat later period that it was carried from France over to England, where it did not assume any considerable importance until about the middle of the sixteenth century.

Illustration from 'Spitalfields Brocades', Liberty, Lasenby, Studio: International Art, Volume 1, 1893

In 1585 numbers of skilled Flemish weavers, driven over by the devastating War of Independence, sought and obtained refuge in Great Britain from the terrors of Spanish domination , and localised their cult, notably in and around the county of Norfolk, and particularly the process known as “flowered and striped” silk-weaving. Almost exactly one century later, the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes compelled thousands of the Huguenots of France to flee their native soil, and again a very large number of skilled Protestant workmen sought protection in England. Many among the Huguenot refugees were silk-weavers, and settled in Spitalfields. And although both the Flemish and Huguenot weavers formed independent coteries in other districts, yet Spitalfields from the first became, and to-day remains, the centre of hand-loom work in English-made silks.

…in the year 1825 the number of hand-looms in use in the district was estimated at 24,000, the number of persons employed 60,000, the amount of silk used one-and-a-half million pounds, and the average annual value of the work produced some £2,000,000 sterling.

In the year 1860, however, the English silk weaving trade suddenly lost the fostering care and fiscal protection which for two preceding centuries it had enjoyed. The “Cobden Treaty” ruined an erstwhile thriving industry by brusquely casting aside protective tariff rates without note of warning, and this inviting competition with metericiously cheaper Continental goods. In but a few short years the number of looms in Spitalfields was reduced to some 1,200, and the operative weavers to about 4,000.

Had the competing Continental goods been frankly offered as of inferior quality as well as lower in price, or had time been allowed for acquiring certain occult chemical mysteries and simulations to apply in our own method of manufacture, the products of the Spitalfields looms could, doubtless, have held their ground. But owing to a pernicious and misleading practice, followed by the Continental manufacturers, of artificially weighting silk yarns during the process of scouring and dyeing, the competing silken fabrics were not for a while recognised as intrinsically inferior. The British silk-weavers suffered-

( 1) By the flooding of the English market with inferior, though albeit lower-priced goods, and

2) By a subsequent fateful re-action, a stern and just Nemesis, in the form of a withdrawal of public favour and demand for every kind of silken fabric.

Illustration from 'Spitalfields Brocades', Liberty, Lasenby, Studio: International Art, Volume 1, 1893

…All silken fabrics, British and foreign alike, were avoided by reason of the discovery of the bad wearing quality of the artificially weighted foreign substitutes, which were too frequently represented and sold as Spitalfields silks..attributed the thirty long years of general avoidance by an ill-used public of silk materials applied to dress and upholstery purposes.

Undoubtedly the present tendencies are toward revival. At the moment there is a coy and timorous advance in the direction of an acknowledgement of the intrinsic and comparatively unassailable excellencies of Spitalfields brocades. These happy auguries are due to:

(1) The disinterest and patriotic interest awakened in royal and distinguished English gentlewomen, again exemplified since these lines were penned on the occasion of the recent visit to Spitalfields of H.R.H. the Duchess of Teck and Princess Victoria Mary;

2) The formation of a society devoting its efforts to secure a permanent revival of the British silk industries, known as the Silk Association of Great Britain and Ireland; and

( 3) The energy and intelligence of some few leading producers and distributors, who have realised that success largely depends on increased care in the selection and application of designs and colourings, and on a sustained and jealous regard for the technical excellence of the output of the looms.

…The revivifying influences are already so beneficial that connoisseurs and experts at recent Public and Trade Exhibitions of British-made Silks hesitated to believe that a combination of such artistic and perfect work could be produced by nineteenth-century Englishmen, and not until after a visit to Spitalfields, an inspection of the looms, and of the sumptuous and dainty fabrics slowly growing under the deft hands of the weavers, was conviction brought home.

….An patriotic and discriminating few already insist on the advantage of English-made silks; it rests with the English designers, manufacturers, and distributors to convince the many they can secure equal intrinsic value and better design and colour in silks of English manufacture. Then will the sumptuous and dainty creations of the Spitalfields looms once more become a permanent and important source of national benefit and legitimate pride.”

Illustration from 'Spitalfields Brocades', Liberty, Lasenby, Studio: International Art, Volume 1, 1893

Friday, 26 January 2018

Luther Hooper and Harris Tapestry Weavers

I stumbled across someone online who had been researching some relatives from Harris as I was wondering who "Miss Clive Bayley" was, having been highlighted for her tapestry (in my post Peasants at the Woman's Exhibition, 1900). I believe the Harris weavers identified as living in Bushey were working for Luther Hooper at The British and Irish Spinning and Weaving School branch school in Bushey, which he refers to his biography (online here): "In 1901 I returned to London in order to design for and superintend a small tapestry-weaving industry at Bushey, a branch of weaving I had not hitherto studied: here I remained for rather more than a year and then removed to Haslemere".

Harris Tweeds
for sale today online here

It is interesting to see that the weavers of Harris were learning in Bushey from Hooper. This then made me wonder, is Harris Tweed the only continuing British weaving industry from c.1900? Should we look to the Harris Tweed company to see how the Haslemere Peasant Arts movement might have looked today? Looking online I can see that there are many interesting stories to uncover in this area, if you had the time to look. There is a short recording of the Harris weaver Marion Campbell at the loom on Youtube here.

Harris Tweed, History internet pages here

Peter Kerr writes that (on his blog here, Tapestry Weavers, 5 December 2010):

"Four young ladies from Harris who in 1901 were employed as Tapestry Weavers. What made this surprising was that the young ladies, aged from 15 to 25, were all credited with having been born in Obbe, Scotland but at the time of the census were boarders in the house of a 40 year-old Metropolitan Police Constable in Bushey, Hertfordshire....Three more from Obbe but this time at 34 Silvester Terrace in Bushey, the Head of Number 32 being a local man, George Corney who was a Master Baker. Of this dozen, two are Blind and one is Deaf & Dumb. Three of the Tapestry Weavers are 17 & 18 year-old young ladies from 'Obbe, Harris, North Britain'.

Marion Campbell, Harris weaver
from Isabella Whitworth's blog here

from Isabella Whitworth's blog here

Marion Campbell, from Hebrides.com here

"So a total of seven female Tapestry Weavers from Harris, all specifying their birthplace as 'Obbe', were possibly working together but for whom and where is uncertain for, unhelpfully, the Baker lists the ladies relationship to him not as 'Boarder' or 'Lodger' but as 'Weaver'. I suspect that George was the landlord for the ladies at number 34, for it is clearly a separate household but the first person on the list is not shown as the Head of the Household which is the expected practice."

The two houses are home to George, his Wife and their Niece together with a Domestic Servant and no less than six Tapestry Weavers, four Carpet Weavers and two more who appear as Mixed Weavers."

Obbe, Isle of Harris

Saturday, 13 January 2018

Peasants at the Woman's Exhibition 1900

Ethel Blount exhibited a number of pieces at the 1900 “Woman’s Exhibition” held at Earl’s Court. This exhibition took part as part of the women's liberation movement. She is recorded as Mrs Godfrey Blount exhibiting:

"373 Bell Pull in Peasant Tapestry

374 Panel in Peasant Tapestry

377 Portiere in Peasant Tapestry"

The bell pull, a bell to summon a servant, is an indication of the social class to which the Haslemere Peasant Arts aimed their market.

The introductory article to the Exhibition by Imre Kiralfy (Woman’s Exhibition, 1900, Earl’s Court, London, S.W.: official fine art, historical and general catalogue, Spottiswoode & Co.) provides an interesting insight to the women’s movement at the time:

“During no period in the world’s history has the progress of woman’s work been so remarkable as in that of the present century. Although this advance is fully realised, and several attempts have been made to illustrate the progress of woman’s work, there has never been an Exhibition dealing adequately with this great subject. The advance of woman in the fine arts, in education, in refined and beautiful workmanship, in inventions, her studies and devotion in nursing, and her softening influence, which has penetrated into almost every profession, elevates the nineteenth century in the memorable record of the world’s history. It is an apparent fact, particularly when we turn to literature, that the work by woman during the last hundred years greatly exceeds anything accomplished by her in all previous times. UI is, therefore, but fitting and just that woman’s work should be represented in a worthy manner, at the close of this century, by a commemorative Exhibition, the first of its kind ever held.

…Nothing is more interesting than to trace, through all its vicissitudes, the lengthy course of laws and customs which have slowly raised woman from a condition of abject slavery to a position of social and civil equality…

…The day is passed when Woman, inspired by the necessities of a barbaric or warlike age, could repudiate the weakness of her sex, and contend with man on the field of battle. Christianity and civilisation have taught her to renounce such ideas, and to assume another and a more glorious duty..

The new mission is symbolised by the name of Florence Nightingale, its originator, its apostle, and its example. Words can scarcely express the great debt of gratitude we owe to this lady, who, by her generous and heroic labours, has given up her whole life to the promotion of humane work, to the amelioration of the condition of our soldiers, to the improvement of hospital organisation.

….Royalty has had many bright representatives in history, but it remained for this century to give birth to the noblest of all – Victoria, the greatest and most honoured of Sovereigns. …Her monumental work and mighty influence have not only benefited the one-fourth of the women on earth over whom she rules, but all other nations over which it is spread. No sooner had she ascended the throne than a complete revolution for the advance in education, science, and culture took place which resulted in the great progress of literature, arts, industries. And legislation which have glorified her reign and made her era unparalleled in history.”

Committee Members,
Woman's Exhibition, 1900, Earl’s Court, London, S.W.:
official fine art, historical and general catalogue, Spottiswoode & Co.

The prominence of duchesses, marchioness, countesses and ladies on the committee list is quite striking. In the introduction to the Applied Art Section Tessa MacKenzie wrote “Women have at all times worn Tapestries, and here we have an example of a remarkable Tapestry design as well as executed by a woman, i.e. Mrs Frida Hansen, and an example of the work being done in Bushey by Miss Clive Bayley….

It is therefore satisfactory to realise that there is a greater field for woman’s capacity than she has, till of late years, had, and the present Exhibition may justly be looked upon as having opened the eyes of the world to her ability to succeed wherever she competes with men.”

It is disappointing to not see Ethel’s Blount tapestry being highlighted in this article. However it is useful to have the names of tapestry work by other artists of the time. Frida Hansen (1855-1931) was a “Norwegian textile artist in the Art Nouveau style…several of her weaving designs considered among the best made in recent European textile art.” (Wikipedia). Miss Clive Bayley was from The British and Irish Spinning and Weaving School. The Art Journal (1899) reported that Bayley’s work “strikes one as a genuine attempt at art of a homely kind. The most ambitious effort of the children working there is a reproduction in tapestry of one of Fra Angelico’s frescoes. Failing the possibility of obtaining for the purpose designs by competent artists, this is about as good a source as Miss Bayley could have gone to.”