LACE MAKING AT HARBY

The Lord of the Manor for Harby and many villages around was the Duke of Rutland and he opposed having lace factories in his villages. So Harby never had any factory, unlike Stathern where the building still stands and was operated by the Braithwaite family  from 1841 until 1920. But Stathern was not under the Duke of Rutland but Peterhouse in Cambridge. There were lace making also in factories in Bingham. For further details see pages 324 to 325 of Sheila Masons book published in 1994 "Nottingham Lace" and  page 109 of Trevor Honeybone's 1987 book "The Vale of Belvoir".

But in Harby arrangements were made with big factories in Nottingham for individual people to work on  lace in their own homes. It is remembered by people in Harby today that relatives in the 19th century did this work and it is  recorded in the census returns. Nothing on lace is given for the census of 1901 or 1891. But the 1881 census  on page 19 records Jane and Sarah Starbuck as "Lace spotters". The 1871 census tells us on page 4 of  Caroline Stevenson, Lace maker, page 8 gives us Jane Starbuck , Lace runner, and page 16 has Hannah Watchorn,  Lace runner.  The upper rooms of corner of the White Hart between Main Street and Colston Lane are said to have been used for lace making.
 

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Revised: June 23, 2009 .