> > Lila Richards wrote: Re: [BDF] Hamlet of Ireland - a bit of a tangent - straw plaiters. Lila, Just a bit to add to the information you've already received. I have recently been talking about straw plaiters with a new family connection, as we've found we both have ancestors, in Buckinghamshire and Essex who were connected to this trade. Here are part of his letters: "Because of the shipping blockades during the Napoleonic Wars, the importation of straw plait for hats from Leghorn in Southern Italy and from China was stopped. The people of Buckinghamshire and Hertfordshire took advantage of the good quality straw that grew on the chalk downs and started plaiting for the Luton hatters.... I have visited the area in Buckinghamshire and Bedfordshire. The old plait schools still stand where small children did half a day plaiting and half a day learning. The one to pay for the other." Barbara > > David wrote: > > > In 1861 in Shefford there is RG9/998 folio 18 > > Martha Wells head widow 49 Straw plaiter > > George Wells son unmarr 20 Blacksmith > > Samuel Wells son 15 ag lab > > Susan Wells dau 12 straw plaiter > > Bertha Wells dau 9 straw plaiter > > Sarah Haynes lodger widow 73 straw plaiter > > All born Shefford > > > There seem to be a lot of straw plaiters in Bedfordshire - several of my female ancestors are recorded as such (even children). So I'm wondering what they would have been plaiting straw for. Would it have been hatmaking - one or two of mine are listed as hatmakers, and some of them had a hat factory in Luton at one stage (probably early 1900s). Does anyone know about straw plaiting? > > Cheers, > > Lila. > > * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * > An Fhirinne in aghaidh an tSaoil - The Truth Against the World > > > ==== BEDFORD Mailing List ==== > The Bedfordshire Surnames List can be viewed at: > http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~hughw/bedf.html > > ----------------------------------------- Email sent from www.ntlworld.com Virus-checked using McAfee(R) Software Visit www.ntlworld.com/security for more information

In message <20060102130812.MDIK1068.aamta10-winn.ispmail.ntl.com@smtp.nt lworld.com>, ellescott77@ntlworld.com writes > >> >> Lila Richards wrote: Re: [BDF] Hamlet of Ireland - a bit of a tangent - straw >plaiters. >Lila, >Just a bit to add to the information you've already received. I have recently >been talking about straw plaiters with a new family connection, as we've found >we both have ancestors, in Buckinghamshire and Essex who were connected to this >trade. Here are part of his letters: "Because of the shipping blockades during >the Napoleonic Wars, the importation of straw plait for hats from Leghorn in >Southern Italy and from China was stopped. The people of Buckinghamshire and >Hertfordshire took advantage of the good quality straw that grew on the chalk >downs and started plaiting for the Luton hatters.... That is nonsense. There was a thriving plait industry in Bucks, Beds & Herts long before the Napoleonic Wars, and then not so Luton centred as it later became.. As for imports of straw hats from China being stopped by the clockade - really!!! He has got totally confused by different things he has read and welded them together quite haphazardly. -- Eve McLaughlin Author of the McLaughlin Guides for family historians Secretary Bucks Genealogical Society