In 1993 my fiancée’s mother
invited me to use a lace veil – which had been used by members of her family
since 1866 – as part of my wedding outfit. I had not planned to use a veil, but
I realised wearing this veil linked me to my new family: I became part of the
veil’s story. Below I examine the features and sub-texts of the lace veil.
Lace
is “a decorative openwork fabric in which the pattern of spaces is as important
as the solid areas,”[1] and has been made since at least the sixteenth century using
thread. Until the development of lace making machinery in the late eighteenth
century all lace was handmade. The family lace veil was created in the mid
nineteenth century using handmade bobbin part lace from cotton thread appliqued
to machine made net. The veil is unique: no other garment would have the part lace
pieces made or appliqued in exactly the same way. The veil is 185cm by 175cm in
size, the piecework is intricate, the colour has matured from white to ivory,
and the veil is lightweight and soft to touch.
 |
| Photo of Family Veil |
The veil has been used on at
least sixteen occasions, over six generations from 1866 to 2015. The names of
women who are known to have used the veil over 149 years are listed below.
List of women who are known to have worn the lace veil
Year
|
Gen
|
Name – the
owner of the veil also indicated.
|
Direct (D)/
Marrying a Direct/ Friend
|
1866
|
1
|
Isabella
Dixson (Owner)
|
D
|
1890
|
2
|
Isabella
Hibberd
|
D
|
1893
|
2
|
Helen
Hibberd (Owner)
|
D
|
1916
|
3
|
Helen Barbour
|
D
|
1923
|
3
|
Eva Barbour
|
D
|
1926
|
3
|
Gwenyth Harry
(owner)
|
D
|
1934
|
3
|
Freda Barbour
|
D
|
1952
|
4
|
Joy Crofts
|
D
|
1956
|
4
|
Ruth Crofts
(Owner)
|
D
|
1979
|
5
|
Linda Taylor
|
Marrying
|
1983
|
5
|
Pamela
Kinnear
|
Marrying
|
1985
|
5
|
Meryl Joyce
(Owner)
|
D
|
1986?
|
5
|
Joanne Maples
|
Friend
|
1993
|
5
|
Rebecca
Hilton
|
Marrying
|
2014
|
6
|
Rosemary
Devereaux
|
D
|
2015
|
6
|
Amy Devereaux
|
D
|
Unfortunately this list is not
conclusive. There may have been other occasions on which the veil was used,
particularly by Isabella Dixson’s new sisters-in-law or others in the late
nineteenth century. The veil has also travelled widely, being used in Sydney,
Brisbane, Mymensingh in India, Perth and Canberra, plus being kept by Helen
Harry (nee Hibberd) in New Zealand for many years.
Family folklore is that the veil
is a piece of Honiton Lace, but this would be difficult to categorically
authenticate without analysis of the thread. Textile specialists can easily
identify the technique used for lace making, but it is hard to determine the
location or year in which lace was made. Lace makers at the Powerhouse Lace
Study Centre confirmed that the technique for this lace was handmade bobbin
part lace, which is a feature of Honiton Lace.[2]
Honiton Lace has
been produced in East Devon in England since at least the late sixteenth
century. It is probable Flemish refugees brought lace-making skills to the
area, as there are similarities between Honiton Lace and other Flemish laces.
By the seventeenth century lace was a major industry of East Devon. The lace is
made by pieces that were either laced together or mounted onto net grounding
(before lace-making machines the net grounding also was handmade). The pieces
are made using bobbins: four bobbins create a simple edging, but an intricate
spray of leaves requires up to 32 bobbins. Lacemaking is a complex and
time-consuming process, even for people with years of experience.
The Honiton Lace
trade was waning in the early nineteenth century, mainly because lace-making
machines were introduced, making lace cheaper and faster to produce. The first
lace-making factory in East Devon opened in 1810, and by 1822 employed 1500
people. Honiton Lace survived the introduction of machine lace because it was
piecework and able to be mounted onto machine-made net: the value added to the
grounding by handmade piecework was significant. Demand for Honiton Lace
increased significantly from 1840 when Queen Victoria’s wedding outfit used
Honiton Lace for the flounce and veil. Local materials were used with the aim
of promoting English industry to the wider world. The revival in the lace
industry lasted into the early twentieth century and while Honiton Lace can be
purchased in the twenty-first century, it is predominantly made as a leisure
activity.
Leora Auslander wrote that: “objects not only are the product of
history, they are also active agents in history,”[3]
and the veil has three important sub-texts besides being a lace veil valued by
a family. The veil: is part of a wedding tradition; is a product made for women
by women; and was imported into Australia from England.
Firstly, when Queen Victoria married in a white dress, she did more
than revive the lace industry; she impacted the way weddings were conceived and
conducted, and she popularised the white wedding. A white wedding had
connotations regarding moral and social value of marriage, particularly for the
woman, who was expected to be respectable and well behaved. There were other changes
taking place during the nineteenth century. People were more likely to marry
for mutual attraction and emotional bonds; marketing of the wedding ceremony started
taking place – engagement rings went from an option to the norm, people gave
gifts to the newlyweds – and the social aspects changed, the wedding service
went from being a communal event held on Sunday, to a service held privately
with the isolated family group. The clothing worn by the bride and groom also
changed. Prior to the mid nineteenth century, brides and grooms wore their
‘best’ outfit. After Queen Victoria’s wedding most brides continued to wear
their best dress, which was not necessarily white, but would wear a white veil.
It was the veil that set the bride apart from the rest of the attendees, and so
it became an important symbol. Only the wealthy could afford a white wedding,
and so white weddings became an aspiration of the growing middle class. By the
turn of the twentieth century, dresses also were white, and the white wedding was
entrenched.
Secondly, the veil is a product made by women for women. Honiton Lace
originated as a cottage industry, but quickly developed a manufacturing
hierarchy, with merchants at the top, employing designers, lace makers and
finishers. The wages were low – less than a farm labourer – and so lacemaking
became a job for women working in their homes. In the early nineteenth century
at least one merchant paid employees via tokens, which could only be used in
the general stores owned by the merchant, further diminishing the value of the
wage.[4]
The lace was expensive, and so lace makers could not afford to wear the lace.
Wealthy women exploited working class women in the name of fashion, a theme
that runs through the history of the fashion industry.
Thirdly, the veil was made in England and imported to Australia in the
mid nineteenth century. The veil may have been purchased in late 1865 at David
Jones, a large draper's shop that would become an important department store, who were advertising wedding outfits which had been “imported ex mail
steamer Strathdon and Walter Hood… [including] a beautiful
collection of ... veils in Honiton.”[5]
Notwithstanding the possibility of this being the place of purchase for this
veil, the advertisement demonstrated how Australia followed European tradition
and sought to replicate English values.
Unfortunately,
the veil cannot tell its own story. It is not able to record details, so even
its origins are not confirmed, although details of users can be constructed to
a certain point. The fact that the veil has been kept for 150 years shows its importance
to the family. There are other veils from the same period that have been
retained, but this veil could never be replaced.
Endnotes
[1] Rosemary Shepherd, Lace Classification System (Sydney: Powerhouse Museum, 2003) 2.
[2] The Powerhouse Lace Study Centre was
consulted about the lace on 17 January 2015. Volunteers staff the Centre and
they are not textile specialists but have an interest in the historical pieces
held by the Centre. While earlier newspaper articles described it as Brussels or Limerick Lace, it is
assumed that the oral tradition about the veil is correct and the veil
represents Honiton Lace.
[3] Leora Auslander, “Beyond Words,” The American Historical Review, Vol.
110, No.4 (October 2005) 1015-1045. DOI: 10.1086/ahr.110.4.1015.
[4] Pamela M. Inder, Honiton Lace (Exeter: Exeter Museums Publications, 1977) 8.
[5] "Advertising."
The Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954) 9 Dec 1865: 9. Web. 26 Sep
2015 <http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article13122954>.
