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Samuel Lucas Lancaster-Lucas F/Mc Married Married: 1848 Mary Yelverton Eden F/Mc | |||||
| Flora L Lancaster Lucas [CFT #5994] Born: 1856 Died: 1941 |
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| b Kent d Newton Abbot, Devon. (Died unmarried) Flora Lancaster Lucas was the grand-daughter of the Dowager Lady Grey de Ruthyn, the family being descended from the Lancasters who fought in the War of the Roses. In the 1901 Census, Flora is recorded as being an author living in Kensington, London but by 1906, she had moved to Devon to the attractive seaside town of Shaldon on the south coast. She was fifty-five and aware of the decline in the making of hand-made lace of which Honiton produced some of the finest in the country. It had been thought that the art of lace-making was originally brought to Devon in the late sixteenth century by Flemish refugees. However, it is now believed that cut and drawn threadwork and a type of coarse pillow lace were already being produced by skilled makers in the county before the arrival of the refugees. Surprisingly, mechanical lace-making was introduced as early as the eighteenth century and this naturally impacted on the livelihoods of those women who used to to be seen sitting in their doorways as they worked on their cushions. Lace-making had always been a profitable business but with the introduction of machine-made lace and the speed at which it could be made, the hand-made lace industry went into decline. It was in 1906 that Flora Lancaster Lucas took it upon herself to open the Shaldon Lace School, so giving employment to experienced lace-makers in the town, who in turn, passed on their knowledge to local young girls. Some of those who attended were as young as eleven or twelve and sometimes young boys would attend, that is until their hands became too coarse to continue with the delicate craft. As Flora had connections with the gentry, this brought in commissions for her team of lacemakers including the tucker for the coronation of Queen Mary in 1911. A tucker was a sort of falling lace collar worn over a bodice. Other work produced by the lacemakers were collars, collarettes, handkerchiefs and scarves. With the outbreak of the First World War, Flora took over the Boy Scouts group and her lace school had to close. Teignmouth is a town situated on the estuary of the River Teign across the water from Shaldon and it is in Teignmouth Museum that examples of lace from the Shaldon School can be seen, together with photographs of women at their craft. Further examples can be viewed at the Royal Albert Memorial Museum in Exeter. |
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