64/196

William Mullins (Manufacturer), Emily Elizabeth Mullins

This feeding basket or 'feeder', used for feeding cattle, was made by Mr W. Mullins, a Reading basketmaker, circa 1934. It is an oval basket, made of white willow and cane, with three finger-holes at each end. It was later used as a post collection basket at Cook's Dairy and Farm Equipment Ltd. of Market Place and Silver Street, Reading.

1 basket: white willow; cane

Miss Emily E. Mullins (1906–1967) was a basketmaker in Reading. Her family were basketmakers for at least five generations. Her father, William Mullins, had no sons and Emily chose to become a basketmaker and carry on the tradition. She ran a basketmaking business in Bath circa 1926–1939, and moved to London in 1940 where she made baskets for the war effort. Later, she moved to Reading where she took over her father’s job on his death at Cook’s Dairy and Farm Equipment Ltd., a basketmaking firm founded in 1760 by John Cook. Cook’s had premises at Market Place, Reading, and the workshop was at Silver Street, Reading. The Museum has an extensive collection of baskets and basketmaking tools (approximately 200) given to the Museum by Emily Mullins. No correspondence between the Museum and Emily Mullins was found in July 2012, and it is assumed from scraps of information (e.g. a note on the Adlib record for 63/61 which said that the 63/ baskets were made by Emily Mullins for the Museum and were therefore never used, and a note on the Adlib record for 64/147 which said that Emily Mullins made numerous baskets for the Museum in 1964) that the baskets were made by Emily Mullins at Cook’s Silver Street workshop and the tools were used by Emily Mullins at the same workshop., MERL 'Catalogue of baskets' form – 'NAME: FEEDING BASKET // Acc. No.: 64/196 // Group: LIVESTOCK Cattle feeding // Neg. no.: 60/5932 // Place of origin: Berks. [Berkshire] // Period in use: 1964 // DESCRIPTION // Materials: White willow & cane. // Shape and construction: Oval. 1st round of the upset in cane. A heavy body wale at 8” high. 3 finger-holes at each end above this. Border 5 behind 2, bound in 4 places with split cane. 32 stakes. Randed. // Dimensions: Length 23 1/2” Width 17 1/2” (top) Height: 12” Bottom: 16” x 11”// Use: For feeding cattle. // Dialect names: // Distribution: // Additional notes: // Made by Mr. Mullins'

Silver Street [Reading], Silver Street [Reading]

1930-01-01 - 1939-12-31

1930s

Wood, willow, white, Plant fibre, rattan

Cook's Dairy and Farm Equipment Ltd. ()
Wright, Dorothy (Recorder)