Archival history
MERL miscellaneous note – ‘The Craftsman. One of the most famous craftsmen in England was George William Lailey of Bucklebury Common, Berkshire, who for nearly eighty years practiced his craft in a small isolated hut on the common. George Lailey, the eldest of eleven children, started work with his father, William Lailey, who, like his father, was also a bowl-turner, when he was no more than nine years old. William Lailey was a renowned craftsman, who employed others in his workshop. Although many of his bowls were sold locally, in the Reading and Newbury markets, great quantities were also taken to the London stores, a cart-load being taken up at frequent intervals. When his father died, George Lailey took over the family business. During the First World War, all the employees left him and for a while Lailey worked along, but with his mother helping him to saw up elm blocks. After the war he was helped for a short time by a war-wounded brother –in-law who soon gave it up as the work was very hard. Ever since then Lailey worked on his own for he failed to induce any young man to learn the trade. Lailey died in December, 1958, and with him died a tradition that went back for hundreds of years. During his lifetime, the fame of the Bucklebury bowls had spread far and wide; scores of bowls had been sold to London stores and many had gone overseas, especially to America. LMERL miscellaneous note, B. L. 22 March 1961 – ‘The British Council collection. // This collection of material which is covered by the accession numbers 60/430 to 60/791 contains examples of craft products made in the British Isles. The major part of the collection was prepared immediately after the Second World War for a travelling exhibition which was sent to Australia and New Zealand. // The collection was purchased for a nominal sum by the Museum in two portions, the one in the summer of 1960 and the other in February 1961. // For further details see the individual catalogue cards and the catalogue prepared for the temporary exhibition of the collection.’ailey’s hut, tools and equipment were presented by his niece to the University of Reading’s Museum of English Rural Life. //Location. George Lailey was the last of a long line of Bucklebury turners, but at one time the unenclosed common with it’s dells and dips, was a great centre of woodland crafts. There were other bowl-turners, there were rake-makers, beesom-makers and many others who drew on the profuse timber growth of the common to make a great variety of products for farm and household use. Indeed the small hamlet where Lailey lived and worked bears the name Turners Green, which is surely an indication of the past importance of wood-turning in the life of the locality. // Raw Materials. Although a great variety of timber may be used for bowl-turning, Lailey was primarily a craftsman in elm. Not only does elm occur widely on Bucklebury Common, and there was therefore a plentiful supply close at hand, but it had another advantage in that elm is a particularly tough wood which does not crack or split easily. Unlike north country turners who use poplar, or Welsh turners who use sycamore, Lailey could cut a number of bowls out of a single block of wood. A succession of bowls are thus cut from one block, one inside the other, with hardly any wastage. In the past, turners were responsible for producing a great variety of turned ware ranging from bowls and trenchers for domestic use, to cheese moulds, cream skimmers, and milking stools. Others were primarily concerned with turning tool-handles, mop-handles, rake-handles, axe-handles and many others. Indeed, until quite recently, there was another turner at Bucklebury who specialised in this category of work. Lailey was, however, a make of decorative turned ware; his main products were bowls and platters, candlesticks and bellows, egg cups and trays, and he never produced and utensils for dairy or farm use. For this reason he used elm, a timber with an attractive and warm rosy-brown colour, whose beauty of grain could be brought out very effectively with polishing. In recent years, most of the elm was obtained from the Hermitage district. // Processes. // 1. The elm after seasoning for five or six years, was sawn up into blocks in the timber store at the back of the workshop. Tools – cross-cut saw, chopping block. // 2. The blocks were next trimmed to a rough half-round shape. Tools – Axe, chopping block, // 3. Turning the bowls. Tools – Mallet, pole-lathe, inside & outside chisels, callipers. // 4. Finishing. Tools & equipment – Draw knife, spoke shave, files, trimming horse, turmeric for dying. // 5. The finished bowls were then stacked in the open air to dry out before selling. // Marketing. Lailey’s workshop was very well-known and scores of visitors from all parts of the country used to visit it during the course of the year. Like his father before him, he was not dependent on this casual trade and for many years some large London stores provided a market for all the bowls he could turn out. // Until the 1930s Lailey had a horse and trap which he used for fetching timber and for taking his bowls to the nearest railway station. During the First World War, when he was exempted from military service, his bowls were much used as ladles in munition factories.’, MERL miscellaneous note, B. L. 22 March 1961 – ‘The British Council collection. // This collection of material which is covered by the accession numbers 60/430 to 60/791 contains examples of craft products made in the British Isles. The major part of the collection was prepared immediately after the Second World War for a travelling exhibition which was sent to Australia and New Zealand. // The collection was purchased for a nominal sum by the Museum in two portions, the one in the summer of 1960 and the other in February 1961. // For further details see the individual catalogue cards and the catalogue prepared for the temporary exhibition of the collection.’, MERL 'Catalogue index' card – ‘This example of bowl turning came from the workshop of G. Lailey, Bucklebury Common, Reading, Berkshire. Lailey died in 1958 and there is a full record of his craft given on the general cards at the beginning of this section. This bowl is made of elm, one of the most common woods used in bowl turning. It is 12” in diameter and 4 1/8” in depth.’, MERL ‘Country Craftsmanship’ Exhibition Catalogue, 2 May–31 October 1961, ‘Introductory Note’ by Andrew Jewell – ‘The objects shown in this Exhibition of Country Craftsmanship were originally purchased by the British Council in 1946. They were selected for exhibition in Australia and New Zealand as samples of traditional handcrafts which were then being practised in the British countryside. The Museum of English Rural Life was fortunate to acquire this valuable collection from the Council and to have the opportunity of displaying such a wide variety of skills. // Almost all the crafts shown are still to be found in this country although, in the intervening fifteen years, many of the small firms and individual craftsmen whose products are represented in the Exhibition, have given up working. The number who now remain to carry on these particular traditional crafts continues to decline with the growth of mechanization, the obsolescence of their products and the difficult of finding apprentices to follow them. // All the objects on display have one characteristic in common – they were made to be used. Any aesthetic qualities which the craftsman achieved grew without self-consciousness. Over long years of apprenticeship the craftsman developed an intimate knowledge of the raw material at his disposal and its peculiarities. He acquired by inheritance the methods of his craft which may have had a continuous tradition over centuries of time. And he was quite familiar with the way in which his product was to be used. // We can derive pleasure simply by looking at the shapes and decorations. Both, however, are inseparable from function and environment, and the objects can only be most fully appreciated by an understanding of the purpose for which each was intended. // This, then, is an exhibition of everyday things, made by men and women who might not think of themselves as artists, but whose work, nevertheless, has enriched the daily life of those who live with their products.’, MERL ‘Country Craftsmanship’ Exhibition Catalogue, 2 May–31 October 1961, p.15 – '167. Bowl, elm. // (G. Lailey, Bucklebury, Berks.)', British Council ‘Exhibition of Rural Handicrafts from Great Britain’ Exhibition Catalogue, 1946, ‘Introductory Note’ – ‘This exhibition contains only examples of handicrafts that are still being practised in the British Countryside. It is confined to the work of our traditional craftsmen and women who, with very few exceptions, would not think of themselves as artists or designers but whose work, nevertheless, so greatly enriches the daily life of those who live with and use their products. The work of these craftsmen, too, provides the basis from which many artist-craftsmen gain technical knowledge and inspiration. // Included with these rural crafts are eight screens showing handicraft processes which can be undertaken by schools or adults who wish to practise a craft at home. In this way we hope these examples of Britain’s country crafts may be related to a practical aspect of present day life in the Dominions and meet the increasing need to find satisfying ways of using the leisure which machinery now makes available to us. // Along with her traditional rural crafts Great Britain seeks to employ all the resources of modern agricultural science and engineering. We have therefore included with this exhibition some photographs showing examples of recent developments in agricultural machinery.’, British Council ‘Exhibition of Rural Handicrafts from Great Britain’ Exhibition Catalogue, 1946, p.40 – 'XIV.4 Elm Bowl. G. Lailey, Berkshire.', British Council Ref. No. NZ XIV 4.
