64/148/1-3

These three basketwork chair leg covers, also known as ‘rattles’, came from Messrs Cooks, a firm of basketmakers in Reading. The donor did not know anything about them but assumed that they were taken from chairs sent in for repair. They are made of buff willow and were for covering the wooden feet of a basket chair to prevent wear or for decoration. The name rattle derives from the fact that the construction is the same as in a willow rattle or corn dolly.

3 leg covers: willow

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: Cover (chair leg, basketwork) // Acc. No.: 64/148/3 // Group: CRAFTS – Wood – baskets. // Neg. no.: 60/6005 60/13196 // Place of origin: Berkshire // Period in use: 1850–1900 // DESCRIPTION // Materials: Buff willow // Shape and construction: Presumably for decoration or protection. Name may have come from the fact that the construction (5 or 6 rods bent down snugly over 2 to the right) is the same as the willow rattle on the corn dolly. // Dimensions: 3” long. 1 1/2” W. [wide] // Use: To cover the wooden feet of a basket chair which were usually white willow either to prevent wear or for decoration. They were sometimes shaped, not straight. // Dialect names: // Distribution: // Additional notes:'

1850-01-01 - 1899-12-31

Nineteenth century, second half

Cover, chair leg, Basketwork

Basketry, plaited, Braided

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