59/94/1-4

George William Lailey (Maker), John Whipps (Maker)

These four blocks of elm wood, in two different sizes, are ready to be made into bowls, one being almost complete. They belonged to the bowl turner George Lailey, of Bucklebury. George Lailey turned wooden bowls using a pole lathe in his hut at Turner's Green, on Bucklebury Common, until 1958. The bowl that is almost complete, apart from the central core still being in place, was used by John Whipps to practice on with Lailey's bowl turning tools.

4 blocks of elm wood: 2 different sizesUnusually, the physical description of this object has changed. In 1993, bowl turner John Whipps visited the Museum to demonstrate the craft of bowl turning using the original tools of George Lailey. For one of his demonstration pieces he used one of these elm wood blocks from Lailey's workshop and with it produced an unfinished bowl [the core remains in the centre]. Therefore, what were 4 blocks of elm wood are now three, plus one unfinished bowl. The negative number of this 'new' bowl is RHC neg. NMC 60/16308. Also, the digitally photographed image of file number 59/94 shows, not the original blocks of wood, but the half-turned bowl by Whipps. Apologies for any confusion caused.

MERL miscellaneous note - 'One of the square elm blocks was used by John Whipps to practice on with Lailey's bowl turning tools. // The block was first made into a circular shape with a bandsaw and then turned. // The bowl was not completed as the central core is still in place.', MERL miscellaneous note – ‘Bowl Turning // In turning bowls the craftsman requires a variety of chisels or turning hooks. Some are straight shanked for shaping the outer side of bowls, while others are curved enough to reach the very bottom of a “nest” of bowls resting on the lathe. Most of these tools were made by the craftsman himself and some of the newer ones are not fitted with wooden handles. The blacksmith supplied the iron and Lailey himself fashioned the rest in the fire. In many cases he took an old file and welded it to the iron shank to make a very rough durable tool. The iron shanks of lathe tools are each some 12 inches long and made of 1/3 inch thick bar iron. Each one tapers towards the point where it is bent backwards in the shape of a hook. The turning hook used for the inside of a bowl has a wider gap to that used for the outside and in all cases the outside hook is straight shanked. Turning hooks were kept on shelves and on hooks and nails near to the lathe.’, 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. Lailey’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.’

Turner's Green [Bucklebury Common [Bucklebury]]

1900-01-01 - 1949-12-31

Twentieth century, first half

Block, wood, Bowl

Lailey, George William (Subject)
Matthews, Miss M. E.