68/377

Thomas Abbey & Sons (Manufacturer)

This potato basket is for harvesting potatoes. The design was patented by Guy Abbey of Thomas Abbey & Sons and was made in great quantities for farmers in Lincolnshire and the West Riding of Yorkshire. It is a flown oval basket made of brown willow with a cane handle and a galvanised iron bottom.

1 basket: willow; cane; galvanised iron

The family basketmaking business of Thomas Abbey & Sons was established in 1864. Mrs Snowden’s brother (Guy Abbey), father (A. E. Abbey) and grandfather were all basketmakers in the business. Her father spent some years teaching basketmaking at the Amar Singh Technical Institute in Srinagar, Kashmir, India, and was also on the Rural Industries Bureau. When Guy Abbey died there was no one to pass the firm on to, and Mrs Snowden donated several tools [67/15–67/31] which had been in use in the family for about one hundred years., Existing note on Adlib – 'From files it appears that Guy Abbey was the brother of depositor Mrs. Snowden, giving some authority to her assertion that it was he who invented and patented the metal bottomed potato basket. However, in Dorothy Wright's 'The Complete Book of Baskets and Basketry' [1992 ed.] she gives, on separate occasions, two different names. On page 181 she names Guy Abbey of Selby as the inventor, but on page 154 it is Harold Abbey of Selby who is named. Is this one person known under different names, or simply a mistake? As the original hand-written note by Dorothy Wright refers to Guy, and not Harold, it would make sense to assume this as the correct reference until further information becomes available.', MERL 'Catalogue of baskets' form – 'NAME: BASKET, Potato Thos. [Thomas] Abbey & Sons // Acc. No.: 68/377 // Group: HARVESTING. ROOTS. // Neg. no.: 60/9032 60/9033 // Place of origin: Selby. WR. Yorks. [West Riding Yorkshire] // Period in use: // DESCRIPTION // Materials: Brown willow. Galvanised iron bottom. Cane handle. // Shape and construction: Oval. Flown. Bottom has 24 lugs each with a hole. These are bent upwards & a stake butt goes through the holes from the inside & rests against the last one, i.e. all butts on the outside pointing left. Before stakes 80, one round pairing heavy split cane. Paired upsett. Side randed in green & brown col. [coloured] willow. Border: 4 beh. [behind] 1. // Dimensions: WB. [width of bottom] 8” LB. [length of bottom] 9 1/2” D. [depth] 8” WT. [width of top] 11” LT. [length of top] 17” St. [number of stakes] 24 // Use: For harvesting potatoes in Lincolnshire. // Dialect names: // Distribution: // Additional notes: Patented by Guy Abbey. Son of Thomas. Made in great quantity for the W.R. [West Riding] & Lincolnshire farmers. Much liked. Side could be repaired more easily than the bottom.'

Selby

1968

Snowden, F. Marjorie ()
Abbey, Guy ()
Wright, Dorothy (Recorder)