66/54/2

Secateurs are used by basketmakers for cutting thick cane, although the cross-blade type is never used. This is one of several pairs given to the Museum by Emily Mullins, a Reading basketmaker. They are made of steel with long handles, giving the necessary leverage, which curve in at the end, and have one curved and one straight blade.

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: Secateurs // Acc. No.: 66/54/1–2 // Group: CRAFTS. WOOD BASKETS // Neg. no.: 60/8982 // Place of origin: Berkshire // Period in use: pre-1965 // DESCRIPTION // Materials: Steel. // Shape and construction: Shears with long handles curving in at the ends. a) has one curved blade b) has two straight blades & is probably a tin-snip. // Dimensions: a) 15” long. b) 12” long. // Use: For cutting heavy cane. The handles allow the leverage that is essential for this. // Dialect names: // Distribution: General // Additional notes:'

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