63/56

Emily Elizabeth Mullins (Manufacturer)

Hampers like this were used by commercial laundries for delivery to and collecting from households. This rectangular laundry basket is made of white willow and the lid is reinforced with cane and bound at the ends. The lid is attached to the basket with hide hinges and fastened with leather straps. The base has two wooden battens fastened with split nails. It was made for the Museum by Emily Mullins, a Reading basketmaker, and was therefore never used.

1 basket: wood (white willow and cane); leather (hide): good condition.

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: Basket (HAMPER) // Acc. No.: 63/56 // Group: DOMESTIC. CLEANING. LAUNDERING. // Neg. no.: 60/4698 // Place of origin: Berkshire // Period in use: // DESCRIPTION // Materials: White willow. Cane. Hide. Wood. Leather. // Maker: Emily Mullins // Shape and construction: Rectangular with 3 finger-holes at each end above a body-wale of cane. Upset also cane reinforced. Cover has two holes back & front to take hide hinges & leather straps. Reinforced with cane & bound at the ends with hide 3/4” wide. Bottom has 2 battens fastened with split nails. // Dimensions: Height 11”. Length 25”. Width 17” // Use: Commercial laundries delivering & collecting to & from households. // Dialect names: // Distribution: // Additional notes:'

Silver Street [Reading]

1963

Wood, willow, white, Plant fibre, rattan

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