64/18

Bushel basket,

Emily Elizabeth Mullins (Manufacturer)

This bushel basket was made for the Museum by Emily Mullins, a Reading basketmaker, and was therefore never used. It is of the traditional type used by market porters in Covent Garden to carry fruit and vegetables on their heads. It is a round basket with straight sides made of white willow and cane. Although Miss Mullins’ father, also a basketmaker, used to make them before WWI at a rate of about one every half an hour and selling for 8 1/2d, This was the first one Miss Mullins ever made. She admitted that she had not made it quite correctly and that the border should be flatter and made with heavier cane.

1 basket: white willow; cane

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 Miscellaneous note – ‘Bushell basket. The traditional pattern of bushell basket used in Covent Garden. Made by Miss Mullins – the first she has ever made and not perfect. The top edge should be flatter & made with heavier cane. {Covent Garden baskets were normally 1b [bushel], 1/2b [bushel] & a ‘strike’ which was between the two}. Miss Mullins father made these pre 1914–1918 war for 8 1/2d each in about 1/2 an hour., MERL 'Catalogue of baskets' form – 'NAME: BUSHEL BASKET (COVENT GARDEN) E. Mullins // Acc. No.: 64/18 // Group: MARKETING. Veg [Vegetable] & Fruit // Neg. no.: 60/5235 // Place of origin: Berkshire. // Period in use: // DESCRIPTION // Materials: White willow. Cane. // Shape and construction: The maker admitted that this is not quite correctly made, the border being too light. It is 5-behind-2 & should be 5 [7?] –behind-2. Round with straight sides. Randed. 1st round of the upset in cane. 3 rounds upsett. 2 top wales. // Dimensions: Height 12” Diameter: 18 1/2” BS. [number of bottom sticks] 7. St. [number of stakes] 26. // Use: By the market porters in Covent Garden market. Carried on the head. Old drawings show money other unorthodox uses. // Dialect names: // Distribution: // Additional notes: See Illust. W.C.10, G.F.5 & SG.1. et sec. // Pre-1914 these baskets were made 8 1/2d each in about 1/2 an hour. // 31cm h x 49cm d'

Silver Street [Reading]

1964

Basket, fruit, Basket, vegetable

Wood, willow, white, Plant fibre, rattan

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