51/258

A reversible smock from Gloucestershire with very simple decoration. Made from white linen and smocked with white thread. The neck opening is fastened with 3 buttons. There is smocking on the chest at the back and front, on the sleeves at the top and above the cuffs. There is simple embroidery on the collar, yoke and cuff. The cuffs are turned up. The word MAY is embroidered in the collar. This smock comes from the H. J. Massingham collection but its origin is not clear as it may have been worn by a ferreter on Lord Hambledon's estate at Leigh in Kent or worn by Shepherd Wiggins of Hayley in Glouchestershire, or another smock entirely.

1 smock: linen: good conditionHand-sewn, reversible smock made from white linen and is smocked with white thread. Neck fastened with 3 buttons. Good condition overall with some signs of wear. Smocking on the chest panel at the front and back, on the sleeves at the top and above the cuff. Chest smocking is smocked with a pattern of cable, trellis, cable, trellis, cable, with each section bordered above and below by outline and a section of point at the bottom of the panel. No embroidery on front and back. Embroidery on the collar, cuffs and yoke. Collar and cuffs have three lines of straight embroidery flanking two lines of French knots. Yoke is the same but with seven lines of stitching and six lines of French knots. Smocking at the top of the sleeves is smocked with a pattern of cable, trellis, cable bordered above and below by outline with a section of point at the bottom of the panel. Same pattern on the sleeve above the cuffs but reversed. Cuffs are turned up. No pockets. Slits in side seams at the hem with strengthening panels on inside. The word 'MAY' is embroidered in the collar.

Citation in publication [H. J. Massingham, 'Country Relics' (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1939)] –'I mention my shepherd's smock last of all // It is made of "drabbit", with wide collar, half-inch tucks, and gussets, full from the waist down and reaching to the knees. It has none of the elaborate "smocking" and both sides, which make many shepherd's smocks look as though they must have clothed the warbling Arcadians of the 'Shepherd's Calendar'.' (pp.134-137), MERL 'Catalogue index' card – ‘SMOCK // DATE ACQUIRED: January 1951 // GROUP: PERSONAL - CLOTHING - Garments // NEGATIVE: 35/1214 // PERIOD: First half of the 19th century // PLACE OF ORIGIN: The H. J. Massingham Collection // NUMBER: 51/258M // DESCRIPTION: ‘… [General information on smocks]. [page break] [General information continued] This smock was given to Mr. Massingham by Mrs. Macaulay, who in turn received it from the grand-daughter of the woman who made it. This woman, who wove the white cloth and made the smock up, was the wife of a ferreter on Lord Hambledon’s estate at Leigh in Kent. He wore it for work. It has MAY embroidered in red on the inside collar at the front. It has a small patch of smocking at the back and front of the neck, 5.5 inches square. It is also smocked at the top of the sleeve and above the cuff. The collars, cuffs and shoulder straps are embroidered simply with rows of running stitch and dots, in white thread. The neck openings each have 3 buttons and holes. The cuffs which are designed to turn back each have one button and hole. The length from shoulder to hem is 44 inches and the hem measures 66 inches round. There is a 1.5 inch slit at the base of each side seam. See Smocks and Smocking, by Heather Tanner in the Countryman Vol. XLVIII no. 1 Autumn 1953. This is an interesting general article. [photographic print] [insert] See also Neg. Nos. 60/14289-91 for more detail. [end insert]’, Photographic prints - [text on paper sleeve] ‘Acc. No. 51/258M // Neg. No. 35/1214’, MERL ‘Handwritten catalogue correction’ form – ‘CLASSIFICATION: // MUSEUM NUMBER: // Negative number: SMOCKS 51/246M 51/258M [tick] // These two smocks are part of the Massingham Collection of Rural Bygones. The information in the files together with the photographs of these smocks has always been considered correct but: // 51/256M File information and photograph feature a smock with elaborate smocking and states that it belonged to shepherd Wiggin. It is, however, noted that it “seems a strange pattern for a shepherd”. // 51/258M This is a much plainer smock which is said to have come from Kent via a lady called Mrs. McCaulay. // The smock featured in Massingham’s book “Country Relics”, which belonged to shepherd Wiggin is described as having “none of the elaborate smocking and feather stitching … which make many shepherd’s smocks …” // *IT SEEMS THAT 51/258M IS ACTUALLY SHEPHERD WIGGIN’S SMOCK* PTO. [page break] Tina Oliver who did an in depth study of the smock collections feels that the description in “Country Relics” does not relate to either of these smocks and might describe a completely different garment.’, MERL list / description [Massingham Collection, October 1989] – 'ACC. NO.: 51/258 // NAME: SMOCK // NEG NO.: 60/14289-91 // STORAGE: ', MERL ‘Conservation Record’ – ‘Class: PERSONAL Clothing garment // Name: SMOCK // Acc. No.: 51/258 // Conservator: JMB // Date: June 1993 // part/whole: ['part' scored through] treatment: method: washed in cold water with lisapol, revised [?] and ironed. // part/whole: repair: method: Replacement of some buttons and repair of stitching at neck. // part/whole: finish: method: Note: This work was done as the smock went on loan to the Toil and Plenty [?] exhibition Autumn 1993 // [tick box, unticked] tick when noted on catalogue sheet’, Object research project, Further Afield, February 2024 - The accession file provides information about the different colour smocks that are used in different parts of the country and the iconography of the embroidery on collars that may have identified the profession of the wearer.

1900-01-01 - 1924-12-31

Early-twentieth century

Stitched, Embroidered