Object number
60/49/1-4
Description
These three brass splitters (the fourth is missing) were used to split straws into splints for making fine straw plait. Until the nineteenth century this task was performed with a sharp knife. The point of the splitter was thrust down the straw pipe and the cutters separated it into equal sized splints. These splitters were used in the nineteenth century in Bedfordshire and North Hertfordshire.
Physical description
3 splitters; metal [copper alloy]; good condition
Archival history
MERL 'Handwritten accession' form (Museum of English Rural Life) – 'Standard museum name: … // Accession number: … // Classification: … // Negative number: … // Acquisition method: … // Acquired from: … // Date: … // Store: … // Condition: … // Recorder: … // Date: … // Description: 3 brass rods, circular in cross section, tapering towards one end. Right angled bend towards narrow end. 4 or 6 leafs sticking out after bend. Rod ends in a fine point. // Dimensions: (1) Length 7.4cm. // (2) Length 7.2cm. // (3) Length 6.9cm. // Associated information: Used in Bedfordshire and North Hertfordshire. // (1) Until the war period it had been customary to plait with whole straws, which gave a very crude product… The more direct and successful method was adopted of splitting straws to obtain a finer medium… It is not long before a special tool – the straw splitter – is described: this is done very confidently by Briggs as two kinds of splitters. The first were made of bone by French prisoners of war at Yaxley barracks; these were very successful but cost from one to two guineas each. The second was made of iron, Janes, a blacksmith at Dunstable, being the inventor… The splitters were quite small, being only 4 or 5 inches in length, and as they were quite simple tools to make, the price dropped very quickly to a few pence… The significant point is that the splitter was introduced at the time when the expansion of the industry was at its greatest, which was, of course, the time when the Italian supplies were cut off. The splitter was of great value, as it gave a finer medium and made possible a narrower plait. // References: (1) A History of the Straw Hat Industry: John G. Dony, Ph.D, (Gibbs, Bamforth & Co. (Luton) Ltd.).’
Production date
1800-01-01 - 1899-12-31
Production period
Nineteenth century
Object name
Material
Associated subject
