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Caption

  • Six samples of flat venise lace attached to a rectangle of pink silk. Each sample has a paper label numbering them one to six.
  • Twenty four samples of lace edgings attached to a rectangle of red silk. Each sample has a paper label numbering them 153 to 176.
  • Six samples of fine garniture lace attached to a rectangle of purple silk. Each sample has a paper label numbering them 220 to 225.
  • Seven samples of old Brussels lace attached to a rectangle of green silk. Each sample has a paper label numbering them 319 to 325.
  • Seven samples of fine Devonshire trolly lace attached to a rectangle of pink silk. Each sample has a paper label numbering them 326 to 332.

Charlotte Treadwin's lace album

Charlotte Elizabeth Treadwin (1820–90)

19th century

Needlelace sample

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Description

Devon was once renowned for its lace. In 1840, the lace used for Queen Victoria’s wedding dress was made along the East Devon coast. It proved a major boost to the Devon lace industry.

Charlotte Treadwin (née Dobbs) was of Devon’s most important lace dealers and manufacturers. She ran her business near Exeter Cathedral and her skill earned her a royal warrant in 1848. She exhibited at the Great Exhibition of 1851 and the International Exhibition of 1862.

When Treadwin died in 1860, Ellen Herbert took over the business. Herbert compiled an album of lace samples collected by Treadwin. Some were antique and some are her own award-winning designs inspired by her collection.

Herbert bequeathed the album to RAMM in memory of Charlotte Treadwin. Pages 1, 20, 26, 39 and 40 are pictured here. You can see more pages and learn more about the individual samples on RAMM’s collections site.

RAMM Treasures Trail - Object 6 - Treadwin's Lace

Learn about the sixth object in our RAMM Treasures of the Museum trail, the Treadwin lace.

Treasures of the Museum: Charlotte Treadwin's Lace

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Transcript

Shelley Tobin: My name is Shelley Tobin. I'm an Assistant Curator here at the Royal Albert Memorial Museum.

One of the first collections to come to RAMM, in the 1860s, was a lace collection. Lace is an amazing fabric. It's something that differs from region to region, as well as country to country. There are lots of different kinds of techniques.

Lace is really important to the South West, and particularly to this part of Devon, to East Devon, in fact. Lacemaking was a kind of occupation, so it was a way of agricultural labourers and fishing families sort of eking out a living really, by making this very desirable, luxurious commodity.

One of the really significant collections of lace that is represented here at RAMM is a collection that was put together by Charlotte Treadwin. Mrs Charlotte Treadwin was a lace manufacturer, designer and historian as well. And she was Lacemaker in Ordinary to Queen Victoria.

The people who really desperately needed to earn money by making that luxurious fabric were living in quite dire circumstances, quite often, and their stories are as much of interest to me as the stories of the wealthy elite women.

The craft of lacemaking is not dead. It was revived by Devon County Council. And since the Second World War, it's something that has become more of a leisure craft and it's still tremendously popular.

Credits

Watch RAMM staff and volunteers tell us why they love each of the 16 objects, and hear the fascinating stories that make these items so special.

Additional Information

Dimensions
630 mm
Accession Number
40/1929/1

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