Heathcoat’s Bobbinet
John Heathcoat’s lace-making machine created thousands of jobs, and gave ordinary people clothes they could never have dreamt of.
1806-1816
King George III 1760-1820 to Queen Victoria 1837-1901
John Heathcoat’s lace-making machine created thousands of jobs, and gave ordinary people clothes they could never have dreamt of.
1806-1816
King George III 1760-1820 to Queen Victoria 1837-1901
The industrial revolution improved the living standards of the poor not by robbing Peter to pay Paul, but by making Peter’s luxuries so cheap that Paul could afford them too. This win-win arrangement was made possible by the self-sacrifice and determination of inventors like John Heathcoat (1783-1861).
IT was the dream of most framesmiths at the turn of the nineteenth century to make machines that could mimic hand-made lace, but it required a dextrous twisting of the threads that they could not reproduce.
At sixteen, apprentice framesmith John Heathcoat was no different – except that in 1806, after eight years of heartbreaking trial and error, he laid a slip of strong, fine ‘bobbinet’, a machine-made tulle barely distinguishable from hand-made lace, on his wife’s lap.* By 1816, he had fifty-five machines at work.
John’s first factories in Nottingham and Loughborough were destroyed by traditional lace-makers, and his patents were infringed by rivals. The law came to his defence, however, and he moved his business to Tiverton in Devon, where the people were rewarded with two thousand jobs, a church, and £6000 invested in local schools;** across the country, meanwhile, the price for a square yard of tulle dropped from £5 to 5d, making a luxury item available to anyone.***
Tulle (pronounced ‘tool’) is named after the French city. It is a strong, lightweight netting typically used for bridal wear, as well as ball-gowns, ballet costumes and decorative ribbon.
Approximately half a million pounds today. See Measuring Worth.
** A fall from about £420 per square yard to about £1.70 today, which according to Smiles took place gradually over a twenty-five year period. See Measuring Worth.
Suggest answers to this question. See if you can limit one answer to exactly seven words.
What sort of textile is ‘bobbinet’?
It is a lightweight net, like lace.
Express the ideas below in a single sentence, using different words as much as possible. Do not be satisfied with the first answer you think of; think of several, and choose the best.
Heathcoat developed a machine. It made a textile like lace. He named the textile Bobbinet.