WOMENS HOME INDUSTRIES
A Post War Home Workers Story
This post was inspired by a dress.*
A family member manages a charity shop (thrift store, op shop) for The Plymouth Drake Foundation and received a donation of a bag of vintage dresses. Amongst these were some by the designer, Emma Hanbury and one that had all the elements of haute couture construction and made of silk. The label inside was:-
I was asked to see if I could find any information about Dorothy Law of 10 West Halkin St, Belgrave Square, London, sadly I was unable to pinpoint the lady. However what I did find was a post war band of home workers utilising their needle skills to earn "dollars" for the UK economy. This is the story of Womens Home Industries of no.11 West Halkin Street.
In post war Britain, there was a need to rebuild the countries economy, it was seen that there was a wealth of talented women, that could be given practical work that they could undertake at home. Under the instigation of Stella Isaacs, Marchioness of Reading, the founder of the WVS, Womens Voluntary Service, as chairman, so Womens Home Industries was founded.
An article written in the Harrogate Herald: 15th October 1947, gives an insight into the requirments of this enterprise.
Articles to be made: Knitted garments of all types, particularly small children's wear. Women's and men's pullovers and golf stockings of very good design only.
Needlepoint, Grospoint and Petitpoint for chair seats, stools, rugs etc. Fine Needlework, smocking, quilting, good leather work etc.
Only work of the highest standard will be accepted.
How to become a WHI worker: Send a sample of your work to Women's Home Industries Ltd by registered post (it will be returned to you after examination) State the value of your work for insurance purposes only. Give some idea of the number of orders that you could undertake and an approx time for delivery. If the directors consider your work suitable for export you will be advised of the amount they are able to pay. The necessary materials and instructions will then be sent to you.
Queen Mary contributed to the cause, offerring six grosgrain embroidered floral chair seats, requesting that proceeds should be sent to the Queens Institute of District Nursing.
The Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News published photographs of an exhibition of items from Womens Home Industries in October 1947.
For the first few years all items were only for export, but by the start of 1950, items were being released to the home market, being supplied to some of the couture houses and London stores. reported by Yorkshire Evening Post 20th Jan 1950.
In 1953 accessories from WHI began to appear in features such as The Tatler and The Sketch fashion portfolio. In this photograph the hat is the item.
In 1958 the association between the WVS and Women's Home Industries ceased and the company was taking on a more commercial and fashion conscious approach to business.
By 1960 Beatrice Bellini, designer, was designing knitting patterns to be made by the home workers, Kaffe Fassett also collaborated with Bellini in the 1970's with colour and design of both knitting and tapestry patterns. However these designs were being copied and churned out more cheaply in Hong Kong. Home workers were still employed to make garments. In 1964, WHI joined forces with designers such as Burberry, Jaguer, Simpsons and Dunhill to send a large shipment of men's clothing to Bloomingdales and Filene's
Meanwhile WHI's traditional knits were enjoying a resurgance, especially their export trade, with their wedding ring shawls. These were knitted in the Scottish Isles using single ply shetland wool. Like Middle Eastern carpets many of these were 'handed down through the generations' patterns. These shawls could take up to 6 months to complete and the knitters were becoming older and the younger knitters did not have the patience to complete these designs. Traditional sweaters from various islands such as Aran andGuernsey were also popular.
Coventry Evening Telegraph 12th Oct 1960WHI continued, with it's home workers to supply larger fashion and design houses with their wares eg pastel crochet designed gloves for Jaeger. Bellini remaining at the helm until resigning in 1997. Womens Home Industries dissolved in 2019.
At it's height there were 3,000 knitters working for the company, could one of your ancestors be one of these?
As to the dress, well one of the volunteers within the shop used to work as a sewer for Gieves and Hawkes. Both Gieves and Hawkes and Jaeger had factory units sited on Mutley plain Plymouth, a little like Women's Home Industries, they would outsource work to local Plymothian women. It was the practice that many of the garments they made would have the purchasers details sewn into the garment, much like the label above. So it is likely that Dorothy Law was the owner of the dress rather than the sewer.
*At the time of posting this dress is available, awaiting an appropriate auction. Unfortunately you would need to be fairly slim to get into it as it is an approx UK size 8-10.
UPDATE:
With many thanks to Barb in comments below. Dorothy Law has been found in Kellys Post Office Directory for 1937.
Law Dorothy, dressma. 10A. West Halkin st SW 1— Sloane 2894
Very interesting, I had not heard of the WHI. Also, I imagine you are right that Ms. Law was the owner of the dress. I could not resist looking her up and I did find her in a 1938 London directory at the 10 W. Halkin address. Probably a flat above the shops. Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteOh no... I just took a closer look at the directory and the listing is under the heading 'Dressmakers' so...
ReplyDeleteAh thank you. I forgot to check the name with just an initial. I will go and see if I can find the directory now. It is good to be have a timeline though as it has been difficult to date as it is a fairly classic design. Once again many thanks.
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