Recently, I was behind the scenes at The Dales Countryside Museum in Hawes. There to read the (unpublished) diary of Marie Hartley, one of the co-authors of ‘The Old Hand-Knitters of the Dales’ (1951).
I’ll be transcribing the relevant parts of Miss Hartley’s diary over the coming months. Earlier diaries covered her writing partnership with Ella Pontefract, the consummate Yorkshire writer, who died unexpectedly, and young. Had she lived, she would have been lauded. Later diaries cover the period when she worked with Joan Ingilby, a competent and diligent writer and researcher. I was interested in the diaries from around 1949-’51, when Joan and Marie were researching and writing ‘The Old Hand-Knitters of the Dales’. This book has pretty well never been out of print since it was written and I was privileged/lucky enough to work on the most recent edition, more than a decade back, now.
It’s been one of my missions in the past couple of decades, to put names to “lost” handknitting artists, whenever possible. In ‘The Knitter’magazine, 150, I identified a previously unknown Dales knitter, Sarah Banks, née Hunter. Back issues are still available here, if you want to read more about Sarah Banks and her now “lost” pair of gloves, illustrated by Marie Hartley around 1950. Marie Hartley knew the Askrigg shopkeeper, Miss Banks, came from a family of knitters up at the head of Swaledale, so interviewed Miss Banks about this and then borrowed a pair of gloves, dated 1850, to illustrate for ‘The Old Hand-Knitters’. The other gloves in the illustration (see below) are still extant. Miss Banks’ gloves are sadly lost because Miss Hartley assiduously returned them, then Miss Banks fell ill. Her shop and home were cleared by people who would maybe have seen old knitted gloves as just not worth keeping. And so they were lost to us.
https://www.gathered.how/magazines-the-knitter/
In ‘The Old Hand-Knitters of the Dales’, Marie wrote that the black and red gloves, dated 1850, were “… made almost a hundred years ago at one of the lonely farms at the head of the dale [Swaledale]. They belong to Miss H. Banks of Askrigg, and were knitted by her mother when she was a girl…” [44].
I managed to find the only Miss Banks in Askrigg – Hannah Banks, the village shopkeeper. (Since doing all the genealogical legwork, predictably I got another of Marie Hartley’s books, the one published directly before ‘The Old Hand-Knitters’, and there was even a full page illustration of Miss Banks! Would like to have found it sooner, but at least it confirmed my theory that Sarah Hunter had made these gloves).
Recently, reading Marie’s diary, I read the sad ending to Miss Banks’s story. By the time Marie’s memoir to Ella Pontefract – her first writing partner – was published, in 1950, Miss Banks was in hospital, in York. Marie visited her there. I will transcribe Miss Banks’ story in Miss Hartley’s words, another time. Poor Miss Banks suffered from dementia, towards the end of her life, and had to leave the shop not long after Marie illustrated her there.
Using Ancestry.com, I figured out that Hannah’s mother, who had knitted the now lost gloves, was Sarah Hunter, born 1839, near Muker. She had still been a child when she had knitted the exquisite gloves. This is vital data for us as it confirms children did more than just knit wonky apprentice pieces. My theory is, most Dales gloves were knitted commercially, commissioned by mills, therefore our survivors that have names/dates on, tend to have been knitted for family members or friends, and so, were outliers.
This set me wondering whether I could figure out the identity of other Dales knitters. And in ‘The Knitter’ 194, I did just that.
In ‘The Old Hand-Knitters of the Dales’, Misses Hartley and Ingilby mentioned a knitter they identified only by her nickname, “Molly i’ th’ Wynd”. I managed to figure out, from the breadcrumb trail of clues left by the women, her identity.
The most likely “Molly i’ th’; Wynd” I could find, was Mary Kirkbride, a butcher/farmer’s wife, who lived on The Wynd, in Gayle (just half a mile or so outside Hawes in Wensleydale), during most censuses. Molly was born Mary Iveson in 1830, baptised 6th October 1830, daughter of Gayle butcher, William Iveson and his wife, Bella. Mary (Molly) married John Kirkbride in 1874. John’s mother had been a “Knitter of Ruff Hosiery” (“Ruff” = “rough” or bump knitting?) Iveson – and Kirkbride – were amongst the most common knitters’ surnames I found on mid 19th century censuses for Wensleydale.
Molly died in 1923, aged 93. She would be well within living memory when the ladies researched their book, in 1949 and indeed, Miss Hartley’s diary records a few research trips to Gayle (close to her home, in Askrigg), chatting with locals. Her main preoccupation being figuring out the history of Gayle Mill – something Marie never entirely resolved to her satisfaction as locals kept giving conflicting stories.
Across Marie Hartley’s diary, I found mentions of three now lost pairs of gloves. Only a handful (sorry) of original Dales gloves are extant. So Marie’s description of them is useful. Here’s a slide from my recent talk in Hawes which outlines the three described pairs (one illustrated by Miss Hartley, top right, below)
So, not only do we have a couple of previously un-named Dales knitters – Sarah Hunter and Mary Kirkbride – and details of the three “lost” pairs of gloves/mitts that were extant around 1950, but also the tantalising mention of “muffatees”, shown to Miss Hartley by her friend, Mrs. Alderson. (My own Dales ancestors were Aldersons, although not these ones. But this caught my eye for that reason).
This inspired me to work out a pattern for some Dales inspired muffatees. Which you can find in ‘The Knitter’ 194. Enjoy!
Patterns for these muffatees and my version of Sarah Hunter’s 1850 gloves can be found in the back issues of ‘The Knitter’ (links above). The latest edition of ‘The Old Hand-Knitters of the Dales’ is still in print (over a decade now!) and available in the UK from us, here:
With thanks to The Dales Countryside Museum, Hawes
PENELOPE HEMINGWAY 