ENGLAND: THE OTHER WITHIN

Objects from Eynsham in the Pitt Rivers Museum

Alison Petch,
Researcher 'The Other Within' project

1. Clay tobacco pipe, 1889.6.2

Accession Book Entry - April 30 W. Hine, The Museum, Oxford ... Clay tobacco pipe. Found unentered 1/10/2003.
This pipe was found in the Court of the Musuem by a member of staff in 2003, for some reason it had not been accessioned when it was donated in 1889 and had lain unseen for over 100 years until it was entered in the Museum's registers. On the object was written: 'Found in the Thames nr [near] Eynsham 1889 Pres by W. Hine'
The age of the pipe is unknown. The donor was William Hine, who was listed in the 1901 census as being aged 60, born in Oxford and living in St Giles, Oxford and working as an Assistant in the Museum (interestingly there is another Hine also listed as being an assistant in the Museum aged 21, Albert E. presumably his son or another relative). The 'Museum' is probably the Oxford University Museum (of Natural History, as it is now known) as the Pitt Rivers Museum had not yet fully separated itself administratively from that institution.

2. Hazel-rod splitter for basketry and two samples of hazel wood, 1903.50.2 .1-.3

Accession Book Entry - Mr Bateman, Oxford - Hazel rod splitter for basketry Eynsham, Oxon Pd Aug 24 PR petty cash 25/-
This item was purchased from Mr Bateman who was probably a J. Bateman, a dealer in Gloucester Green, Oxford. At first only the splitter was known about but then the hazel splitter was found on display by the museum staff who were working in the museum, with two pieces of hazel showing how a piece of hazel would be split. These pieces of hazel were probably just a demonstration tools, but were been assigned accession numbers. The splitter was used to divide the hazel rod along its length to make material suitable to form baskets from. Eynsham was not particularly known for its basketry so the splitter was probably just obtained from an unnamed local basketmaker. At the time 25 shillings was quite a lot of money, roughly the equivalent of £96.23 [2007 costs] using the retail price index to calculate. [http://www.measuringworth.com/ppoweruk/]

This item can be found on display in Case 118.A - Plaited Baskets and Basketry Tools, in the Court of the Museum

 

3. Doll, 1930.84.1

Accession Book Entry - 20 Dec Mrs L. Faulkner Eynsham Oxon - Costume doll, early XIX century, Eynsham Oxon ... Pd petty cash same date £1
The point about this doll is the clothing it is wearing, which are supposed to reflect the dress in Eynsham in the early nineteenth century. Nothing is known of the donor of this donor, she sold this and the corset below to the Museum for £1, which would have been equivalent to £45.32 in 2007.

The doll has brown ?human hair and is painted on the face, neck, arms and legs. She has ?glass eyes and painted makeup including lipstick and blusher. She is wearing a lace hair ornament that has come loose and a lace shawl. Her dress is pinned on and has sleeves that end below the elbow. She is wearing three underskirts, stockings and pink silk shoes. The dress has been stitched and pinned into shape.

4. Corset, 1930.84.2

Accession Book Entry - 20 Dec Mrs L. Faulkner Eynsham Oxon - Early type of corset, early XIX century, Eynsham Oxon ... Pd petty cash same date £1
The same donor sold this corset to the Museum, in the same deal as the doll above. It is pale green corset with cream leather patches stitched below the arm-pits and at the waist, lined with cream cotton. Again it was thought to have dated from early in the nineteenth century. A researcher visiting the museum suggested that it was probably an eighteenth century corset, or use with a court dress, as a back fastening. It has kid dress protectors. A new display label says, 'The corset was first introduced into Europe in the fifteenth century. Corsets constrict the waist and, according to fashion, either flatten or push out the breasts. In the eighteenth and nineteenth century, corsets were so stiff and constricting they sometimes permanently changed the shape of the skeleton and the internal organs and thus caused serious health problems. This pale green corset dates from the early nineteenth century.' It may have been that the donor was clearing out storage for someone, or else she might have been a collector, and not wished to retain these items. Her motivation, and other information about her, is not known. She lived in Eynsham however, unlike most donors of material from the village.

This item can be found on display in the Lower Gallery, case L.39.B, Body Arts Reshaping Centre

5. Rim of bowl 1931.23.2

Accession Book Entry - June E.G.J. Hartley, Esq ..., Frilford, Berks - Part of the rim of a grey pottery bowl ?Roman found when making a new road at Eynsham, Oxon 1931
This is the only archaeogical artefact donated from Eynsham. Ernald George Justinian Hartley (1875-1947) was a research chemist and amateur clarinetist who played in the Oxford orchestra for many years. He was educated at Christ Church Oxford, and a lecturer at the University and a fellow of the Chemical Society of London. He collected many musical instruments which are now in the Royal College of Music collections. It is not clear how he obtained the bowl rim though he was interested in archaeology, working on glass tessarae from Jerash [see http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/1964/hodgkin-bio.html] Both the artefacts he gave to the Museum were archaeological.

6. Wig block 1932.70.1

An added Accession Book Entry - ‘ENGLAND, OXFORDSHIRE, EYNSHAM An old label reads ‘wig block of papier maché’, but the construction is light for that purpose. Painted green base and details of face. Paint surface damaged in places. Possibly C 18th, but more probably early C 19th. d.d. Miss Blake 1932. Height 35.6 cm Depth of head 18cm.’ [E.S.G. ie Elizabeth Sandford Gunn, a member of museum staff in the 1960s] This object was obviously found unentered for an unknown reason because it was added to the accession book much later than 1932 based on information found on an old label attached to the object.

It is not known for sure who Miss Blake was. There was a Miss Blake of Woodstock Road, Oxford who was a member of the Ashmolean Natural History Society of Oxfordshire from 1903 - 1906 who might be the same person. In addition Katharine Jex-Blake, Principal of Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford was a member of the Oxford University Anthropology Society and could have donated this object. Whoever she was she gave only this artefact.

A wig block was defined by the OED as 'a rounded block for placing a wig upon when being made or not in use'.

 

7. Baker's lamp, 1932.88.914

Accession Book Entry [Balfour 3] - LAMP collection H. Balfour dd P.R. Mus. 1932. - BAKERS' LAMPS - ditto [old lamp - see 1932.88.910], lid missing; side of stand broken away, used by Mr. Constable, baker, EYNSHAM. ibid. [OXFORDSHIRE]
Additional Accession Book Entry [Balfour 3] - (ditto) [Stamped:] "Kenrick & Co" [underneath]
Additional Accession Book Entry [Balfour 3] - Purch[ased] by HB 1889.
This item was donated by the Curator (Director) of the Museum, Henry Balfour in 1932 but he first obtained it very early in his museum career, in 1889 (5 years after the Pitt Rivers Museum opened). Between 1889 and 1932 he obviously kept it in his private collection, it is not known why he decided to give it to the museum in 1932. The lamp was made by Kenrick and Co. and had been used by Mr Constable who was apparently a baker in Eynsham in 1889.

A clearer explanation was given on a series of catalogue cards produced for all the lighting related artefacts in the museum up to 1940 (when the catalogue was written):
Detailed lamp card catalogue entry - Box 4 Lamps Series T-Z and I - XIX Group: W Division: Baker's oven Number: 4 Description: Baker's lamp of cast iron, narrow cup shape, with handle and saucer attached. The cup has a lip and originally had a fringed cover, which is missing. The saucer also has a lip and is stamped with the maker's name "Kenrick and Co." A large piece is broken off on one side of the saucer. This lamp was used by Mr Constable, a baker of Eynsham [insert] cup length c 11 cm width c 7.2 cm saucer length c 20.5 cm Locality: Eynsham Oxon Collected by: H. Balfour coll How Acquired: Purch by H. Balfour Esq 1889 Pres'd by H. Balfour 1932

Baker's lamps were used to light the ovens so that baker's could see as they moved their products back and forth. No information can be found on Kenrick and Co. Balfour had a large collection of such lamps (13 in total), all from Oxfordshire. Some are much more crudely formed than others (some are home-made, some bought) so it is likely that he was obtained them to compare their form and use, a principal investigative tool he used when examining museum collections.

In the 1851 census [Folio 90 HO 107/1731 Eynsham] a William Constable, male aged 42, who was a baker is listed, as is his son George, also a baker. They may well have been the bakers in question. Constable's bakery seems to have carried on until at least the 1920s. [http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/OXFORDSHIRE/2001-07/0996051630; http://www.mustrad.org.uk/articles/shergold.htm]

8. Ivory tuning peg 1938.34.553

Accession book entry [Balfour 4] - Ivory tuning-peg of (of violin?), found near EYNSHAM, OXON. Pres. by G. Kettle, 1912.
This item was given by George Kettle, museum assistant, to Henry Balfour, the Museum Curator (or Director) in 1912. Balfour kept it in his private collection until his death in 1939, when it came to the Museum with the rest of his collection.

George Kettle had worked for Henry Balfour since 1909 when he was appointed an assistant at the Pitt Rivers Museum. In 1918 he was called up and served in the Navy battalion. It may be that he then left the University's employ because he is not mentioned further in the annual reports.

He gave several other objects to the museum, some via Henry Balfour:
1938.34.563 A glass harmicon from Blockley in Gloucestershire which Balfour had purchased from George Kettle in 1912 (again).
Others were given directly:
1911.25.1 Brass horse-pendant from Oxford in a 16-rayed sun design
1918.12.1 A shoemaker's knife from Oxford
1918.12.2 The handle of a toothbrush used for marking grooves on the sole under the instep of ladies shoes, Oxford.
These items came in the year Kettle went off to serve in the Army, it may be that he donated them as a parting gift.

Intriguingly, given the two shoemaking related items given by Kettle, there is an entry in the 1901 census for a George Kettle aged 20 born in St Thomas, Oxford aged 20 (ie born around 1881) described as being a 'bootmaker' by occupation. Another George Kettle aged 43 also born in St Thomas, Oxford who was a wine and spirit porter is also listed, he might have been his father. This might be the George Kettle who worked for the PRM, and possibly his father. The parish of St Thomas is in the centre of Oxford, very close to the present location of the railway station, around Becket Street. It is not known what the link between George Kettle and Eynsham were.

It is not clear whether the tuning peg is for a violin or not, presumably it was found separately, and in poor condition. The tuning peg has not been researched in detail.

 

9. Clay pipe bowl, 1941.12.71

Accession Book Entry - December 1941. B. Blackwood, Pitt Rivers Museum - Clay pipe bowl, English, 17th century, found by men working in Smith’s Pit, corner of Eynsham-Cassington road and Northern Bye-Pass, Oxon. December 12th 1941.
Beatrice Blackwood was a member of (academic) staff at the Pitt Rivers Museum, she was presumbly given the pipe-bowl by the workmen.
Clay pipes are often found in excavations and when trenches are being dug for repairs, people even find them when they are digging in their own gardens. Smith's Pit is a gravel pit in the Eynsham/ Cassington area, dug to extract gravel for building and other purposes, a common industry in this area.