I’ve been doing
some research into the lace curtain depicted on my print and have discovered
that it was made by Thomas Adams & Co of Nottingham for the 1862
International Exhibition in London. Thomas Adams started manufacturing lace in
1830 but soon expanded, and by 1888 had a curtain factory in Turin and in 1914
warehouses in various European centres so was clearly one of the major UK
manufacturers. The aim had been to hold the exhibition in 1861, ten years after
the Great Exhibition of 1851, but unforeseen circumstances, including the death
of Prince Albert, delayed its opening. Unfortunately the ‘Illustrated record of
the International Exhibition of all nations in 1862’ is not very helpful on the
subject of lace, despite it being a major UK export and employer. It mentions a
few examples in the exhibition from London, Nottingham, Ireland, Belgium,
France and India and concludes by patronizingly mentioning ‘the many admiring
lady visitors who thronged to this, to them, deeply interesting department of
the Exhibition’. I think my next step will be to find an accurate catalogue of
the textile exhibits and go from there.
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