Diss Lace Association was set up in 1901 by a group of well connected women, including Miss Alice Braithwaite Savory,  to provide an income for local, less fortunate women who weren’t able to earn a living by hard physical work.  They were taught how to make Honiton bobbin lace, the association provided the training and materials and the ladies received payment for each piece.

 

Active young girls who would normally go into service were not encouraged to get a living by lace-making. Young married women with time on their hands and invalids not strong enough to go into service were welcomed. It was possible for a skilful worker to earn 4s to 10s a week by lace-making, a farm worker’s wage was only 12s a week so a woman earning this amount by lace making thought herself lucky.

 

Diss Lace became very sought after, famously by Queen Alexandra, who bought some Diss lace. In June 1913 the Diss Lace Association had a stall at the Albert Hall and gained three Gold Stars, six Blue Stars and two Red Stars, Queen Alexandra made several purchases.

 

The 1914 war crippled the industry, able-bodied workers went into other industries and rich people couldn’t afford the luxury.

 

In 1922 a wedding gift of a handkerchief was made for Princess Mary. In her letter of thanks she referred to the ‘invalid cottage workers of the Diss Lace Association’.

 

Miss Savory died in the late 1930s, and when her estate was cleared up very little money was found in the Association fund. The surviving workers each received £2.

 

Diss Lace is now very rare, but in 2021 the great grand niece of Miss Savory donated some pieces of Diss Lace and associated lace making items to Diss Museum, for which we are very grateful.