| Number | AMHAM:OBJECT.1315.24 |
|---|---|
| About this object | Bucks (Buckinghamshire) Point Lace is fine and expensive lace made on a pillow with bobbins marking each thread. A cottage industry, bobbin lace was at its peak throughout the eighteenth century. Buckinghamshire was a centre for English lacemaking. This particular piece of Bucks Point Lace is part of Polly England’s collection. Polly England (also known as Mary) moved to Amersham with her husband Humphrey in 1910. She was a trained hospital nurse and together they established a new doctor’s practice to serve the expanding community of Amersham-on-the-Hill following the arrival of the railway. Polly was a Sister in the Army Nursing Service during the second Boer War. This was the first major conflict in which nurses in any numbers had been deployed and they were real pioneers. After the Boer War Polly returned to Charing Cross Hospital where she met and married Doctor Humphrey England. Their daughter, Jean, was born in 1905. Polly was a committed suffragist and joined the Mid-Bucks Suffragist Society. Whilst her husband worked away on the hospital ships sailing between England and Egypt during the Second World War, Polly kept the medical practice going as well as raising her young daughter. From her home she established a branch of the Red Cross to provide nursing training and organise medical supplies. After the Second World War Humphrey and Polly enjoyed a happy retirement in Devon with Jean and her husband Arthur Filsell. |
| Physical Description | Fine white/cream lace 200cm long and 6.3cm wide with a fine net edging. |
| Find Out More | Black Lace - Amersham Museum Mary ‘Polly’ England and Dr Humphrey England - Amersham Museum |