This was a first attempt at an introductory chapter for "the book of the website".
The numbers refer to notes which can be found at the end. Some of them mention page numbers which don't yet exist.
Copyright Mary Knox 2008
The book will be available very soon now! Keep watching the website. As this was only a draft and has been revised, please don't quote me. Constructive comments are welcome, to mary@nzspinningwheels.info.
The first New Zealand spinners
The first permanent European settlers began to arrive in New Zealand in the early 19th century. Some, for whom spinning had been part of their lives and an economic necessity, brought their spinning wheels. Many local museums have one or two very old wheels, usually with no full accession records and no provenance. Some of these wheels are clearly intended for spinning flax, with a distaff and sometimes a little water container.
A number of families in various parts of New Zealand have wheels with a tradition that they were brought to New Zealand in the 19th century. Places of origin include Shetland, Scotland, England and Ireland. The wheel brought by Randi Findsdottar from Pasotorpet, Nord-Odal, Norway in 1873 was used to spin wool in Norsewood for many years by her daughter Johanna.1 In 1872 a traveller through the Scandinavian settlements north of Masterton commented "We notice that almost every householder there has a spinning wheel in her possession and we expect that we shall shortly see some home-spun stockings, etc, produced by them."2
19th century makers
Though there is evidence for knitting and other needlecrafts by the early settlers, the traces of spinning are scanty, and of spinning wheel making even scantier.3 Surely some new wheels must have been made here? Spinning wheels by at least one maker were apparently available in Dunedin in the 1850s and 1860s.4 Unfortunately nothing more is known about these. The only 19th century craftsman to whom we can attribute an actual wheel is Roderick Fraser ("Roderick the Miller") one of whose wheels has been identified with fair certainty in the Waipu Museum. This wheel is made of NZ native timber but closely follows the traditional style of wheels that must have been brought by the settlers from Nova Scotia and possibly before that from Scotland.5
A spinning wheel was exhibited in the New Zealand and South Seas Exhibition in Dunedin in 1889-90 by a David Ross of Invercargill. A writer in the Otago Witness comments rather sarcastically "Mr D. Ross, of Invercargill, who describes himself as a manufacturer of spinning wheels - articles for which, we should imagine, there would be insufficient demand nowadays to justify one in becoming a manufacturer of them - exhibits a spinning wheel of red pine. The wheel runs smoothly and should perform its function satisfactorily."6 I have not so far found any further information about Mr Ross or his wheels.
In 1894 a columnist in the Otago Witness wrote in answer to a reader's question "Mr D. Sinclair, Oamaru, makes spinning wheels."7 Again, we know no more about him though a David Sinclair is listed in Wise's Post Office Directory living in Alm Street Oamaru.
After that there is a gap in our knowledge until well into the 20th century. It is possible that as communications and transport improved and new generations succeeded the pioneers, women even in rural areas had less need to spin and more interest in other activities. Several attempts were made in the 19th century to start weaving businesses based on using handspun yarn, but there was often a supply problem: in Otago as early as the 1850s, for example, "no canny matron was found willing to set a-going the spinning wheel".8
The early 20th century
The next making of spinning wheels that we hear of is not until the first World War, when knitters were busy making items for soldiers. Lady Liverpool, wife of the Governor-General, set up a competition for a spinning wheel which was won by James Walter Chapman-Taylor with a wheel copied from one that he borrowed.9 It would be very interesting to know who made the other wheels that were entered in the competition, and what became of them! Chapman-Taylor apparently went on to make at least 100 more.
Then there is another gap in our story of wheel-making, though there was certainly spinning: Lisa Jaeger from Latvia was an inspirational spinner10 and Barbara Johnston from Shetland helped support her family by her spinning and knitting in the south of the South Island.11 Several of the founders of the Women's Institute in 1921 were noted promoters of textile crafts including spinning.
Depression
But we hear of no wheels being made (which is not to say that none were) until the 1930s, when the Depression caused both men and women to look for ways to make ends meet. Spinning and knitting played their part in farmhouses and cottages around the country. Harold Martin began making wheels for Commander Beauchamp's enterprise and eventually made and sold many wheels, as well as looms and other woolcraft equipment.12
A New Zealand Guild of Weavers, Dyers and Spinners was set up in 1935, and ceased to operate a few years later. Its membership lists number between 50 and 70, with members all over the country. In 1936 a "For Sale" column in their newsletter includes Ina Buchanan (Christchurch) and a Mr Challiner (Hamilton) each advertising both wheels and looms. We know nothing about the wheels they were selling.
Second World War
During the second World War at least 10 makers provided wheels for the many spinners who were making items for their own families, for the armed forces, and in some cases to sell to provide a small income. Walter Ashford's kitset wheels were first advertised in February 1942, and by June of the following year more than 1500 had been sold.13
Some of the wheels made in the 1940s were elegant in their simplicity, like the Atkinson, Graham and Hamilton wheels; others were less refined, like John Moore's Karure and Miro. Economy was an essential at that time and often the most basic of materials were used. However, the majority were horizontal, saxony-style wheels: only Fraser, Jennings, Morrison and Schofield that we know of designed uprights at this time, though there are other unidentified upright wheels that may date from the 1940s.
Clearly portability was not felt to be as important as it often is now. This is understandable when we remember that cars were scarce and petrol was even scarcer, so travel with even a small wheel would have been difficult. Many of these wartime wheels, too, used a metal wheel and were heavy even if their footprint was small. It is recorded that ladies of the Dunedin Navy League kept their wheels in the Navy League rooms and travelled by tram to spinning meetings.14 Miss Stace's studio in Eastbourne was full of wheels which members of her group used, though some also had their own wheels at home. Other spinners may have spun only at home, taking their knitting when portable handwork was needed, as many of us do even today.
Doldrums and revival
After the war ended, there seems to have been a rather abrupt falling-off of enthusiasm for spinning. Richard Ashford records that his father was left with "a storeroom of wheels which had to be discounted at the end of the War." It was not until 1965 that he was persuaded to start producing wheels again, and that was when the now-ubiquitous Traditional was born.15 Aileen Stace's account of the Eastbourne Spinners tells a rather similar story: after the war the group continued to meet and spin together, but it was only in 1961, in response to demand, that she began to teach a learners' class.16
Our records of wheel makers confirm this hiatus in enthusiasm for spinning. I know of no new spinning wheel makers who started between 1944 and the late 1950s, with the possible exception of Nicol. Nor is it known whether any of the wartime makers continued to produce wheels. Rappard was perhaps the first, in 1958, to identify what would be a growing demand through the 60s and 70s. Around 1965 there was almost an explosion of wheel-making, which must have been in response to widespread interest in natural materials and down-to-earth crafts.
By then times were changing, and very few makers were sticking only to a horizontal design. In the 1960s, most made horizontal and upright wheels (Nagy, Pipy, Sleeping Beauty, Tyler, Wing, to mention just a few of the most prolific). Very soon, however, the uprights had almost taken over the market, and I know of only two makers (Aston and Woodcraft of Nelson) who began working from the mid 1970s who made a horizontal model, though Rappard and some other earlier makers continued to produce them.
From 1975 the trend was to smaller portable uprights, sometimes folding or able to be taken apart for travel. Peacock, Grace, Camelot, McGreevy, Madigan wheels were all sought after. Craftsmen were willing to innovate and to seek the advice of experienced spinners. Miss Stace gave much advice to makers in the Wellington area, for example. A considerable range of designs was available, many very finely crafted.
1980s to now
By 1985 there was quite a thriving export trade in spinning wheels. When five makers responded to a questionnaire, only one (Pipycraft) was exporting less than half of their production. Peacock, Rappard, and Sharp & Page (makers of the litle Camelot wheels) were exporting 80-90%, quite a lot to Australia but also to USA and Canada, Japan and Europe. Except for Ashford whose Traditional was their most popular export, the biggest market was for upright wheels.17
However, the writing was on the wall for many of the makers. As they grew older and wished to retire, there were few younger people wishing to take over such enterprises. Some quietly ceased production. Others sold their businesses, but often the new owner gave up or re-sold within a few years.
A noticeable feature of this survey is that all the wheel-makers have been men. I know of no woman in New Zealand making a spinning wheel from scratch, though some spinners have repaired or altered their wheels to make them work better. A number of women have had considerable influence: Miss Stace in particular comes to mind, but Beulah Peacock, Jenny Poore and many other wives and friends had a very large input into wheel designs. The actual woodwork and metalwork, however, have been the province of men. This probably reflects the norms of our society - until relatively recent years, for instance, schoolboys took woodwork and metalwork classes while the girls learned cooking and sewing.
At the present time (2008) there are three relatively large scale makers (Ashford, Baynes, Majacraft) who export a lot of their production. Mike Keeves is still making a limited number of Little Grace Specials, and a very few craftsmen such as Collins (Cherub), Garrett and Shearman, all well into their retirement, occasionally make a wheel or two. Of course there are still a great many excellent older wheels coming up for sale, often selling for far less than they would be worth overseas. Unless there is a major revival of interest in spinning here, as is happening in the US, it appears that most New Zealand wheels will continue to be made by firms depending on export for most of their sales.
NOTES
1 Johanna's World, O.M. Andresen (Harper Collins 2000). The photograph facing p.129 shows that it was a double-table wheel of the type that we think of as "norwegian".
2 Tuapeka Times, 11 July 1872 p.5, quoting from the Wairarapa Mercury.
3 Heather Nicholson in chapter 2 of The Loving Stitch (Auckland University Press 1998)
discusses several mentions of spinning which she uncovered in her extensive researches into early sources.
4 Nicholson pp. 42-3.
5 See p. . Nicholson (p.34) assumes that all the wheels used by the women of Waipu were made by Roderick Fraser, but this is unlikely to be correct as two of the three in the Waipu Museum are made of European or North American timber.
6 6 February 1890 p.18
7 7 June 1894 p.27.
8 Otago Witness 18 January 1873 p.3.
9 The Life and Times of James Walter Chapman-Taylor, Judy Siers (Millwood Heritage Productions, Box 12246, Ahuriri, Napier, Hawke's Bay, 2007. Available from the publisher or visit the website: www.millwood-heritage.com). See p.
10 Spin a Yarn, Weave a Dream, A History of the New Zealand Spinning, Weaving and Woolcrafts Society 1969-1994, Jean Abbott and Shirley Bourke (New Zealand Spinning, Weaving and Woolcrafts Society 1994) p. 94.
11 Nicholson p. 109.
12 Nicholson pp. 107-114. The work of several influential spinners is described in those pages, but little is known about their wheels. Perrine Moncrieff is shown using a Martin wheel on p. 113. It is by no means certain that the wheels used by schoolchildren at Tasman Downs (p. 111) were by Harold Martin, as they do not look like the wheels that we know are his.
13 NZ Home Journal June 1943 p.49.
14 See p.
15 "The Ashford Story", Richard Ashford, in The World of Coloured Sheep (ed. R.S. Lundie & E.J. Wilkinson, Black & Coloured Sheep Breeders' Association of New Zealand 2004) pp. 200-201.
16 Aileen Stace, Twists to Treasures (Baranduin Publishers 1974) p.33.
17 Jean McDonnell, New Zealand Wheels Keep Turning (unpublished thesis for the Diploma of Export, 1985).