Box People and Places
Latest Issue 35 Spring 2022 
  • This Issue
    • Gertie Butt
    • Fogleigh Residents
    • Murray & Baldwin
    • Guides 1920s and 30s
    • Noble Family
    • Stewart Family
    • Tunnel Inn
    • Anketell Family
    • Box Tollhouse
    • Institute at Box Hill
    • Memories of Nurse Chalinor
    • Gonks Recalled
    • National Service 1950s
    • Box Quarry Crane
    • More Operative Masons
  • Inter War
    • Postwar Hopes
    • Haunted by War
    • Improving Life
    • Timeline
  • Previous
    • Issue 34 - Fogleigh House
    • Issue 33 - KIngsdown Post Office
    • Issue 32 - Chapel Lane
    • Issue 31 - Saxon Box
    • Issue 30 - Georgian Rudloe
    • Issues 20-29 >
      • Issue 29 - Darkest Hour
      • Issue 28 - VE Day
      • Issue 27 - Northey
      • Issue 26 - Heritage Trail
      • Issue 25 - Slave Owners
      • Issue 24 - Highwaymen
      • Issue 23 - Georgian
      • Issue 22 - War Memorial
      • Issue 21 - Childhood 1949-59
      • Issue 20 - Box Home Guard
    • Issues 10-19 >
      • Issue 19 - Outbreak WW2
      • Issue 18 - Building Bargates
      • Issue 17 - Railway Changes
      • Issue 16 - Quarries
      • Issue 15 - Rail & Quarry
      • Issue 14 - Civil War
      • Issue 13: Box Revels
      • Issue 12 - Where You Live
      • Issue 11 - Tudor & Stuart
      • Issue 10 - End of Era 1912
    • Issues 1-9 >
      • Issue 9 - Health & Leisure
      • Issue 8 - Farming & Rural
      • Issue 7 - Manufacturing
      • Issue 6 - Celebrations
      • Issue 5 - Victorian Centre
      • Issue 4 - Slump after WW1
      • Issue 3 - Great War 1914-18
      • Issue 2 - 1950s & 1960s
      • Issue 1 - 1920s
    • Index By Author
    • Partner Sites & Book Reviews
    • Currency Converter
  • People
  • Places
  • General
  • Series
    • Northeys
    • Box School Series
    • Box Farms
    • Box Library Project
    • NATS Trails
    • Prehistory
    • Roman
    • Early Medieval >
      • Vikings in Box
      • Box Before Normans
      • Common Field Farming
      • Conclusion
      • Wessex Under Attack
      • Boundaries of Box
      • Routes in Box
      • Late Saxon Locations
      • Society in Anglo-Saxon Box
      • Christianity in Box
      • Why Box is in Wiltshire?
      • Anglo-Saxon Evidence
      • Art and Craft
      • Why Speak English?
      • Box after AD 350
      • Britain in Late Antiquity
    • Feudal
    • Late Medieval
    • Tudor & Stuart
    • Georgian
    • Rail & Quarry
    • Late Victorian
    • Great War
    • WW2 Index
    • Modern
  • Contact
    • Blog
    • Q&A

William Davis:
Basket-maker, Box Hill


Pam Bryant
May 2015

​The story of a rural tradesman in Victorian Box

Photo right of Box Hill courtesy Carol Payne
Picture
Pam Bryant wrote to us from Lincolnshire about her ancestor who was a basket maker in Victorian Box:

My great-great grandfather, William Davis, and his wife Rose lived in Box. At various times the censuses mention Box Hill, Box Quarries and Quarries. He was born in approximately 1804 and died in 1885. His wife Rose was born in approximately 1802 and died in 1890. I am descended from his son, Charles Davis, who was my mother's grandfather. I have a print out of Romany Records entitled "1881 Wiltshire Basket Makers".[1]. There are 111 Wiltshire basket makers named on the index.

This fascinating snippet of information set us on a search for William and his family and for rural handicrafts in Box, an essential feature of Victorian Box separate from the regional manufacturing businesses featured in an earlier issue.
William's Life
At first we thought that William was one of the squatters at the quarries on Box Hill, probably non-conformist, and making baskets for use in the stone works. But it soon became apparent that this was incorrect. But we know that they were local people and both William and Rose Tavener come from villages neighbouring Box, North Wraxall and Biddestone.
Picture
The first recorded mention of William that we found was in the 1840 Tithe Apportionment which confirms that he wasn’t an impoverished squatter; he owned his own house, most unusual at the time. The description of his entry is:

William Davis (tenant and owner) of cottage, basket-maker’s shop and garden. The record gives the precise reference to his property at entry 385b, sited next to property 384.

Left: Extract of map of 1840 produced for the Tithe Apportionment (courtesy Wilts History Centre).
We might assume that he was reasonably wealthy because basket-making was a vital part of the economy. We forget that everyone needed baskets for transporting valuables, rubbish and for conveying raw materials to industry before the widespread use of plastic and metal.

William continued his trade for decades and is listed in the same location on Box Hill Quarries in the censuses of 1841, 1851, 1861, 1871 and 1881. In 1861 his house was identified as By the road, meaning built alongside the turnpike road built in 1761.

We know a little about his family. He married Rose in 1827 and their children included: James (b 1828) described at times as a journeyman mason; Caroline Abbott (b 1831), who may not have married as she is still with her parents in 1881; William (b 1833) who followed his father into the basket-making trade; Thomas (b 1835), a man servant; George (b 1838); Frederick (b 1840); Robert Harry (1842 - 1878); and Charles (1845 - 1919).
PictureOne type of basket which was illustrated in the Encyclopaedia Britannica of 1911.

What Baskets Did William Make?
We might assume that he made many different types because he was gainfully employed in the industry for so long. But these were not decorative items as we use them now; they were vital commodities in late Victorian industry.

William's location might indicate that he provided baskets for the quarry trade and his eldest son being a journeyman mason adds to a possible link. In this event he probably used willow because of its strength. He might have sourced this from the banks of the By Brook, where it was abundant and on common ground. Somerset was an abundant supplier of baskets and it is probable that William sold locally, perhaps to the candle factory which needed baskets to pack their goods for storage and for transporting them.

How Profitable was the Business?
The long period of time that William and his family worked in the trade, and the number of children it supported, implies that it produced a good profit for the period. We can go further. By chance we came across a legal case dated 14 April 1870 when William was obliged to sue Samuel Oatley. The case was reported as: The defendant (Oatley) resides in a house of the complainant's (William) and on the latter calling for some rent, he was pushed down by the defendant who also threatened to knock his brains out.[2] The case was decided in favour of William and Oatley had to pay him 20s plus expenses. William obviously had not one house but at least two.

Later Family
William's son, Charles Davies, was Pam's ancestor through her mother's side. Charles was also a basket maker and at some point he moved to London. I have not found out why he left Box. If anybody is able to shed light on this family, I should be delighted to hear from them via the website.
References
[1] romanyfamilies.weebly.com
[2] Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette, 14 April 1870
Back to Issue 8
More about this article