Cork's "Point de Venice", the Iconic Irish Laces - pt. 1
This is the first part of our series on types of Irish lace. We aim to explore not only the history and characteristics of these laces, but also discover a bit about who bought, designed, and created them.
by Erin Frumet
Youghal Lace c.1886 - Image from V&A Museum
Ireland is famous for its lacemaking tradition. Although lacemaking in Ireland traces back to the 18th century, many of the most well-known Irish laces got their start around famine times (1845-1852). Mostly driven by charitable efforts by individuals to create alternate income sources for local women, the industry was never centralized as it was in other parts of Europe. Despite these odds, they still produced some of the most unique and coveted laces of the 19th and early 20th centuries.
While researching the proto-couturier Mrs. Manning, I came across a reference to her exhibiting Irish-made "Youghal Lace". Considering that Mrs. Manning was a well-known and highly respected dressmaker at the time, and this was the first Irish-made textile that she advertised, I was intrigued. What made this lace stand out among all the other Irish laces?
Freeman's Journal - Thursday 28 August 1879
Image © THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD
By all accounts, Youghal lace - or Irish Point- was developed by Presentation Nun Mary Ann Smith as a source of income and industry after the famine. Smith, originally hailing from Dingle, Co. Kerry, found an antique piece of lace at the Convent (probably Point de Venise, but this varies based on the account) and unravelled it to figure out how to replicate the stitches.
She first taught her technique to children at the convent who had an aptitude for fine needlework. They learned quickly, and by 1852 they were able to open a dedicated lace-school at Presentation Convent in Youghal (pronounced "yawl" or y'all for the Americans!), County Cork. By 1894, between 50 - 60 women and girls were employed at Youghal lace. Far from being just an imitation of the original antique lace, the workers developed as many as 50 unique stitches for Irish point, making it a novel and distinctive lace in its own right.
“No words could do justice to the beauty of these almost fairy-like productions of the needle, some of which rival the spider's web in fineness and intricacy of their meshes.”
- Enniscorthy Guardian - 29 August 1903
Although Irish lace was generally a cottage industry (individuals working independently in their homes, as opposed to working together at a workshop or factory), Youghal lace seems to have been primarily made at the Presentation convent.
Youghal Needlelace Panel With Harps & Musical Notes
c. 1860
From Christies
Characteristics of Youghal Lace
Youghal lace is a flat, buttonhole "needle lace", made with simply needle and thread. Although there are a number of historic needle-laces, Youghal lace makers developed around 50 unique stitches, making it identifiable from it's ancestors.
The design is first drawn in general outline on stiff paper. This is transferred to transparent paper. The transfer is then tacked very carefully to thick white cotton material. Over the outlines a rather course linen thread is "couched" to the foundation. The worker then proceeds to fill in the design with various lace stitches, attaching them to the outlining thread only. Linen thread of varying fineness is used; in the very finest work the meshes are so small that they cannot be counted.
- From "The Mentor, Lace and Lacemaking" published by The Mentor Association. Department of Fine Arts, Volume 5, Number 6
Image from Identifying Handmade Lace, by Dress and Textile Specialists
You can clearly see the button hole stitch in the "bars" joining the lace in the below image (from the Liberties Archive collection). However, these bars are not always made with the buttonhole stitch!
The filling stitches are numerous and varied, a bit unrestrained in the amount of different stitches used. To quote Elizabeth M. Kurella in her book Youghal Irish Needle Lace for Connoisseurs and Lacemakers:
Some of the most exciting of antique Youghal needle lace that surfaces today is in the form of a folk art, infused with the spirit of the lacemaker.
Detail of Youghal lace from an eBay listing
Youghal lace as a luxury commodity
The first exhibition of this lace was probably at the Great Industrial Exhibition in Dublin in 1853. Unfortunately, examples from this early period of Youghal laces are rare. It's not until 1863, when the Princess of Wales (later Queen Alexandra) was gifted a shawl of Youghal lace for her marriage, that this style of lace becomes more prominent in the available records.
The first primary resource I could find for Youghal lace comes from the Cork Examiner - Tuesday 26 July 1870 (Image © THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD)
Youghal lace makes an appearance on the list of wedding gifts given to Captain F. A. Bertie and Rose Emily de Montmorency, who's family hailed from Kilkenny. Among the list are other rare and emblematic Irish specialties of the time:
Oxford Journal - Saturday 26 July 1873
Image © THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD
This lace was also gifted to Mr. Walter U. Long and Lady Dorothy Boyle, daughter of the Earl of Cork:
Morning Post - Friday 02 August 1878
Image © THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD
The Duchess of Marlborough, a consistent proponent of Irish-made textiles, wore Youghal lace to the first Drawing-room of Dublin Castle in 1878.
Belfast News-Letter - Friday 11 January 1878
Image © THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD
The below illustration is from a set of Youghal lace sold at the Irish fair in New York, to Gladys Vanderbilt. The quoted price of £200 in the caption is the equivalent of ~£21,000 today.
Illustration from the Irish Independent, 15 February 1908.
Image © THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD
Queen Mary's coronation train (pictured below) is one of the masterpieces of Youghal lace. The train is four yards long and two yards wide at the end. The lace was commissioned by the unionist "ladies of Belfast" but made by the Youghal Co-operative Lace Society at the Presentation Convent, County Cork. The train took sixty workers six months to complete, and consists of more than five million and a quarter stitches.
Queen Mary's Youghal Lace Coronation Train, 1911
Image from the National Museum of Ireland
However, Youghal lace wasn't always seen as a delicate and refined luxury commodity.
The popularity of this lace ebbed and resurged with fashions of the day. Arguably, this made it a poor solution for helping the needs of a rural population in need of steady employment (4).
Youghal Lace-makers and Designers
Unfortunately, there is little information to be found about individual Youghal lacemakers, but we do get some glimpses into the lives of makers and designers in contemporary sources of the late 19th and early 20th century
In 1897, there was a newspaper investigation into the condition of Youghal lacemakers by a correspondent for the Dublin Daily Nation newspaper, after allegations arose that some of the workers were living in extreme poverty and not able to afford boots or stockings. The reporter (not named in the newspaper) directly questioned the Archdeacon from Presentation Convent about the situation of the lacemakers (5).
Here's what we learn:
Lacemakers were paid by piece-work (the finished lace they were able to produce), and could earn up to 6-10 shillings a week Filtered through an inflation calculator, that's still only about £50 per week in today's currency). Less talented workers were paid less, and beginners were paid a nominal sum while they acquired a more advanced skill. There also seems to have been a retirement fund set up to pay workers that were not able to make lace anymore. However, he archdeacon admitted that in 1896, the total sum paid to workers was £574 (~£52,090.57 in today's currency). They allowed that the lacemakers were kept constantly at work regardless of lace demand, and the lacemakers were paid from an existing fund from previous profits. He allowed that the industry had not seen profits in many years, and the fund was drying up.
It was later that year that a lace co-operative society was formed to promote the Youghal lace industry (6). In a particularly interesting address to the community, Dr. Charles Ronayne cited the fame of Youghal lace in the European continent.
He also remarked on the fostering care provided by the Government for such industries in England, while such were neglected in Ireland, and instanced the movement to procure a few thousand pounds to open up the River Blackwater for tourist traffic. Until they had home Government, they must only do their best (applause).
Most other lace industries in the European continent and England throughout history had the financial support and encouragement by government entities; Ireland's lace industry had been primarily supported by individual or religious charity work up to this point. This co-operative meant that the profits would go directly back to the workers, and a report later that year mentions that all the Youghal lace produced is bought by the Irish Lace Depot (a lace wholesaler based in Dublin).
In 1884, Alan Cole, a lace expert from the South Kensington Museum (now the Victoria & Albert Museum) was tasked with improving the design of Irish laces by hosting competitions and promoting design schools (9). He visited all the centers of lace production around Ireland and gave lectures on how to improve the designs. His published lectures, articles, and books about contemporary Irish lacemaking give us some snippets of detail about the designers of Youghal Lace.
Sister Mary Regis Lynch
After the death of Sister Mary Ann Smith, creator of Youghal lace, Sister Mary Regis (d.1895) began to oversee the design and production of Youghal lace. The original pioneer of Youghal Lace design, she was by all accounts an exceptional lace designer. Highlights of her career include a lace fan presented by the Earl of Crewe to the Duchess of York on the occasion of her marriage. One of her stunning designs is captured in the photograph below.
Photograph of a Youghal Lace design by Sister Mary Regis, The English Illustrated Magazine Volume 7. 1890 p.661 (available to view on Google Books)
Miss Mary Julyan
Alan Cole, in his lectures on Irish lace design and in his book A Renascence of the Irish Art of Lace-Making (published 1888) mentions multiple lace designs by Miss Julyan of the Metropolitan School of Art in Dublin (Cole, n.d., 31–33).
Above: Designs by Miss Julyan from A Renascence of the Irish Art of Lace-Making, 1888.
A second design by Miss Julyan, made for Mr. Alfred Morrison at the Presentation Convent, published in the article "Some Irish Laces" in 1891:
Image from The Magazine of Art, 1891
Miss Mary Julyan (b.1838, d.1913) was the Principal Art Mistress at the Dublin Metropolitan School of Art (now NCAD!). She studied at the Royal Female School of Art in London before being sent to Dublin to help run the art school. In a Royal Dublin Society bulletin from 1866, they describe her qualifications, including certificates to teach drawing and colour, painting, and figure drawing, and mention her years of experience teaching in schools of the Department of Science and Art in London. She taught classes in lace design at the school, among other art classes.
Above: image from The Calendar of the Year 1900, published by The Royal University of Ireland
The Designing Room of the Dublin Metropolitan School of Art. Note the lace illustration in the back of the room! From Every Woman's Encyclopaedia, Volume 7. "Where to Study Art".1910 (available to view on archive.org)
Mr. Michael Hayes
The below lace examples were designed by Mr. Michael Hayes, a native of Limerick mentioned in Alan Cole's lectures.
The same lace design is currently held in the collections of the Victoria & Albert Museum Collections, along with two lace designs by Michael Hayes on paper. It's unclear if the paper designs were meant for Youghal lace, he seems to have been a Limerick lace designer as well. All were donated to the museum by Alan Cole.
The Art Journal from 1887 noted that many of the prizes for lace designs were being won by professional designer Michael Hayes instead of nuns or students from the art schools. To be more exact, in 1885 there were 110 competitors that submitted over 300 designs. Of the 49 that were selected by the judges as suitable for Irish lace. According to the British Trade Journal's report, the winners were from all over the UK, but the majority were from Ireland. Michael Hayes won 17 of these. (10)
c. 1886 ACCESSION NUMBER T.18-1913
c. 1888 ACCESSION NUMBER E.1107-1920
c. 1888 ACCESSION NUMBER E.1106-1920
As for the lace-workers whose skill and ingenuity brought these designs to life, their stories are harder to track down. What's so special about Youghal lace is the variety and abundance of stitch variations, something that's impossible to capture even in the beautiful line drawings of the designers. What I was able to find is the Youghal 1911 census detail, which listed the names, addresses and occupations of the residents of Youghal, the smallest glimpse into the lives of the Youghal lacemakers:
3 Cork Lane (now Cork Hill) - Ellen Mary O'Connor (lace maker)
20 Cork Lane (now Cork Hill) - Ellen Hanlon (lace worker)
52 Cork Lane (now Cork Hill) - Bridget and Katie McCarthy (lace maker)
76 Cork Lane (now Cork Hill)- Maggie Sliney (lace maker)
4 Mary St. - Kate McCarthy (laceworker)
5 Mary St. - Hanna Flynn (laceworker)
4 Porters Lane - Mary Crowley (lace maker)
7 Powers Lane - Nellie and Alice Shields (laceworker)
8 Powers Lane - Margaret Healy, Lizzie McGrath (laceworker)
11 The Mall - Kate Cooper (lace worker), Ellen Murphy (laceworker)
7 Water Lane - Ellen Supple (lacemaker)
Youghal Lace Today
By the end of the 1920s, Youghal lacemaking had almost completely died out. By some accounts, many of the lacemakers saved their earnings to pay for emigration. The true reason is most likely that the time and labor-intensive nature of the work makes this lace cost-prohibitive in the modern era. In the 1920s in Ireland, and all over the western world post-WWI, clothing was becoming simpler, easier, and closer to how we dress today. The market for fine and expensive laces became old-fashioned and dried up.
In the 1990s, there was a resurgence of interest in Youghal lace and a push to preserve this art form. While there are no active Youghal lacemaking centers today, the techniques are preserved in lace societies around the world. If you are interested in learning the techniques, please see further reading below!
If you have more information about Youghal lace, lacemakers, or designers, please email us at thelibertiesarchive@gmail.com! We would love to hear from you and update this article.
Sources:
Coleman, James. “Youghal Convent and Youghal Lace.” The Irish Monthly, vol. 24, no. 281, Irish Jesuit Province, 1896, pp. 587–93, http://www.jstor.org/stable/20499048.
2. Earnshaw, P., 1988. Youghal and other Irish laces. Guildford: Gorse Publications.
3. Lacemaking in Ireland The English Illustrated Magazine, Volume 7, 1890, pp. 655-668
4. Hudson, S., 2004. From Rags to Riches to Revolution: A Social History of 19th Irish Lace. University of Nebraska - Lincoln. https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1430&context=tsaconf
5. “Youghal Point Lace Industry; Interesting Interview with Archdeacon Keller.” Dublin Daily Nation, June 22, 1897, 3.
6. “Youghal Lace Workers. A Co-Operative Society Formed. Address by the Rev. T.A. Finlay, S.J. .” Cork Weekly Examiner, September 11, 1897, 4.
7. Cole, Alan. 1888. A Renascence of the Irish Art of Lace-Making. London: Chapman and Hall, Limited.
8. Cole, Alan. 1891. Some Recent Irish Laces. Edited by Marion Harry Spielmann. The Magazine of Art p. 214–15. Cassell, Petter & Galpin. https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Magazine_of_Art/fszlAAAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1
9. Robinson, Mabel F. 1887. Review of Irish Lace. The Art Journal, 145–47. Google Books
10. Review of Outlets for British Trade; at Home. 1885. The British Trade Journal and Export World 23: 564.
Further Reading:
Note: Amazon links not included, please order books through your local bookseller
The Irish Homestead's 'Lace Designs' Series (1900-1902) by Molly-Claire Gillett
Youghal Irish Needle Lace for Connoisseurs and Lacemakers, by Elizabeth M. Kurella
Youghal Lace, the Craft and the Cream, by Pat Earnshaw
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