Chesham's shovel makers (wooden)

[Yeates]

Below, I give enough POPE family information to add meaning to my question. I am curious about the occupation as listed in my William POPE's 1871 in a Bucks context, that of ‘shovel maker (wooden) ag imp mfr.’ I have found a MAYO cousin of his (there were MAYOs in Bucks at this time) who migrated to Kent and was involved in the same occupation. In a Kent context, I assume it would have been used for fruit or hops.

I’ve not had any luck learning of this trade through my membership with the BFHS. Does anyone have such an occupation listed within their family, or possibly know of this occupation? I find it interesting that my William went from the large-scale work of sawyer for most of his life to the more refined (at least smaller) handwork of the shovels---speculation here, but possibly it was health driven in terms of giving up the more physically demanding work but still bringing in income (he died 6 years after the 1871 was taken.) Even if rough-hewn, these wooden shovels must have been beautiful.

Also, does her father’s ‘shovel maker’ cottage industry point to what the daughter’s occupation as ‘machinist’ in the same 1871 would have entailed?

My 3x great grandparents were:
William POPE (b. 1807, Chesham, Bucks, nonconformist; Baptist Chapel; d. 1877, Amersham District
Married Mary KEEN (b. 1806 Chesham; d. 1885, Amersham District

In censuses where my William is head of household in Chesham, his occupation history is:
1841: sawyer
1851: sawyer
1861: sawyer
1871: shovel maker (wooden) ag imp mfr; (also, a daughter within the household listed as a ‘machinist.’)
1881: William deceased

My 2x great grandfather and great grandfather, William and Mary’s son and grandson, were both carpenters/turners/joiners.
Regards,
Yeates

[Coromandel]

I just came across this photograph of a toy spade, made in Chesham from a single piece of beech wood:

http://www.
buckscc.gov.uk/bcc/museum/object/beach_spade.page

There's a little background information there about the techniques used to make it and the adult equivalents.

[olliecat]

Chesham museum have a photo of a wooden malt shovel and it is indeed beautiful. I imagine it would require much skill to make.

www.
cheshammuseum.org.uk/cmalbum/Social%20History%20Collection/slides/w4-25-01.html

[Coromandel]

Google Books has a Post Office Directory of Northants/Hunts/Beds/Bucks/Berks/Oxon
(undated on the title page but with a handwritten date '1869' on flyleaf)

In the Chesham section (beginnning on p.474) it says

it is famous for the growth of the beech tree, from which various articles are made, such as chairs, bedsteads, malt shovels, brush blocks and covers, hoops in sizes, bowls, churn heads and cheese vats, &c.

Your William Pope isn't in the alphabetical list of traders that follows, so perhaps he worked for one of the many woodenware manufacturers there? One of them has an advertisement on p.1063, which says

NATHANIEL REYNOLDS,
SHOVEL, BOWL, HOOP, WOODEN-WARE MANUFACTURER,
AND TURNER IN GENERAL,
No. 1, PROSPECT TERRACE, CHESHAM, BUCKS.
Malt, Barn and Toy Shovels; Sieve, Cook, Masons', Gravel, Wheat, Pail, Tub, Tilt, and Trundle Hoops; Sieves, Shawles, Yokes, Butchers' Trays, Police and other Rattles; Round and Handled Bowls; and Measures of every Description; Butter Prints and Bread and Butter Plates.
A Trade List of Prices forwarded (free) on Application.

Another, Ebenezer East, had a saw mill as well as being a wooden ware manufacturer . . . so William need not have changed his employer when he moved from being a sawyer to a shovel maker.

[olliecat]

I’ve not had any luck learning of this trade through my membership with the BFHS.

It seems there is an article on "Shovel making in Chesham" by Stuart King

"An account of the wooden shovel-making industry which flourished in the town since at least the late sixteenth century. The raw materials, methods of manufacture, and specialist tools used are described in detail. Various types of shovel and their uses are noted, and there is a 'Glossary' of associated terms"

See here.

www.
biab.ac.uk/contents/14709

Mr. King has his own website and if you contact him, he may be able to tell you more about the wooden shovel making craft in Chesham and the local industries that would have used them.

www.
stuartking.co.uk/

[Coromandel]

Ah, that's interesting, olliecat . . . I'd just been been looking at the Cornucopia website, which mentions 'the large Stuart King collection of Chesham woodware of about 1,500 items' at the Chiltern Open Air Museum.

[Yeates]

Dear Coromandel,
Thank you for your interest and ‘wooden spade’ reference. Do you see what I mean? Is this ‘toy’ not a thing of beauty?

A sentence within the museum’s description refers to “small backyard workshops” for those in the woodware industry at that time. Certainly that fits what is surmised from my William’s censuses.
Thank you,
Yeates

[Yeates]

Dear Olliecat,
It makes sense it would have been a shovel for malt, as Chesham was associated with brewing.
Thank you for the reference to the museum. It seems I will be able to purchase a copy of this photo from them.

This is a day I miss my father----how he would have loved the beauty of this utilitarian, useful tool. He was a woodworker, a perfectionist, but by interest (obsession? genetic?) and not as a career. It is easy to connect his skill with his father, his grandfather, his great grandfather, and finally this 2x great grandfather, William the wooden shovel maker.
Regards,
Yeates

[Yeates]

Dear Coromandel,
Yes! This directory actually uses the descriptive term ‘malt shovel.’
Plus, here is a further clue in this directory you have found:
My William’s oldest daughter married a George Glenister East, son of the Nathanial East listed under Ebenezer in the directory; and, Nathanial was the son of Ebenezer. So, there is more to explore when I can get to the library and study this directory thoroughly.
Thank you for this extension to your first reference of the toy shovel. It enriches what I have learned today.
Yeates

[Mutley]

I cannot add to the information given regarding Chesham but here in Portugal we have lots of
wooden bread shovels.
I have one myself.
They were used when baking bread. The shovel is large and quite flat but is triangular in shape with the top corner squared off.
The handle is rough hewn and about a metre long.
The dough was placed on the shovel and pushed into the bread oven.

Most are made of two separate pieces (the shovel and the handle) but those in great demand as an ornament to hang on the wall are the ones that are carved from a single piece of wood without a join.

I don't know if they made bread in Chesham?