Queen Mary of Teck (1867-1953) and Shaldon Lace School. A co...

Hammer

£750

Queen Mary of Teck (1867-1953) and Shaldon Lace School. A collection of lace samples and manuscript correspondence between Reville & Roossite, Of Hanover Square, London and Miss Flora L Lucas of The Lace School Shaldon, Teignmouth regarding the making of the 1922 Coronation robes, comprising a framed group of lace motifs of St George & The Dragon, an angel, birds, butterflies and flowers, eight smaller sheets of similar lace motifs and a box of miscellaneous lace, together with a black and white photograph of King George V and Queen Mary in Coronation robes, a copy of Bigg-Wither, R. 'Cameos From a lace Cupboard' and a collection of manuscript correspondence. The correspondence reflects the anger caused to R&R by the Lace School for featuring in the national newspapers as 'Suppliers of Fine lace' in the making of the robes that Queen Mary was to wear during the coronation on 22nd June , 1911. 'Our attention has been called to a notice in the newspapers that you are supplying laces for the Queen's coronation robes, This is, to say the least, premature and should certainly not have appeared without our consent , and we fear it will cause much annoyance to Her Majesty as the Queen very much objects to advertisement and it may cause serious loss to our business... Madame Rossiter is seriously considering cancelling the whole order' There are seven letters from R&R with a copy of a humble reply on the 15th January suggesting that the source of the complaint may have been the children at the school. There are several letters from a lady in waiting on Windsor Castle headed paper which still have their postally stamped envelopes. Among other pieces of ephemera is a detailed hand written price list, with a rather charmingly posed group photograph of the school's teachers and pupils, with a partially complete list of those present. The spat seems to have subsided come April 3rd, Bertha Hawkins writes to R&R on Buckingham headed notepaper 'The Queen commands me to thank you very much indeed for so kindly letting her know about the Honiton sprigs: It is most interesting, but her majesty does not know what has become of Victoria's wedding lace and without it the sprigs would be of no use' Reville & Rossiter was a London Couture house who made gowns for Queen Mary.