DAISY CRAWFORD
Daisy, or Daisey as spelt in some records, was the youngest daughter of the large family of Hugh and Annie Crawford of 30 Fitzroy Avenue in Belfast. It is noted that the former spelling is as it appears in the Covenant signature/
An even younger child had not survived.
We got to know Daisy as my maternal grandmother (Annie), Nana's sister and hence a great aunt. We visited her at her London flat in the mid 1970s twice. Once with my parents in 1973, almost the same time as my maternal aunt and uncle, Magaret and Hugh, and their daughters Sue and Nesta-Mary. And I stayed with her the following year while travelling on my own as a student. She took me by bus to a movie and pointed out some places that she had worked - banks. It was sweltering in true London manner and she was horified at the "nearly naked" people sunbathing in the park near her flat (a small piece of land which was evidently created after WWII bomb damage). Her flat was (I think) off Old Brompton Road and facing perhaps Bolton Gardens. But we are getting ahead of Daisy's story.
Daisy was born on the 15th September in 1894.
Her father Hugh had some sort of trade involving textiles. We see reference to that as linen lapper for instance and somewhere else that he supplied to the draper. That draper is thought to refer to the predominant department store and textile production firm of Robinson and Cleaver.
(See link to Christian Science : An American Religion in Britain).
We also find that Robinson of that firm attended the same Christian Science church in Belfast that was to establish itself near where the Crawfords lived. All this appears to have been in Daisy's favour. She was to find employment there. While I have not found direct records of that both family tradition and an artefact from there support this.
Robinson and Cleaver were opened in 1874 and was known for its quality products sold there and manufactured on the premises. It is in manufacture that Daisy was involved, we think on the design side.
Of particular repute was their damask (a rich, heavy silk or linen fabric with a pattern woven into it, used for table linen and upholstery), but other linen products were also produced and Daisy is likely to have been involved. Have a look at this advert of the time. (Note a reference to the looms being in Banbridge. We have seen elsewhere that some of the family had links to Banbridge in County Down. Perhaps they were working there).
Robinson and Cleaver still exists : a grand building designed in 1885 by Young & Mackenzie. As a designer, Daisy may not have interacted with the clientele. She may not have swept magestically up or down the marble stairs flanked by marble Greek goddesses. But she was emplyed and at some distance from the work conditions of others in her family. You can still visit the building and have a meal in the restaurant with views across the square although unfortunately it is nothing like its former self. That grand staircase has been removed and the building sublet.
But we do however have a momento of its heyday. A silk doily celebrating the royal visit.
The d'oyley is very fine, of ivory colour and a with a through woven image and text. The image and text can only be discerned if it is held to the light at an angle, but the backing paper is clear, even though it has become brittle and is somewhat fragmented. It reads as follows. (The illustration appears within the text at the same spot as I show below).
With the Compliments of Robinson and Cleaver
Manufacturers by Special Appointment
TO HER MAGESTY QUEEN VICTORIA
AND THE
EMPRESS FREDERICK OF GERMANY
THE ROYAL IRISH LINEN WAREHOUSE
BELFAST IRELAND
DISCRIPTIVE PARTICULARS
This Damask D'Oley, measuring about 17 inches long by 15 broad, contains 3,000 threads of warp and 4,012 threads of woof. These joined would extend a distance of two-and-a-half miles, and, being the finest yarn ever manufactured for weaving linen damask, required to be specially spun for the purpose. The draughtsman was engaged for seven months in preparing the enlarged design upon paper above 12 feet long by 11 wide, divided by fine machine ruling into 12,000,000 squares, each square representing one thread in the fabric. He loom is arranged to weave four d'oyleys at a time, and occupies a space over 12 feet in length and breadth by 11 feet high, having five large jacquard machines, with 20,000 cards, weighing 1,650 pounds, containing nearly 10 million punch holes, which took 6 months to complete. From the machines there are 12,240 cords, with small weights attached, employed to lift the threads of yarn; these in one continuous length would reach a distance of 25 ½ miles; 61,200 knots were necessary to secure these cords in position. The total time occupied in tying knots and preparing the loom for weaving was seven months. A weight of 428 pounds is lifted each time the weaver throws the shuttle. The building represented in this woven picture is our new warehouse, consisting of eight storeys, built of white stone and polished red, green and black granite. It is 128 feet long, by 103 feet wide, and nearly 90 feet high, with a circular clock-tower 150 feet in height. The entire structure is enriched with carvings symbolical of he Jubilee year, and on the principal front over the main entrance are placed life-sized busts of Her Majesty the Queen, the late Prince Consort, and members of the Royal Family, &c, &c. The architects were Young & Mackenzie, and the builders H. & J. Martin, Belfast.
Daisy's story doesn't end there.
We understand that this was through her familiarity with the Robinsons which as we have seen had both church and work employment links. Daisy was to live at Stormont Castle as a live-in companion to young daughter of that family. This much is true although we may have to check quite what this entailed. It may have been an estate house. Or it may have been the grand house known as Stormont Castle. This predates "Stormont" which is the seat of the Northern Ireland Government and which was built in 1921 when they achieved Home Rule.
The building in which we are interested, Stormont Castle, is an extensive "grand house" now used as government offices. It is heavilly fortified against outsiders so cannot be visited, but I did manage a photograph over the fence. According to the guide at the main building, no Robinson is known (to him) to have lived there. Rather at that time it was someone called Cleland and he as unlikely to have had families living there too. (Is he confusing Cleaver with Cleland?)Either we have the wrong buildng or the Robinsons leased the building or part of it from him. Alternatively she could have lived in one of the houses on the estate. Whatever the case, Daisy herself confirmed that she did live at Stormont, but she has been deceased for many years and is not longer around to clarify - we really should record as much family history as possible when we can. Between 1921 and 1972, Stormont Castle served as the official residence of the Prime Minister of Northern Ireland.
Daisy was to live with us in East London in South Africa with spells with the Wells family in Pretoria. She didn't settle well in such foreign climes and returned to England to find an old friend she had in Cocherster (?).
The photo below shows Daisy at our house in Selborne with our dogs Flotsam and Jetsam.
I am unsure who owned this record, but I think it was made by Daisy and her sister Annie when on holiday in Britain. These souvenir records were sound bites made on aluminium and required a wooden needle. With the shortage of wooden needles, I have resorted to using a rose thorn on a turn table. The voices are indistinct but of at least one woman.
