Wednesday 13 February 2013

Wedding Wednesday - A Good Catch!

Louisa Beardsall Baillon (centre) in the 1920s

Louisa Baillon cuts a grand - if slightly incongruous - figure in this picture from the 1920s, in which everyone else is dressed for the sun.

By all reports, Louisa was rather grand!

She had made a "good" marriage - a very good marriage - for in 1878 aged 21, she wed Andrew Edward Louis Baillon, the eldest son of a successful Nottingham lace manufacturer.

Andrew's father, Louis Augustin Baillon was born in France but by 1851, aged just 35, he had two lace factories in Nottingham employing 10 clerks and 90 women and had four resident domestic servants at his house in the city.

One imagines Andrew would have been a financial "catch" for any middle class girl in Nottingham.  The only problem for Andrew's family was that Louisa Beardsall was anything but middle class. Having started work as a "lace clipper" aged 14, she was, when she and Andrew met,  a servant employed by Andrew's father!

The disapproval of Andrew's family was clear.  The wedding took place in Bradford, Yorkshire 100 miles away from their home town of Nottingham, and the Baillon family did not attend.

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2 comments:

  1. Lovely photo & story.
    I also have Nottingham/Calais lace makers in my family - have you had any luck finding French birth/baptism records? I'd be very interested to hear if you have.
    http://carolines-chronicle.blogspot.co.uk/

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    1. I haven't really looked to be honest as they weren't in my direct line but really interested in the French community in the lace industry. Also really interesting the other skilled European workers who came to Nottingham in the C19th - I've got some Italian frame makers in my tree.

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