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Chesham Stories

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Frederick and Jane Birch (nee Dell), continued

My Father did not go to school as a child because this would have cost 6 pence (2p) a week and this amount of money could not be spared. Instead he was sent to a Straw Plaiting School in the St. Mary's Church rooms, for the more affordable sum of 2 pence weekly. Children at that time had to play their part in helping to support the family from a very early age, and Frederick was to be no exception. By learning to make plaits he could help in what was the very popular cottage industry. This activity provided additional, and sometimes the only source of income for many families in the villages surrounding Chesham and Amersham, and most other Chiltern towns.

Each piece of straw was first split into 4 or 6 strands, and then plaited together in lengths of 20 feet called a score. The completed scores were then taken to Mr Tree's shop in Chesham Broadway and sold for 2 pence. Very few people at that time had any form of transport, and if they were rich enough to have transport, they would not need to plait straw. It was therefore a common sight to see people walking into Chesham from miles around carrying their completed scores of straw plaits, and returning home with bundles of straw ready to start on the next batch.

Mother, who lived at Amersham at this time, also had to walk to Chesham to take her plaits to Mr Tree, and collect more straw for the next batch of plaits. As it was quite a long way for her she was given a halfpenny to buy a drink at the White Horse public house on her way home. "To give me the strength to get back up the hill", as she later recalled. Eventually all the collected plaits were sent to Luton to be made into straw hats. The hats were sold at the door by hawkers who carried their long boxes of hats around the district trying to sell them. They were priced from 6 pence three farthings (3p) to 2 shillings and 6 pence (12.5p) which was quite a lot of money to pay for a straw hat.

Unfortunately for the Birch household, young Frederick never mastered the art of plaiting, and so was sent out to work as an assistant pit sawyer. A pit sawyer's job consisted of cutting the trunks of trees into manageable lengths so that they could be taken back to the saw mills. First a pit was dug and the tree rolled over it. A man and a boy were then required, one on top of the log, and one down in the pit, using a two handed cross cut saw to cut through the log. As all the sawdust fell into the pit on top of the unfortunate person underneath, it was always the assistant who had this position. This was the origin of the expression "top dog and bottom dog" and it was not a very pleasant job for a 9 year old boy.

My father's maternal grandparents lived at Great Missenden and Frederick's mother would sometimes walk them the 4 miles each way to pay a visit. This was a very special day for young Fred and his brothers, and was fondly remembered in later life. He often recalled that he used to hide one of his grandmother's lace bobbins in his pockets before leaving, in order that they could be 'found' the next day. As his grandmother earned her living as a pillow lace maker, this meant a further visit in order to return the bobbins. After a number of such instances the bobbins were always checked before they left.

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