Without electricity, doing the ironing was a skilled task. It required
care and attention to manage the sad or flat iron heated on the solid
fuel stove. At the time, sad meant heavy and that is what they were, constructed
of cast or wrought iron.
It took practice to know where to place the irons for heating and to
gauge the correct temperature for woollens, cottons, or delicate silks.
Great care had to be taken not to get soot on the iron and so dirty the
clothes again.
Instructions could be found in The Women's Book: Contains Everything
a Woman Needs To Know.
Inscribed "Dora Saunders To Dora, with love from us All Xmas 1913"
Walsh Memorial Library MOTAT.......
There is no process in laundry work that requires
greater or neater handling than ironing…. Until it can be done with
speed it cannot be done well…. An iron cools so quickly …. And
constant changing makes it a tiring process. A novice at the work is almost
sure to meet with disappointment until a certain amount of experience
has been gained.
Ironing should not be a noisy proceeding….. Do not thump it down.
Handle the things so as not to crush the parts that are already ironed.
There is quite an art in the way the clothes are handled and moved about.
The iron needed preparation before use:
Have a wooden box, and put at the foot of it
some sandpaper. Rub the iron well on this ….Then have ready a piece
of coarse cloth or sacking with a little grease on it… A piece of
bees wax or candle end shred down will do. Rub the iron on this to make
it run smoothly.
The irons themselves had to be looked after:
It is well to wash the irons thoroughly with
hot water, soda and a brush and dry thoroughly. On no account must an
iron be black leaded. Never allow them to stand flat on a stove when the
fire is going out as damp collects and rusts them. If you once allow them
to get rusty the surface is never so smooth again.
A new iron had to be prepared before it could be used:
It is almost impossible to iron with perfectly
new irons, they must be seasoned first. Heat for several hours, then clean
and cool. Repeat the process for several days.
The Women's Book gives a long list for the well equipped laundry....
Iron stands to stand high enough above the table to prevent scorching
of the ironing sheet.
Iron holders; several thick folds of flannel to keep the heat from
the hands.
Special irons are provided with wooden handles which will not require
a holder.
Shirt, skirt and sleeve boards
Polishing boards
Basins for making starch, soaking and washing small items, and for
holding sprinkling water
Bags for boiling clothes
Sundries such as a soap dish a small enamelled saucepan and knife
for making soap jelly
a wooden fork or stick for lifting clothes from the boiler,
clothes basket, a can for water, a steel comb and brush for fringes,
one or more teaspoons, one wooden spoon, one gill measure,
three or four towels, soft rag for rubbers, one or two pieces of white
felt for ironing lace and embroidery, three or four jars for keeping
stores will complete the outfit of a laundry.
Technology Curriculum Achievement
Objectives
Kitchen and Laundry Technology at Highwic
Technological Knowledge
Technological Products Levels 1-8
Students will see a range of irons from early Chinese examples to
20th century electrical innovations. Comparisons can be made in the
materials used for construction and the changes in design over a period
of time. Understandings about the ways fashion and society have dictated
the technological needs over time will be apparent.
Other kitchen and laundry equipment will be on display including a
working range oven, wash tubs, boards and a mangle and cooking utensils.
Technological Systems Levels 1-8
A range of 19th century irons will be demonstrated showing heating
processes and the ways different irons have been adapted to meet the
fashion needs of the time e.g. crimping irons.
There will be opportunities to discuss the care and maintenance of
iron and other kitchen and laundry equipment.
Nature of Technology
Characteristics of technology Levels 1-8
Students will have opportunities to handle irons and other equipment
and experience/see the difficulties faced in a pre-electricity world.
There will be opportunities to discuss the way inventions in kitchen
and laundry technology have revolutionised the role of women and men
in daily living requirements.
Students will have opportunities to explore the lives of inventors
in this field especially Mrs Potts who developed the sad iron with the
wooden handle.
Characteristics of technological outcomes Levels 1-8
Students will be able to identify the different needs the various
irons on display were designed to meet. They will see how form and function
of household equipment have changed over the years.
The opportunity to explore Highwic and learn about the Buckland family
will provide an ideal background to life in the 19th and early 20th
centuries particularly as it relates to a wealthy family and their servants
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