Who was Florence Bone?
This article first appeared as a "post" on the Brompton Family History list and is repeated below for interest. It was posted in April 2004 by Harry Cooke.
Someone asked:-
"Could anyone tell me the name of the author who wrote "Clacking Shuttles"
the book written by I believe a Florence ? based on the mill life of
Brompton."
First of all let me say that I believe that there is a U.S. author(ess!)
of the same name so care must be taken to not get the wrong one!
My apologies to all readers and Mary Wilford in particular, if I have
made any errors in the following information but it should give some
background to Clacking Shuttles and Florence Bone.
Bartholomew Wilford (1810-1856), Linen manufacturer in Brompton had 3
daughters, Mary Kate (born 1847), Clara Elizabeth (born 1849) and Lydia
(born 1852). Lydia Wilford married the Rev Henry Bone of Birstall in the
West Riding of Yorkshire (co-incidentally the next village to my home
village when I was a child ! ). They had 2 daughters, Florence Bone
(1875-1971) and Lucy Bone (1878-?). Florence became a prolific writer and
had many books published, the most well known around Brompton being
"Clacking Shuttles". She also wrote extensively for The Quiver which I
believe was a Methodist publication. The Wilfords were enthusiastic
Methodists whereas their rivals in the village with the "other" large mill,
the Pattison family were members of the congregation at St Thomas, where
they have a window "dedicated" to them. Florence often wrote about life with
"the Aunts" who were Mary Kate and Clara Elizabeth and the Methodist church
features in a number of articles/books. The most well known Aunt, Mary Kate
is buried in the Stokesley Road cemetery in a simple grave marked with just
something like "Kate E Wilford - Manor House died 1928"
Not all Florence's books were about Brompton indeed "Flash of Scarlet"
is more of a historical novel and their were many children's books I
believe. There have been a number of reference to the style of "Clacking
Shuttles" but to me the best was "it is a bit Mills and Boon-ish" although I
must say I enjoy reading it, mainly because of the references to the view I
have out of my window and the references to many things around Brompton.
Perhaps if I repeat the first paragraph, you will see what I mean:-
quote-----
Chapter 1
A CHILD IN THE FOG
FOG had hung about the village all day. It came down from the moors, far,
brown and desolate in the winter afternoon. It crept in and out of the
weavers' cottages and seemed to hover over the beck down at Boggy End, the
lower part of the village of Rumbton.
The square tower of the old church was barely visible when Harriet
Willow went up to her bedroom, the Crimson Room, for the window of which she
could look out on the green, and the copper beech tree under the churchyard
wall. A travelling carriage rumbled along the rough road beyond the green. A
few candles glowed dimly from the little square-paned windows of the
cottages that stood round it. Two pack-horses laden with linen pieces walked
out from under the gateway beside the house, and which gave Gateway House
its name. It would be a long cold trudge for the men, shadowy in the fog,
who walked beside the horses up to Ossleby bleaching mill, a few miles
nearer to the moors.
end of quote--------
For those who know Brompton, they will recognise the various references
such as Boggy End for Water End, Rumbton for Brompton, the church still has
the square tower and the Crimson Room is part of the Manor House overlooking
the green. The copper beech is just coming into bud and there is a photo of
it and the Church which I put on the BBC North Yorkshire website at
http://www.bbc.co.uk/northyorkshire/uncovered/gallery/hambleton_3.shtml -
worth having a look at the other pictures in the gallery, Mount Grace priory
(National Trust - just off the A19) gets a mention in the book as Gracious
Priory and of course, Ossleby is Osmotherley, where the linen produced in
Brompton was taken for bleaching. Harriet Willow was of course, Harriet
Wilford and we only have to go back to New Years Eve last to have seen the
candles glowing dimly through the little square-paned panels of the
cottages - we lost our electric power from shortly before midnight until the
middle of the afternoon of New Year's Day 2004!!!!
There is a copy of Clacking Shuttles in Northallerton Public Library but
it is in the Reference section, not the lending library and it is very
difficult to find. I believe my copy came from the USA but I managed to
obtain 3 copies (one for me and two for friends) supplied by Richard
Williams (his details and website are shown below),but as you can see from
the following information, they were published a little while before ISBN
numbers and websites. One was marked with the price 6d and the other was
1/6d.
[Toucan18 001] Bone, Florence. CLACKING SHUTTLES. GB: Toucan (Stanley Paul),
1948. Paperback. nrGood 80th thousand. 1/6. No major faults but worn.
£7.00
[Toucan 22] Bone, Florence. CLACKING SHUTTLES. GB: Toucan (Stanley Paul),
1939. 1st Thus. Paperback. G++ / No DW. 35th thousand. Rear cover lists
1-24. Fairly clean and tight but some page browning and base of spine
slightly nicked.
£12.00
[Toucan 22a] Bone, Florence. CLACKING SHUTTLES. GB: Toucan (Stanley Paul),
1939. 1st Thus. Paperback. Poor / No DW. 35th thousand. Rear cover lists
1-24. No major faults but very worn copy.
£7.00
Obtained from:-
Richard Williams, 15 High Street, Dragonby, SCUNTHORPE, North Lincolnshire,
ENGLAND, DN15 0BE
rah.williams@virgin.net Tel: +44 (0) 1724 840645
website: http://freespace.virgin.net/rah.williams/ to browse 30,000 books
or to view a list of DRAGONBY CHECKLISTS or to visit my genealogy and local
history site.
Hope that was of interest to someone, I regret that I am unable to loan my
copy of Clacking Shuttles, it took too long to obtain for me to lose sight
of it - sorry. Perhaps the time has come for re-printing of such books,
including the picture series which Colin Narramore produced and the ones
which he assisted in producing - (I know I am always nagging Colin to
reprint them) - perhaps there is an entrepreneur out there who is willing
and able to back such a task, I believe the demand is now much greater than
in the past,
Harry Cooke in a dull, damp but delightful Brompton
April 2004
End of Article
DO YOU HAVE A COPY OF CLACKING SHUTTLES OR ANY OTHER FLORENCE BONE BOOK THAT IS NOT WANTED.
BROMPTON HERITAGE GROUP WOULD BE INTERESTED IN ANY UNWANTED COPIES. THANK YOU
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