Biography:
Maria Jane Tutt (243)
1847 –29/01/1926
Maria Jane Tutt (243)
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MARIA JANE TUTT; 1847 – 1926
Maria was born in Luton in 1847. Her parents were Henry and Jane Smith. Her father was a warehouseman. Maria was one of seven children born to Henry and Jane. The 1851 census tells us that at that time Henry and Jane, together with the four children that had been born to them by then, Henry, age 8, William, age 6, Maria herself, age 3, and 1month old Julia, were living in Park Street in Luton. Although one might not think that a warehouseman would be paid particularly well, Henry was able to afford to pay for a domestic servant who lived with the family.
Ten years later the Smith family was still living in Luton, but had moved to Wellington Street. Three more children had been born, Eliza, James and Martha. The family does not seem to have been quite as affluent as it had been in 1851 – perhaps the birth of three more children had stretched the family finances. Henry was still working as a warehouseman, but the family no longer kept a servant and Jane had taken up work as a bonnet sewer. Maria herself, 13 years old, had left school and was also working a s a bonnet sewer.
Historically, Luton and the surrounding area was the centre of the straw hat trade in England, producing a large share of all the women's hats manufactured and worn in the country. Many women and children in the surrounding area earned an income plaiting straw which was used to make hats. A bonnet sewer “was considered a step above a plaiter, and one who may exhibit a certain amount of personal adornment, to which a simple plaiter would not dare aspire in her village home.”
Sewers or ‘hands’ were paid by piece-work – how many hats or bonnets she had sewn that week – and strict discipline was unknown with the sewers working the hours that best suited them; often working through the night as they wanted to make as much money as they could whilst work was plentiful in the spring season when straw was being harvested.
Despite the fact that women undertook some of the most skilled work in the industry, rates of pay between the sexes varied greatly. The suggested wages provided by the Hat, Cap and Millinery Trade Board in 1939 suggest that the industry worked on the basis of paying women approximately half of what men received.
However, Luton still gained a reputation as a place where the men were kept by the women, the Luton Chamber of Commerce going so far as to produce a booklet in 1900, aimed at attracting new industry to the town by advertising the advantage of being able to pay men at low rates as the female members of the family were already employed.
At the time of the 1871 census the family was still living in Luton. Henry was no longer a warehouseman, but was noted as being an accountant. Maria aged 23 was still living with her parents and those of her siblings who had not moved on, but she was not to remain at the family home for long, as later that year on 25th September she married William Tutt.
It is not apparent how Maria and William first met. William, a plasterer by trade, had been born in Woburn and had moved with his family to Leighton Buzzard. The two of them married in St Mark’s Church, Myddleton Square, Islington. Why they married in Islington, to which neither had any apparent connection, rather than in Luton or Leighton Buzzard is a mystery, but they must have set up home in Leighton Buzzard following the wedding as we know their first child, William George James Tutt was born the following year and he was baptised in Leighton Buzzard. A second child, Maud Grace Tutt was born three years later in 1875.
The 1881 census confirms Maria, William and the two children were living in Leighton Buzzard, but in about 1885 they moved to Berkhamsted where William set up a building business. In 1891 they were living in Berkhamsted’s Charles Street with Maud. (Their son was living in Luton in 1891 and working as a photographer’s apprentice.)
William had suffered three bouts of rheumatic fever which had left him with a weak heart. He died suddenly on 25th September 1896. The couple had been due to celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary on the following Sunday.
In 1897 Maud married William Preston, a railway clerk and the two of them seem to have moved in with the widowed Maria as we discover in both the 1901 and 1911 census returns Maud and William (and their children) living with Maria in Charles Street. Maria remained living with her daughter and son in law for the rest of her life. In about 1925 they moved to Watford and it was there in 1926 that Maria died at the age of 78.
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MARIA JANE TUTT; 1847 – 1926
Maria was born in Luton in 1847. Her parents were Henry and Jane Smith. Her father was a warehouseman. Maria was one of seven children born to Henry and Jane. The 1851 census tells us that at that time Henry and Jane, together with the four children that had been born to them by then, Henry, age 8, William, age 6, Maria herself, age 3, and 1month old Julia, were living in Park Street in Luton. Although one might not think that a warehouseman would be paid particularly well, Henry was able to afford to pay for a domestic servant who lived with the family.
Ten years later the Smith family was still living in Luton, but had moved to Wellington Street. Three more children had been born, Eliza, James and Martha. The family does not seem to have been quite as affluent as it had been in 1851 – perhaps the birth of three more children had stretched the family finances. Henry was still working as a warehouseman, but the family no longer kept a servant and Jane had taken up work as a bonnet sewer. Maria herself, 13 years old, had left school and was also working a s a bonnet sewer.
Historically, Luton and the surrounding area was the centre of the straw hat trade in England, producing a large share of all the women’s hats manufactured and worn in the country. Many women and children in the surrounding area earned an income plaiting straw which was used to make hats. A bonnet sewer “was considered a step above a plaiter, and one who may exhibit a certain amount of personal adornment, to which a simple plaiter would not dare aspire in her village home.”
Sewers or ‘hands’ were paid by piece-work – how many hats or bonnets she had sewn that week – and strict discipline was unknown with the sewers working the hours that best suited them; often working through the night as they wanted to make as much money as they could whilst work was plentiful in the spring season when straw was being harvested.
Despite the fact that women undertook some of the most skilled work in the industry, rates of pay between the sexes varied greatly. The suggested wages provided by the Hat, Cap and Millinery Trade Board in 1939 suggest that the industry worked on the basis of paying women approximately half of what men received.
However, Luton still gained a reputation as a place where the men were kept by the women, the Luton Chamber of Commerce going so far as to produce a booklet in 1900, aimed at attracting new industry to the town by advertising the advantage of being able to pay men at low rates as the female members of the family were already employed.
At the time of the 1871 census the family was still living in Luton. Henry was no longer a warehouseman, but was noted as being an accountant. Maria aged 23 was still living with her parents and those of her siblings who had not moved on, but she was not to remain at the family home for long, as later that year on 25th September she married William Tutt.
It is not apparent how Maria and William first met. William, a plasterer by trade, had been born in Woburn and had moved with his family to Leighton Buzzard. The two of them married in St Mark’s Church, Myddleton Square, Islington. Why they married in Islington, to which neither had any apparent connection, rather than in Luton or Leighton Buzzard is a mystery, but they must have set up home in Leighton Buzzard following the wedding as we know their first child, William George James Tutt was born the following year and he was baptised in Leighton Buzzard. A second child, Maud Grace Tutt was born three years later in 1875.
The 1881 census confirms Maria, William and the two children were living in Leighton Buzzard, but in about 1885 they moved to Berkhamsted where William set up a building business. In 1891 they were living in Berkhamsted’s Charles Street with Maud. (Their son was living in Luton in 1891 and working as a photographer’s apprentice.)
William had suffered three bouts of rheumatic fever which had left him with a weak heart. He died suddenly on 25th September 1896. The couple had been due to celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary on the following Sunday.
In 1897 Maud married William Preston, a railway clerk and the two of them seem to have moved in with the widowed Maria as we discover in both the 1901 and 1911 census returns Maud and William (and their children) living with Maria in Charles Street. Maria remained living with her daughter and son in law for the rest of her life. In about 1925 they moved to Watford and it was there in 1926 that Maria died at the age of 78.
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