An Historical Archaeology of the Clay Tobacco Pipemakers of Kent

STRUCTURE AND AGENCY IN SMALL- SCALE PRODUCTION: AN HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE CLAY TOBACCO PIPEMAKERS OF KENT. Thesis submitted in accordance with the requirements of the University of Liverpool for the degree of Doctor in Philosophy by BRIAN WILLIAM JOHN BOYDEN. JUNE 2015 STRUCTURE AND AGENCY IN SMALL-SCALE PRODUCTION: AN HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE CLAY TOBACCO PIPEMAKERS OF KENT. BRIAN BOYDEN ABSTRACT This thesis presents a study of a Kentish industry based on small-scale production. Its focus is the workers making clay tobacco pipes. Although there are many surveys of clay tobacco pipes, few have commented specifically on the pipes made in Kent. My research is unique in that there has been no previous investigation of Kent pipemakers. While structuration theory provides the orientation of the thesis, it is helpful to develop this approach in ways that permit the separate consideration of the structures and agencies present in the pipe industry. Some structures require detailed consideration, for example the importance of kinship systems and the particular qualities of the market for pipes and of the nature of the pipes themselves. The agents, principally the pipemakers, are studied; their evolving doxa is considered, as is their changing comprehension of and response to the problems and opportunities they faced. Previous research in Historical Archaeology is reviewed – both of that using structuration and that looking at aspects of the clay tobacco pipe industry. The thesis makes a fresh interpretation and new application of structuration theory. Documentary material is employed extensively and critically. Particular use is made of Directories, Census Records and Probate Inventories. Evidence is also prepared from the interpretation of demographic and trade records. Biographic case studies are presented in order to maintain a focus on the workers and to take forward an understanding of their lives. Contacts between pipemaking families are revealed; some cross considerable geographical distances and others span several generations. The pipes themselves and artefacts associated with pipemakers are important in this study. A typology for Kent pipes is presented but this thesis moves beyond that to discover what pipes say about the social situations in which they were made. An assumption that pipemakers were always poor is questioned by the material presented here. Evidence is shown for the involvement of both genders in this industry in Kent. The thesis reveals that initially the workers in the pipe industry in Kent demonstrated entrepreneurial zeal and were quite prosperous. In many ways they are shown to be harbingers of the Industrial Revolution. However, the workers did not continue in this spirit. The ways in which pipemakers responded to competition are considered. The industry waxed and waned. This thesis shows why, in the late nineteenth century, the pipe workers in Kent saw their livelihood fail while some pipe entrepreneurs beyond Kent continued to trade successfully into the twentieth century. The lack of local large-scale industrial development and the degree of industrial isolation of Kent are suggested as explanatory factors. The thesis, whilst acknowledging the materiality of pipes and pipemaking, counterbalances previous pipe studies that emphasise typology with a more nuanced biographical approach placing people – the pipe makers – central stage. ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Many people and organisations have provided assistance, guidance and inspiration without which this thesis would never have been completed. Thanks are due to: Some individuals: Phil Cole, pipe enthusiast and collector Jenny Day, potter and artist James Etherington for the illustrations used in Chapter Six Peter Hammond pipe collector, researcher and writer Richard Hoskins for guiding me through the collection of the Dover Archaeological Group Rex Key, clay tobacco pipemaker of the twenty-first century Lise Loktu for an inspiring lecture in Leicester and for sight of her detailed MA thesis Roger Price for generous access to his own research on the pipe workers of Bristol Susie White for access to the National Pipe Archive. Then there are the organisations and those who gave them a human face: Chris Foord at the Greenwich Heritage Centre for access to a wealth of artefacts and documents Giles Guthrie, Curator at Maidstone Museum who allowed me access to the Museum’s collection Chris Jarrett, archaeologist and pipe and ceramics specialist who let me work in his laboratory at Pre Construct Archaeology Jacquie Pearce for smoothing my way into the Archaeological Archive of the Museum of London Anthony Richardson and Michele Johnson who gave me the freedom to explore the depository of the Canterbury Archaeological Trust Too many to mention by name who unfailingly provided me with whatever I needed from the libraries at Liverpool University, Senate House, and University College, London, and from the Kent History and Library Centre in Maidstone. I want to record thanks to the members of local archaeological groups and family history associations. It was largely through them that I made contact with people who are the descendants of Kent pipemakers: in particular: Vicky Gunnell (re Michael Martin), Sheila Jelly (re the Swinyard family of many pipemakers), Pauline Kennedy (re William Lawrence), Ron Knight (re Samuel French), Maureen Rawson (re the Green family of pipe makers) and John Spain (who alone retains the family name of former pipemakers). Grateful thanks are due to my three supervisors: Harold Mytum, Zosia Archibald and David Higgins. In different ways and at different times they made sure I didn’t say anything too outrageous, and opened my mind to the value of acquiring a theoretical perspective. It cannot have been easy for them to work with a student whose aims and age do not conform to the norms of most postgraduate students. I have welcomed their advice and ideas. And finally my loving and ever calming wife, Christine. She remained unruffled when I was not; focused when I was scattered, and patient when I wanted to be rash. Chris’s help as a grammarian and as a proof-reader is without parallel. She has encouraged me throughout the research and the writing – the whole thing would have been impossible without her enthusiastic support. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Title Page i Abstract ii Acknowledgements iii Table of Contents iv Where possible, figures, tables and other supportive materials have been included within relevant chapters; others are found in the appendices shown on pages vii and viii, below. Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION 1 Why Kent 2 Some Clarifying Definitions 3 An Outline History of Pipemaking in Kent 6 Comparison with Other Small-Scale Industries 8 A Popular Conception Questioned 9 Research Questions 10 Structure of the Thesis 10 Chapter 2 METHODOLOGY 13 Introduction 13 Documentary Sources 15 Biography of Henry Phillips 18 Biography of Hatton Brown 20 Figure 3 The Crown Public House, Dover 23 Figure 4 Detail from ‘Canvassing for Votes’ – William Hogarth, 1754 28 Figure 5 ‘Man with a Pipe’ – Paul Cezanne, 1892 28 Artefactual Sources 29 The Materiality of Pipes 30 A Note on the Theoretical Background to Pipe Typologies 32 Kentish Pipe Typologies 33 A Typology for this Research 35 Conclusion 38 Chapter 3 HISTORIOGRAPHY 39 Introduction 39 The Focus and Place of Historical Archaeology 39 Two Written Approaches to Clay Pipes in Historical Archaeology 42 The Literature 48 Conclusions Noting Some Significant Omissions 61 iv Chapter 4 THE THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVE OF THIS THESIS 64 Introduction 64 The Need for a Theoretically Aware Approach to Historical Archaeology 64 Structuration: a Brief Historiography and Consideration of its Place in Archaeology 70 The Use of Structuration Theory in Archaeological Research 75 The Application of Structuration Theory in this Thesis 79 Structures Most Relevant to Clay Tobacco Pipe Makers 86 The Spiral Model of Structures an Agent Experiences Over Time 87 Figure 7 Diagram Illustrating the Contact Spiral of Structures and an Agent Over Time 90 The Hoopla Model of an Agent fixed in Time/Space 93 Figure 8 Diagram Showing the Agent as a Hoopla Pole Amid Structures 95 Agents and Agency in the Pipe-Making Industry 95 Conclusion 100 Chapter 5 STRUCTURE AND AGENCY IN THE EARLY INDUSTRY: KENT PIPEMAKING c.1600 to c.1760 101 Introduction 101 A Time of Social Change 101 The Earliest Tobacco Pipes 102 The First Documents 103 Setting Up Early Businesses 103 Early Named Pipemakers in Kent 106 Using Probate Inventories 107 The Pipemaker Inventories 110 Table 6 Names, Locations, Inventory Dates and Valuations for Kent Pipemakers 110 Other Contemporary Inventories 111 The Number and Uses of Rooms 112 The Value of Estates 114 Some Items Owned by Pipemakers 116 Capital in Kent Inventories 122 Structures and Agents in the Early Pipemaking Industry in Kent 124 Structure and Agency Central to the Pipemaker’s Experience 126 Awareness of Structures 133 Structure and Agency Peripheral to the Pipemaker’s Experience 134 Pipemakers as Risk Takers 136 Conclusion 138 v Chapter 6 STABILITY IN A WORLD OF CHANGE: KENT PIPEMAKERS DURING THE TIME OF THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION c. 1760 to c. 1850 140 Introduction 140 Kent in the Industrial Revolution 141 Changes in the Kent Clay Pipe Industry 142 Figure 9 Number of Pipeworkers First Recorded in Kent in each Quinquennium 1730-1854 143 Instability in Politics and in Fashion 144 Figure 10 Tobacco Imports for England and Wales 1772-1789 144 Figure 11 The Price of Tobacco 1772-1789 145 Bowl Size

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