Ask, and God Shall Provide

Cavendish Mews is a smart set of flats in Mayfair where flapper and modern woman, the Honourable Lettice Chetwynd has set up home after coming of age and gaining her allowance. To supplement her already generous allowance, and to break away from dependence upon her family, Lettice has established herself as a society interior designer, so her flat is decorated with a mixture of elegant antique Georgian pieces and modern Art Deco furnishings, using it as a showroom for what she can offer to her well heeled clients.

 

Today however, we are following Edith, Lettice’s maid, along with her best friend and fellow maid-of-all-work, Hilda Clerkenwell, who works around the corner from Cavendish Mews in Hill Street as a live-in maid for Lettice’s married friends Margot and Dickie Channon. It is Wednesday, and both maids have Wednesdays as a half-day off work and are free until four o’clock. The pair of maids head east of Mayfair, to a place far removed from the elegance and gentility of Lettice’s flat, in London’s East End. Thanks to Lettice’s Cockney charwoman*, Mrs. Boothby, who lives in nearby Poplar, Edith now has her own hand treadle Singer** sewing machine, and frequents a wonderful haberdasher in Whitechapel, Mrs. Minkin, whom she goes to on her days off when she needs something for one of her many sewing projects as she slowly adds to and updates her wardrobe. Before the General Strike*** paralysed London a few weeks ago, Edith had attended a jumble sale**** held at her family’s parish church of All Souls***** in Harlesden to raise funds for the underpaid Welsh coal miners****** whose plight is what started the general movement of workers to strike. She acquired a number of things at the sale, including some pretty floral fabric and lace trims, which she is using to make Hilda, who is far less fashion conscious than Edith is, a new summer frock.

 

Both girls like Mrs. Minkin’s haberdashery. The heavy wood shelves and bolts of various fabrics stacked up around the walls muffle the sounds of the noisy street outside and envelop them in a cosy material cocoon. The shop is like a hoarder’s stash, filled with the most amazing collection of treasures to please even the fussiest of seamstresses or milliners: exotic and brightly coloured silks from the orient*******, intricate thick satin brocades from France******** glittering Bohemian glass buttons and beads*********, satin, velvet and grosgrain ribbons********** in every shade and tumbling cascades of frothy white and ecru lace from Nottingham and Derbyshire***********. The shop not only feels comforting, it smells comforting too, with a mixture of natural fabric, Lux Flakes************ – a scent Edith knows only too well because of her mother taking in other people’s laundry over the years – lavender and cloves************. We find Edith and Hilda in one of the many nooks in Mrs. Minkin’s shop, in front of the drawers that contain spools of brightly coloured silk threads.

 

“How is your latest sewing project coming along, Edit.” eagle eyed Mrs. Minkin calls from behind the shop counter where she has just finished serving another customer, her pudgy finger decorated with a few sparkling gold bejewelled rings moving with dexterity as she tidies her glass top and fronted counter. “Are you looking for a particular shade, my dear?”

 

A refugee from Odessa as a result of a pogrom************* in 1905, Mrs. Minkin’s Russian accent, still thick after nearly twenty years of living in London’s East End, muffles the h at the end of Edith’s name, never ceasing to make the young girl smile, for it is an endearing quality.

 

“Thank you, Mrs. Minkin.” Edith calls cheerfully in reply. “I’m looking for Sylko’s************** Sèvres Blue*************** if you have it, Mrs. Minkin.”

 

“I don’t know if I have any Sèvres Blue at the moment, Edit my dear,” Mrs. Minkin replies as she scratches her scalp beneath her old fashioned upswept hairdo with the end of a pencil as she thinks. “It’s not a colour that is hugely in demand.” She steps away from her space behind the counter and bustles across the room, her frilly and high Edwardian lace jabot running down the front of her blouse, held in place at her throat by a beautiful cameo – a gift from her beloved and at the same time irritating Mr. Minkin – flapping in the breeze as she moves around displays of haberdashery and notions**************** towards the two maids. “I am sure I will have somethink lovely in these drawers, dear Edit, which will be equally suitable if I don’t. Now let’s see.”

 

“Thank you Mrs. Minkin.” Edith replies gratefully as the woman begins to fossick through a set of wooden drawers of cotton spools emblazoned with a cotton manufacturers on each individual drawer.

 

“Oy vey iz mir*****************!” Mrs. Minkin exclaims with exasperation. “What is wrong with you Anglit******************?”

 

“What’s the matter, Mrs, Minkin?” Hilda asks as she sees the proprietoress withdraw a black spool from the drawer she is rifling through.

 

“Is England not a country of well-educated people, Hilde?” Mrs, Minkin asks with a pained look as she holds up the thread spool that is causing her offence.

 

“Well of course we are, Mrs. Minkin.” Edith replies quickly.

 

“I think that was a rhetorical question, Edith.” Hilda whispers under her breath to her best friend.

 

“What’s that when it’s at home, then?” Edith whispers back.

 

“A question that doesn’t need an answer, Edith.”

 

Seemingly not to have heard the two maids’ conspiratorial hushed conversation, Mrs. Minkin goes on, “Can no-one read? “Narishe froy!*****************! Can they not read? Black belongs in here!” She irritably yanks open a drawer marked ‘black’ in bold ink stencilled letters and slips the spool in with other black reels of cotton. “There are bound to be colours in there too, no doubt.” she sighs heavily. “I’ll get to it soon enough.” She returns to the colours drawer and keeps looking. “meanwhile you didn’t answer my question, Edit my dear.”

 

“And what question was that, Mrs. Minkin?” Edith asks politely, seeking clarification.

 

“What project are you working on now? It must be very special if you particularly want Bleu de Sèvres.”

 

“Oh, sorry Mrs. Mikin,” Edith apologises earnestly, raising her right hand to her chest. “I must have been concentrating so hard on finding Sèvres Blue cotton that I mustn’t have heard you.”

 

“Is it special? A new frock perhaps, , Edit my dear?” the older woman asks tentatively as she pries. “I’m sure I have some lovely Gablonz glass buttons that would go with something in the vein of Bleu de Sèvres.” she says as she tries to tempt Edith.

 

Edith likes the Jewess proprietoress. She always has a smile and a kind word for Edith and Hilda, and her generosity towards her has found Edith discover extra spools of coloured cottons or curls of pretty ribbons and other notions in the lining of her parcel when she unpacks it at Cavendish Mews. Mrs. Minkin always insists when Edith mentions it, that she wished all her life that she had had a daughter, but all she ever had were sons, so Edith is like a surrogate daughter to her, and as a result she gets to reap the small benefits of her largess.

 

“It is rather special, yes.” Edith replies, casting a glance at Hilda and smiling. “It’s a new frock for Hilda.”

 

“Hilde!” Mrs. Minkin stops fossicking and glances at the two maids. “You are making a frock for Hilde, Edit?”

 

“Yes Mrs. Minkin.” Hilda replies. Noting the older woman’s startled look which matches the tone in her voice, Hilda goes on, “Is that such a surprise?”

 

“Oh well!” Mrs. Minkin reaches up and clasps her cameo at her throat and coughs awkwardly. “No, of course not Hilde. I mean, it is a surprise, but a nice one. How lucky you are to have such a good chaverah tovah******************** in Edit, my dear Hilde, to make you a frock.”

 

“Well, she needs it, Mrs. Mikin.” Edith pipes up joyfully.

 

“A meydele, can never have too many frocks, Edit my dear.” Mrs. Minkin replies sagely. “Which is why I’m in business.” She smiles broadly as she opens her arms expansively and gesticulates proudly to all the beautiful things in their immediate surrounds.

 

“Well Hilda definitely needs a new frock, since she’s started stepping out with a nice young man, finally.” Edith giggles girlishly.

 

“Oh Edith, don’t!” Hilda defends, swatting at her best friend as her cheeks flush with embarrassed colour.

 

“What’s this?” Mrs. Minkin exclaims with excitement. “Hilde? Is this true?”

 

Hilda’s blush deepens as she replies. “It’s early days yet, Mrs. Minkin.”

 

“But it’s promising, Mrs. Minkin.” Edith interjects excitedly. “He boards with my Frank, you see, and he’s ever such a nice chap.”

 

“Mazel Tov*********************, Hilde!” the old Jewess grasps, clapping her bejewelled hands in delight. “This is wonderful news!” She reaches out her careworn digits and envelops Hilda’s fat, sausage like fingers and squeezes them, giving her a beaming smile of genuine happiness for her. “You and Edit are like my daughters, Hilde, since God only thought to bless Soloman and I with sons, so you must keep me informed.” She nods affirmatively, making the dainty gold droplet earrings hanging from her lobes dance about, glinting as they catch the light. “I take it he isn’t Jewish?”

 

“No!” Hilda laughs, surprised at Mrs. Minkin’s question. “He’s C of E**********************, like me, Mrs. Minkin.”

 

“Nu, shoyn***********************,” Mrs. Minkin replies with a shrug and a sigh. “It would be better if he was, Hilde my dear, but as you Anglit say, we cannot have all that we would want.”

 

“I think you mean, ‘you cannot have everything you want’, Mrs. Minkin.” Hilda corrects her older woman politely.

 

“That is what I say.” Mrs. Minkin replies with a determined nod.

 

In order to deflect the conversation away from her buddling relationship with Frank’s best man, John Simpkin, Hilda begins, “I’ve been meaning to ask you, Mrs. Minkin,”

 

“Hhhmmm?” Mrs. Minkin murmurs as she returns to sorting the spools of colourful threads in the drawers whilst helping Edith to find the shade of cotton she is seeking. “Ask me what, Hilde?”

 

“That sign advertising Weldon’s************************.” Hilda points to the poster of a Weldon’s Ladies’ Journal cover pinned to the papered wall.

 

“What about it, Hilde?” Mrs. Minkin asks without ceasing her task, her fingers moving deftly through the drawer’s contents.

 

“Well, it just seems like such an anomaly.” She pauses for a moment as she realises that her choice of words might be a little too academic for her best friend, who she doubts would have been exposed to the word, and the old Jewess, for whom English was not a first language. “An oddity. It doesn’t fit in.”

 

“What are you saying, Hilda?” Edith retorts. “Of course it does. I buy Weldon’s from here every month. I mean, it’s a bit out of date.” She glances at the edition, which states that it is from September 1910.

 

“That’s what I mean.” Hilda replies. “Mrs. Minkin, you always have the most up-to-date and fashionable fabrics and notions, yet this is over fifteen years old.”

 

“Ahh.” Mrs, Minkin notes with a wistful sigh as she pauses in her task, allowing her fingers to rest in the colours drawer atop the lines of round spools. “I see what you mean.”

 

“Surely you realised that it was pinned up there, Mrs. Minkin?” Edith queries. “You know all the stock in your shop.”

 

“Except maybe whether I have a spool of Sylko Bleu de Sèvres.” Mrs. Minkin chuckles before continuing, “Yes, I know it is there, Edit. And yes, I do know it is very far out-of-date.” She takes a deep breath. “But you see, September 1910 is a very important date for me.”

 

“What happened in September 1910?” Edith queries.

 

“That was the month and year I opened my haberdashery here in Whitechapel.” Mrs, Minkin replies, a wistfulness entering her voice as she speaks.

 

“But I thought you said that you left your home in Russia in 1905.” Edith remarked.

 

“We didn’t leave,” Mrs, Minkin replies with bitterness replacing the wistfulness. “We were driven from our homes by Bloody Nicholas************************* and his supporters**************************!”

 

“I beg your pardon, Mrs. Minkin.” Edith apologises.

 

The steeliness that has possessed the old Jewess’ face and hardened her gaze dissipates a little as she turns to Edith and smiles sadly. “It’s alright Edit my dear. You are not to blame for the persecutions my Soloman and our children suffered. We were good people. We were fabric merchants. We even employed Goyim*************************** to work for us. Other merchants refused to employ anyone who wasn’t Jewish, but we wanted to employ local people.”

 

“So, you came to England to start over again?” Hilda asks, tentatively.

 

“Oy vey, Hilde!” Mrs. Minkin raises her hands and casts her eyes to the ceiling above. “How could we? Mr. Minkin and I had to leave so much behind, not least of all our business, and all the fabrics Mr. Minkin had to leave in the warehouse. We had a few paltry bags of belongings between us, and that included food, for we were unsure what kind of reception or hospitality we would receive as we fled.”

 

“But you found safety, here in England, Mrs. Minkin.” Edith says, but even as she speaks the words, they almost come out like a question, rather than a statement.

 

“Oh yes, Edit,” the older woman pauses. “Eventually.”

 

“Eventually?” Edith ventures.

 

“England was not so willing to take poor and destitute émigrés such as Mr. Minkin and I. We had to prove that we would not be a burden by showing that we could support ourselves with money****************************, but we had none. We had to rebuild our business to support ourselves, and that took five years.”

 

“So, what did you do?” Hilda asked.

 

“We went to France*****************************. They didn’t care that we didn’t have a sou between us******************************!”

 

Edith gasps as she realises something. “That explains why you use French terms, Mrs. Minkin.”

 

“We arrived via a third class ticket aboard a locomotive that pulled into the Gare de l'Est along with many others after travelling through Germany*******************************. Mr. Minkin and I set up a small haberdashery export business in the Pletzl in the Le Marais neighbourhood******************************** and slowly built up our business. It was never ging to be what we had back home in Odessa, but it was enough to prove that we would be able to financially support ourselves.”

 

“I’m sorry it’s not like the kind of life that you led back in Russia, Mrs. Minkin.” Edith remarks kindly.

 

“Nu, shoyn, Edit my dear.” Mrs, Minkin says with a shrug. “We are here. We are alive, we are not persecuted and my sons and our business thrive. What more can I ask God for? Eh?”

 

“How about a reel of blue thread so that Edith can finish my frock, Mrs. Minkin?” Hilda says with a cheeky glint in her eye as she tries to brighten the atmosphere and conversation.

 

Mrs. Minkin delves her hand back into the colours drawer of the spool cabinet and continues her search.

 

“Ahh!” she says at length, before holding up a single spool of Sèvres Blue. “D110, Bleu de Sèvres!” She smiles proudly as she presents it to a grateful Edith. “Ask Him, and God shall provide.”

 

*A charwoman, chargirl, or char, jokingly charlady, is an old-fashioned occupational term, referring to a paid part-time worker who comes into a house or other building to clean it for a few hours of a day or week, as opposed to a maid, who usually lives as part of the household within the structure of domestic service. In the 1920s, chars usually did all the hard graft work that paid live-in domestics would no longer do as they looked for excuses to leave domestic service for better paying work in offices and factories.

 

**The Singer Corporation is an American manufacturer of consumer sewing machines, first established as I. M. Singer & Co. in 1851 by Isaac M. Singer with New York lawyer Edward C. Clark. Best known for its sewing machines, it was renamed Singer Manufacturing Company in 1865, then the Singer Company in 1963. In 1867, the Singer Company decided that the demand for their sewing machines in the United Kingdom was sufficiently high to open a local factory in Glasgow on John Street. The Vice President of Singer, George Ross McKenzie selected Glasgow because of its iron making industries, cheap labour, and shipping capabilities. Demand for sewing machines outstripped production at the new plant and by 1873, a new larger factory was completed on James Street, Bridgeton. By that point, Singer employed over two thousand people in Scotland, but they still could not produce enough machines. In 1882 the company purchased forty-six acres of farmland in Clydebank and built an even bigger factory. With nearly a million square feet of space and almost seven thousand employees, it was possible to produce on average 13,000 machines a week, making it the largest sewing machine factory in the world. The Clydebank factory was so productive that in 1905, the U.S. Singer Company set up and registered the Singer Manufacturing Company Ltd. in the United Kingdom.

 

***The General Strike in Britain occurred between May the 3rd and May the 12th, 1926. It was a nine-day nationwide stoppage called by the Trades Union Congress (TUC) to support coal miners facing wage reductions and worsening conditions. Roughly one million, seven hundred thousand workers went on strike, primarily in transport and heavy industry.

 

****A jumble sale is a British community event, often held in church or village halls, where donated second-hand goods are sold to raise funds for charity or local organisations. Common items sold include used clothes, books, toys, and bric-a-brac at very low prices.

 

*****The parish of All Souls, Harlesden, was formed in 1875 from Willesden, Acton, St John's, Kensal Green, and Hammersmith. Mission services had been held by the curate of St Mary's, Willesden, at Harlesden institute from 1858. The parish church at Station Road, Harlesden, was built and consecrated in 1879. The town centre church is a remarkable brick octagon designed by E.J. Tarver. Originally there was a nave which was extended in 1890 but demolished in 1970.

 

******Following a post-war slump, market downturns, and the government’s return to the Gold Standard, coal mine owners demanded substantial wage cuts in 1925, threatening to remove the national minimum wage. In some cases, proposed wages were lower than unemployment benefits. Owners sought to increase the working day as well, which would have meant more time in hazardous conditions for less pay for the miners. Mining was fraught with danger, with over one thousand two hundred miners killed annually across Britain and many more suffering life-altering injuries and industrial diseases. When mine owners, backed by the British government, threatened to terminate the 1924 wage agreement in July 1925 (known as Red Friday) a nine month government subsidy was paid to keep mines open. This was not a victory for the miners, but rather a temporary delay that allowed the government to stockpile coal and prepare for the inevitable showdown. The fear of the workhouse or absolute destitution was a constant pressure on mining families in the Valleys. Employers were already implementing harsh conditions, forcing miners into a position where they felt they had no choice but to fight for the right to work. These conditions, compounded by the eventual withdrawal of the subsidy and the subsequent lockout in May 1926, created a deeply entrenched, desperate situation for Welsh communities before the General Strike of 1926 occurred.

 

*******In the 1920s, Britain primarily sourced its raw silk and finished silk fabrics from China and Japan who were global producers of silk at the time. Britain sourced vast quantities of raw silk from East Asia to feed its own regional weaving centres in towns like Macclesfield, Congleton, and Braintree. High-end woven silk fabrics and chinoiserie-style textiles were also widely imported from China.

 

********Famous for its fashion and luxury textile industries, France (particularly Lyon) remained a primary source for highly sought-after, intricately woven satins, brocades, and finished fashion garments.

 

*********In the 1920s, Britain sourced the vast majority of its glass buttons and beads from Bohemia (specifically the industrial glassmaking region around Jablonec and Nisou). Following the Great War, this region became part of the newly formed republic of Czechoslovakia, and British traders and designers widely referred to the area and its imports by the German name, Gablonz. Following the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the German-Bohemian glassworks in Gablonz dominated the global costume jewellery, button, and bead markets. By the late 1920s, Czechoslovakia was the largest exporter of beads and jewellery in the world.

 

**********"Grosgrain" is commonly used to refer to a heavy, stiff ribbon of silk or (in the 1920s) manmade silk or rayon, woven via taffeta weave using a heavy weft, which results in distinct transverse ribs. Historically, grosgrain was made from wool, silk, or a combination of fibres such as silk and wool or silk and mohair. When a combination of fibres was used, the result was sometimes given the name grogram, silk mohair, gros de Tours or gros de Naples.

 

***********Throughout the 1920s, Britain sourced most of its commercial lace from the East Midlands, specifically Nottingham and Derbyshire, for local supply. Nottingham was undisputed global hub of the machine-made lace industry, famous for producing fine fabrics and lace curtains. Towns like Long Eaton and Ilkeston in Derbyshire, experienced major industrial expansion after the Great War, becoming vital mass-production centres for Leavers lace. Pockets of traditional handmade lace — such as Bedfordshire lace, Buckinghamshire (Bucks Point) lace, and Honiton lace from Devon — were still produced on a smaller scale by preservation groups and rural workers, though they had sharply declined.

 

***********Before the invention of modern liquid detergents, Lux Flakes revolutionised hand-washing. Because the flakes were pure and mild, the brand marketed heavily to women, positioning itself as a safe way to care for fine lace, knitwear, and hosiery. Lever Brothers first produced "Sunlight Flakes" out of their factories in Port Sunlight on the Wirral Peninsula in 1899. "Sunlight Flakes" were an innovative product made from thin sheets of Sunlight soap that could easily dissolve in water. By 1900, the product was officially renamed "Lux." The brand expanded into the US market by 1906. In 1925, the company launched Lux toilet soap, shifting the brand's focus heavily toward beauty. By leveraging celebrity endorsements from Hollywood icons, it quickly became famous as the soap of the stars. Lux Flakes solidified its position as the ultimate gentle cleanser for delicate fabrics, woolens, and lingerie in the post Second World War era, and is still available today, although it no longer trades as Lux Soap Flakes since the brand of Lux has shifted globally to beauty soaps. The laundry tradition of pure soap still survives under trade names like “Softly Pure Soap Flakes”.

 

************People placed lavender and cloves amongst their linens primarily to repel fabric-eating insects (like moths) and to naturally freshen stale-smelling fabrics. Historically, before the invention of synthetic chemicals, these botanicals were a safe, chemical-free way to keep stored bedding and clothing in pristine condition. Insects loathe the chemical compounds naturally present in these plants. Lavender contains oils that naturally repel clothes moths and silverfish, while cloves act as a powerful deterrent for a variety of household pests.

 

*************Pogroms in the Russian Empire were large-scale, targeted, and repeated anti-Jewish rioting that began in the Nineteenth Century. Pogroms began to occur after Imperial Russia, which previously had very few Jews, acquired territories with large Jewish populations from the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and the Ottoman Empire from 1772 to 1815. The 1905 pogrom against Jews in the Odessa region was the most serious pogrom of the period, with reports of up to 2,500 Jews killed. Jews fled Russia, some ending up in London’s East End, which had a reasonably large Jewish community, particularly associated with clothing manufacturing.

 

**************Sylko cotton threads were produced in a dizzying array of colours and shades by Dwehurt’s. Belle Vue Mill, commonly known as Dewhurst’s, was built by Thomas Dewhurst in 1828. It opened in 1829 as John Dewhurst & Sons and was one of Skipton’s largest spinning and weaving mills. The mill’s position next to the Leeds Liverpool Canal meant that raw cotton could be shipped in by boats from Liverpool. Finished goods would then be sent back the same way ready for distribution. Coal to power the machine’s steam engines was also delivered by barge. In 1897 Dewhurst’s was bought by the English Sewing Cotton Co. It continued to produce Sylko, one of the mill’s most famous products. It was produced in over 500 colours and sold throughout the world. Sylko cottons are still available at haberdashers today, albeit under a different branding.

 

***************Sèvres Blue (Bleu de Sèvres) is a signature deep, inky-cobalt colour developed by chemists at the renowned French porcelain manufactory in the 1750s. Associated with luxury, it became an international symbol of royal prestige, famously paired with 24-carat gold and used in diplomatic gifts for European monarchs. Dewhurst’s produced a Sèvres Blue shade of cotton before the Second World War. It was dye shade number D110.

 

****************In sewing and haberdashery, notions are small objects or accessories, including items that are sewn or otherwise attached to a finished article, such as buttons, snaps, and collar stays. Notions also include the small tools used in sewing, such as needles, thread, pins, marking pens, elastic, and seam rippers.

 

*****************“Oy vey iz mir” is the most famous Ashkenazi Jewish expression for a sigh of mild despair, exasperation, or "drat".

 

******************“Anglit” is Hebrew for English.

 

*******************“Narishe froy is Yiddish for “stupid woman.”

 

********************“Chaverah tovah” is Yiddish for a good female friend.

 

*********************“Meydele” is the he affectionate Yiddish diminutive for a "little girl" or "young girl".

 

*********************“Masel” Tov is the most common and widely understood way to say congratulations in Yiddish. It is usually used for birthdays, weddings, new jobs, and graduations, but can be used for any celebration.

 

**********************The abbreviation "C of E" began as a practical administrative and journalistic shorthand during the rapid industrial expansion of the Nineteenth Century. It became widely used in public records, timetables, and census documents by the mid-1800s to quickly reference the English state church.

 

***********************“Nu, shoyn” is the closest direct Yiddish equivalent to "oh well," "so be it," or "whatever happens, happens." It is used when shrugging off a minor inconvenience.

 

************************Created by British industrial chemist and journalist Walter Weldon Weldon’s Ladies’ Journal was the first ‘home weeklies’ magazine which supplied dressmaking patterns. Weldon’s Ladies’ Journal was first published in 1875 and continued until 1954 when it ceased publication.

 

*************************Tsar Nicholas II earned the name "Bloody Nicholas" primarily due to his regime's violent suppression of peaceful protests during Bloody Sunday in 1905, and his government's bungled response to a deadly stampede at his coronation in 1896 which became known as the Khodynka Tragedy. Just days after Tsar Hicholas’ coronation, a massive public festival was held in Moscow where free food and souvenir mugs were being given out. Due to rumours that there wouldn't be enough gifts, a catastrophic stampede broke out. Nearly 1,400 of his subjects were crushed to death. Nicholas attended a ball that same evening, which the Russian public saw as deeply callous, staining his early reputation. On January 22, 1905, tens of thousands of unarmed, peaceful workers marched toward the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg to present a petition for better working conditions and political reform. Without provocation, the Imperial Guard opened fire on the crowd, killing and wounding hundreds. Although the Tsar was not physically in the palace, he was held ultimately responsible, turning public sentiment sharply against him.

 

**************************The Odessa Pogrom of 1905 erupted from a volatile mix of political revolution, economic tension, and government-backed antisemitism. When Tsar Nicholas II issued the October Manifesto promising civil liberties, pro-tsarist and conservative groups (the "Black Hundreds") were furious. They scapegoated the Jewish population, claiming Jews had forced the Tsar's hand, and violently attacked Jewish neighbourhoods in an effort to suppress the Russian Revolution of 1905. Jews were heavily represented in the opposition movement demanding an end to autocratic rule. Consequently, pro-government mobs targeted them as political enemies of the Russian state. Rapid modernisation and industrial downturns fostered intense job competition, particularly among unskilled, non-Jewish day labourers. This fuelled deep economic resentment, as many non-Jewish workers viewed Jewish merchants and professionals as the cause of their financial hardships. Local authorities, the police, and the military deliberately turned a blind eye or took belated action. By refusing to intervene, the Tsarist government tacitly allowed the ethnic violence to distract from broader social discontent and to crush revolutionary sentiment.

 

***************************In Hebrew and Yiddish, “goy” is a term for a gentile: a non-Jew. Through Yiddish, the word has been adopted into English also to mean "gentile", sometimes in a pejorative sense. Goyim is the plural variation of the word.

 

****************************Immigrants entering England in the early 1900s needed to arrive at an approved port, pass medical and financial inspections, and prove they were not criminals or likely to become a burden on the state. Under the Aliens Act 1905, those who failed these inspections were denied entry. Immigrants needed to prove they had the means to support themselves. Those deemed destitute or likely to become a charge on the state were refused entry.

 

*****************************In the early 1900s, unlike entering Britain, crossing into France was relatively informal, with minimal paperwork. Immigrants simply arrived and moved about freely. However, rising nationalism leading up to World War I, followed by massive post-war labour shortages, prompted the French government to enforce standardised passports and strict police registration requirements. However, in 1905 when the Minkin family escaped the Russian pogroms, there were no such regulations.

 

******************************A sou is an old French coin or a slang term for a very small, insignificant amount of money.

 

*******************************Fleeing the 1905 Russian pogroms, Jewish refugees traveled westward overland by rail and on foot, exiting the Russian Empire via border checkpoints in Brody (Galicia) or across the German frontier. From there, they traveled through Central Europe, primarily entering France by train through northeastern border crossings such as Belfort and Lunéville, arriving in Paris at the Gare de l'Est or Gare du Nord. Trains traveling from the Russian Empire and Central Europe (passing through major transit hubs like Berlin or Leipzig) into Paris typically terminated at these two northern stations.

 

********************************Arriving exhausted via the Gare du Nord and Gare de l’Est railway stations, Russian Jewish refugees fleeing the pogroms of 1905 clustered in specific areas of Paris due to the availability of cheap tenement housing and existing community networks. The Pletzl (in the Le Marais neighbourhood of the 4th arrondissement) centred around the Rue des Rosiers, Place Saint-Paul, and Rue Ferdinand Duval. This area became a bustling, Yiddish-speaking immigrant enclave reminiscent of the shtetls (Yiddish word that literally means "little town") they left behind in Russia. The neighbourhood was deeply impoverished, with families crowding into old, subdivided mansions, but it offered a robust support network of communal kitchens and small synagogues.

 

This corner of Mrs. Minkin’s cluttered haberdashers filled with an assortment of notionsand spools is not all it seems to be at first glance, for it is made up of pieces from my 1:12 size dollhouse miniatures collection.

 

Fun things to look for in this tableau include:

 

The two sets of spool drawers and hand made and stencilled by miniature artisan Carlotta Rossi, who runs her miniatures business Cinen out of Bologna in Italy. The miniature compartmentalised wooden display featuring cards of buttons, needle packets and mending threads on cards was also made by her. The quality of her pieces and the fine details they display make these real artisan pieces.

 

The wooden spools of cotton in their varying shades and sizes I acquired from Kathleen Knight’s Dolls’ House Shop in the United Kingdom and several online suppliers of miniatures via eBay.

 

Edith’s and Hilda’s handbags in the foreground are handmade from soft leather and are part of a larger collection of hats and bags that I bought from an American miniature collector Marilyn Bickel.

 

The poster featuring the very Edwardian cover of the September 1910 Weldon’s Ladies Home Journal was a gift to me from my friend Sharon in Dorset, with whom I have an affinity over beautiful haberdashery pieces.

 

The wallpaper is an authentic, rather garish, Edwardian pattern that was sourced and printed by me.

Done