A Family of Tailors and Dressmakers...

Tanners of Leather

 Strpping bark from an oak to smoke the leather.

The 1st recorded family business was in Beverley in 1952 when Thomas Bailey was listed in a Kellys' directory as being a Tanner of  Leather.On the 1861,71,and 81 censuses he is still a Tanner and harness maker, working from his white painted cottage..His sons and family members are also listed as harness makers & seamstresses. In all Thomas and his wife, Amy, had 5 known children. Percy, Francis, Isabella, Amy & Florence. Florence was born in September 1877 and was later listed in the 1901 Census as a costume hand and dressmaker.

Florence was the youngest child.

The family lived in the cottage until the turn of the century. This small cottage probably consisted of a living room, kitchen and sleeping quarters all in the same room. Tanning and preparation of the hide was often done outside on large open fire pits and rock beds for scraping.

Florence Bailey

The family at some point in the late 1800s must have made a mark in harness & saddle making circles as they moved to Sculcoates in Hull. The Sculcoate house (demolished some time in the 1970s) was a step up from the former cottage with separated rooms and an outside WC.

By 1901 Florence Bailey had set up shop as a Costume Hand and Dressmaker. One of the few professions that was seen as a respectable and proper business for a lady to run on her own. Unfortunatly from 1902 we can find no further record of Florence; bar a Death certificate that suggests a Florence Baley in the same area died from a lung disease, aged just 25.

Florence had a brother called Francis, born in 1884. He was taught to tan and to prepare the leather just as all other children in the family had done before him, and as his father; Thomas, was getting too old to handle heavy tools he went to work in a paint mixing factory in Sculcoates and allowed his 2 boys to carry on making the family harnesses. It has been suggested that by 1901 with the invention and widespread useage of the motorcar the need for horses and dray began to dwindle, the boys then found alternative employment. Harness making in the Bailey family ceased around 1910.

Francis & Isabella

 Isabella Bailey (Nee Cathcart)

Francis married Isabella Oliver Cathcart who hailed from Alnwick in Northumberland, Francis probably met Isabella or Ella as she was known,  in a private house in Northumberland where he had found employment as a horse groomer and stable manager. They married and at some point during their time together moved back to the the family home, possibly after the death of Thomas Bailey, and lived at No5 Hangers Row Carr Lane Sculcoates. Ella had a number of jobs, but dressmaking was her mainstay. Ella was well known for her skills as a dressmaker and also equally famed for her hair which reached to the back of her knees and often decorated with pearls and seed beads and looped into a beehive.

The Bailey Children

Isabella died in 1943 aged 50  from a digestive complication and left 6 children, Margarita (Rita b.1916), Hilda (b.1923), Francis (b.1927), Amy (b.1921)Ella (b.1925) & Muriel (b.1929). Shortly after their father Francis also passed away and the  children were left alone. The eldest was Margarita, who decided as the eldest she would move away and none of the family ever heard or saw from her again. Ella became a district nurse and when her career was finished she became a carer in a home for the elderly, after the death of her parents she never saw or spoke to her siblings again. Francis was taken care of by Muriel but as soon as he was old enough he left without a word and was never seen or heard of again until the late 1990s when he passed away and news filtered through that he had been living in Pudsey, and had made his living as a watch maker/repairer and an engineer. Hilda married and moved to Ireland and kept in contact with her two sisters Muriel & Amy.

Muriel & Amy

Muriel & Amy had never married, they lived a happy life working as needed during the War of 1938-1944 and later in offices for heads of  large companies.When they decided to take semi retirement they looked back at what the family had come from and decided to open a shop on Richmond Hill in London during the 1960s as purveyors of antique dolls.

Once again drawing on the family skills and knowledge of tailoring and dressmaking they would sit in their workroom and sew costumes for dolls that had lost their originals. They would hand weave real human hair into intricate ringlets for German dolls, or buy pearls from antique necklaces to replace lost earings on the motionless bisque heads of much loved toys.Their operation became so popular that they had to keep the door locked and only open for appointments for clients who could afford to pay for the restoration of their family heirlooms. Sadly Amy died in the 1980s and the shop was closed. Muriel went on to full retirement and lived out her days in London.

Andrew Carragon

Muriel and Amy were Andrew's Great Aunts, he had met them occasionally as a child, but usually only saw them as he was passing through the house when they visited. Andrew remembers a lovely blue coat with large diamond broach in the shape of a star on the coat of one Aunt and a blonde bob haircut!

Andrew spent early career years in the catering industries. learning all the skills to run  licenced premises.When the tavern he was working in changed hands from private owners to corporate ones, Andrew decided a change was as good as any at this time. Andrew lived in Kirkby Londale where each year there would be a Victorian Fair that attracted over 22,000 visitors each year. After some time the fairs appeal began to dwindle and one reason for this was the waning custom of locals and visitors dressing up in Victorian costume to create the right atmosphere.Andrew came forward offering a service at the next fair providing a new and fresh set of costumes.

This was met with agreement and Andrew set about creating a collection.

Sewing and stitch work had been in the family for some time and most children were brought up able to sew and use a sewing machine. The constant "clickety-click" of knitting needles and later the vibrations of a knitting machine were familiar sounds in the family home.

Andrew bought some patterns from suppliers and had a look at some old patterns that were kept in the family papers and created a set of 5 costumes with little fuss. These were presented at the next meeting of the commitee and Andrew was asked to create more and hire them to the general public. Within the space of a few months, Victorian Costume was borm.

Victorian Costume was a company that hired and sold Victorian costumes to the general public. It provided 4 years of service to fairs and each year the list grew more and more until Victorian Costume was the largest Victorian Costume Company in the UK.

As popularity grew in the website it came to the attention of production houses and directors. and as a result Andrew was asked provide costumes for Big Brother . This was a great success and as more and more Media work came in Andrew decided to open up Media Costume and sell off Victorian Costume. This stopped the limited look of the company and opened up stylist work and work for other period productions.

In 2008 the hire department of Media Costume was added for general hire of costumes and plans to further the business were put in place in Summer 2008 to open a show room for clients to view, try and hire costumes in a relaxed friendly atmosphere.