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Battle of Britain lace panel

The Battle of Britain lace panel held at the Australian War Memorial was manufactured (between 1942 and 1946) by the lace curtain firm of Dobsons & M. Browne & Co. Ltd. It was woven to commemorate the battle and as a tribute to those who fought to save Britain.

During the war Dobsons & Browne had devoted most of its output to the production of mosquito and camouflage netting. As a means of retaining the skills and standards of their highly trained designers and draughting staff who were under-employed by the wartime production requirements, the firm took up the idea of making a large commemorative lace panel.

The design for the panel took two years and the drafting for the jacquard (pattern cards) another 15 months. The pattern required 40,000 cards, weighing a tonne altogether. Each panel took a week to produce and required 4,200 threads and the preparation of 975 bobbins for the loom. A total of 41,830 kilometres of fine Egyptian cotton went into the making of each panel, which measured 4.5 x 1.62 metres when completed.

The panel depicts scenes of the bombing of London, and the types of aircraft used in the battle, as well as the badges of the Allied air forces involved and the floral emblems of Great Britain and the Commonwealth. Also included are the names of the firm and the craftsmen from Dobsons & Browne who created the work. At the bottom on a scroll are Sir Winston Churchill's famous words: " Never was so much owed by so many to so few. " A cottage and a castle are also depicted, to indicate that rich and poor suffered alike. The edging of the curtain is composed of ripening ears of corn representing the season during which the Battle of Britain took place. Interwoven with these are Tudor roses, thistles, shamrocks, and oak leaves.

Thirty-eight panels were woven before the jacquards were destroyed. King George VI and Sir Winston Churchill were each presented with one, and others were distributed to various RAF units, and to Westminster Abbey, the City of Nottingham (where the panels were woven), the City of London, and personnel from Dobsons & Browne. As airmen from New Zealand, South Africa, Canada and Australia had been attached to various RAF units, these countries also received a panel.

Author

Jane Peek
Military Heraldry and Technology
August 2002

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