This is a piece of the Coventry Ribbon, an elaborate floral silk ribbon that was woven for the Great Exhibition of 1851.

The Great Exhibition

The Great Exhibition was held at the Crystal Palace in London in 1851. Its aim was to show the rest of the world Britain's industrial might and inventiveness. Coventry was encouraged to play its part as a leading producer of ribbons.

Many individual Coventry manufacturers exhibited at the Crystal Palace and several won prizes for their work. In addition to these individuals the organising committee in Coventry decided to raise money to pay for the production of one particularly beautiful ribbon to be shown at the exhibition.

This ribbon was known as the Coventry Town ribbon. About 60 to 70 yards of it were produced in the six months leading up to the exhibition. At the exhibition the ribbon was awarded a prize medal 'for a ribbon exhibiting much taste and skill in its production'. Queen Victoria, visiting the exhibition on 12th July, was very impressed by the ribbon and ordered a large quantity of it.

How the ribbon was made

The job of designing the ribbon was given to the School of Art in Coventry. This institution had been set up in 1843 to teach the art of design to young people and in particular to improve standards of design in the ribbon industry. The designer of the ribbon was Thomas Clack, a 20 year old student at the school. The design was then drafted - that is it was reproduced as a large diagram for a weaver to follow. This job was done by Robert Barton. Finally it was woven on a specially made jacquard loom under the supervision of Thomas Robinson. A jacquard loom used a series of punched cards to automatically control the weaving of the pattern, rather like an early computer. This complex ribbon required 10,000 cards! The total cost of producing the ribbon was £150

Ribbon weaving in Coventry

In the early Victorian period Coventry was dominated by the ribbon industry, as it had been for around 150 years. Ribbons were popular fashion accessories and had a variety of uses - including decorating hair and trimming hats and dresses. Coventry was the centre of ribbon production in Britain and ribbon weaving was Coventry's main industry. During this period around half the population of Coventry made a living from ribbon weaving.

Ribbon weaving was a precarious trade. When ribbons were in fashion and highly sort after the weaver could do quite well. But if fashions changed and trade declined, the weaver would have no work and therefore no income. To avoid going into the workhouse many weavers joined friendly and benefit societies to support them when work was short. However the ribbon industry suffered a major collapse in 1860 and thousands of Coventry weavers were thrown out of work. Many emigrated to other parts of the world.