It is perhaps significant that, until very recently, the word, ‘worker’, had masculine and feminine forms in French (ouvrier and ouvrière), but the word for, ‘violin maker’ (luthier) did not. Such was the case until 1 March 2019, when the Académie française ruled that the word luthière could now be used for the feminine form. Indeed a look at violin making literature prior to the recent past might lead one to believe women violin makers simply did not exist.
I would like to draw attention to three, or perhaps four, French women, each described in a Mirecourt census between 1886-1901, as a ‘luthier’, and a host of others whose profession is mostly given as, ‘ouvrière en lutherie’. As far as I am aware, none of them have appeared in any of the printed dictionaries of violin makers. What exactly an ouvrière en lutherie did is difficult to pin down but the description could probably cover anything from producing elements for the construction of instruments to varnishing and finishing.
The first of these women is the luthière Rosalie Marie Joséphine Jacquet. She was born to Jérome François Jacquet and Marguerite Contal on 20 March 1830 in Vaubexy, Vosges. She married Jean Joseph Poirson on 29 June 1859 in Hagécourt and was the mother of Louis Poirson. In 1886 she was living at 7 Rue des Tanneries, Mirecourt, and both she and her son were listed as luthiers.
The second is Louise-Lucie Audinot (her name at birth was registered as, Catherine Lucie Audinot). She was born on 15 November 1844 in Mirecourt to Claude Léopold Audinot and Anne Catherine Elisabeth Bourlier. The Audinots and the Bourliers were longstanding Mirecourt violin making dynasties. The luthier, Laurent Bourlier, (Anne Catherine’s father) was one of the witnesses to the registration of her birth. In 1886 she was living with her father, still active as a maker at the age of 75, and, Eugène, Charles, and Justin – in the census given as Claude Léopold’s grandchildren – all luthiers, at 5 Le Breuil, Mirecourt. In 1896 she is given as head of the family, ‘sans profession’. Her son Emile, and Charles, now described as her brother, are both still working as luthiers and living with her. In 1901 she is described again as, ‘sans profession’, still living with her brother Charles and son Emile.
The third is Marie Eugénie Clémentine Grandgeneve, born 9 August 1859, in Viviers-lès-Offroicourt, Vosges. Her father was Joseph Grandgeneve, her mother, Anne Catherine Consigny. She married the luthier, François Victor Bourgeois on 28 April 1880. In 1896 her profession is given as, ‘luthier’. She was living with her husband, and her son, Marie Albert Lucien, also a luthier, at 16 Avenue Victor Hugo, Mirecourt. In the 1901 census she is to be found at 10 Le Breuil, her profession now changed to that of dentellière (lacemaker).
The fourth is Joséphine Parisot. She is described as a luthier, aged 13, in the 1886 census, her parents given as Etienne Parisot and Marianne Collin. The only similar record I have discovered in the Mirecourt birth registrations relates to the birth of a boy, Joseph Parisot, in November of 1772 to Victor Parisot and Marie Anne Collin. The ages of Etienne/Victor and Marianne/Marie Anne match, so presumably they are the same people. In 1896 a Joséphine Parisot appears as a child of Rose Poirot, each working as an, ouvrière en lutherie. Rose was married to Armand Joseph Parisot though no record of such a child born to them of a similar age and name appears to exist. I have failed to resolve this mystery.
As information increases on census forms from 1886 to 1896 we find more women named as working in the general lutherie business. In 1896 each of the following is described as an ‘ouvrière en lutherie’; Joséphine Berly, Maria Bernard, Joséphine Buclié, Justine Cherpitel, Anne Octavie Hall, Emélie Marchand, Marie Maucotel, Joséphine Parisot, Rose Poirot, and Marie Quenoil. As can be seen, a number have surnames matching well-known violin making families.
In the 1901 census the amount of detail again increases, not only professions but also employers are shown. There is a significant rise in the number of women involved in the industry; 12 work for Laberte and 11 for Thibouville. Again the names show connections to many of Mirecourt’s famous violin making families. Gabrielle Génin is notable for describing herself as ‘patronne’, or proprietor, of a business fitting-out violin cases. The census states her child, Gabriel, is an employee. This is actually likely to be her daughter, Pauline Gabrielle Quenoil.
The women classed as, ‘ouvrière en lutherie’, are as follows; Joséphine Chamout, Augustine Poirson, Marie Poirson, Maria Bernard, Emélie Salzard, Augustine Jeandel, Marie Vuidard, Amélie Dufour, Marie Parisot, Joséphine Delpratot, Marie Marchand, Marie Riotte, Ernestine Piroué, Emélie Lagrave, Augustine Husson, Justine Cherpitel, Marie Vincent, Germaine Garnaud, Anna Chappié, Charlotte Chappié, Louise Chappié, Marie Thomassin, Gabrielle Barjonnet, Louise Bastien, , Emélie Bastien, Octavie Bonin, Thérése Remy, and Eugénie Cune.
Based on the 1901 census these women represent almost 8% of the violin making workforce at the turn of the century and without them Mirecourt’s famous industry could not have reached and maintained its astonishing levels of production.
©John Basford 2020