We return to England in this issue. Our stitcher, Mary Noah, was born in the city of Sheerness on the Isle of Sheppey. The island was originally used as a fortress by Henry VIII; then, in 1665, docks were built there to facilitate trade and it became one of England’s busiest. It continued that function through Mary’s time, the Victorian Era, and into the present day. Mary was only 9 years old in 1860 when she stitched her sampler. We know little else of Mary except that her mother was named Eliza, her employment is listed as laundress, and that Mary had one brother named Alfred, born in 1859.
Sampler art during the reign of Queen Victoria (1819-1901), was inspired by the introduction of new Christmas practices that would become…
