The Sampler Sleuth: Needle Art & Education
The Connecting Threads of Education & Textile Art in the 19th Century
“Methinks it is a token of healthy and gentle characteristics, when women of high thoughts and accomplishments love to sew; especially as they are never more at home with their own hearts than while so occupied.” — Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Marble Faun, 1859
Beginning in the 17th century, samplers became an integral part of the school curriculum in female education and were used as educational tools, much like a slate or horn board. Teachers strived to develop young girls' stitching skills for both practical and ornamental purposes.
As part of their preparation for the responsibility of sewing clothes and linens for their future families, most girls completed at least two samplers. The first was usually undertaken at the age of 5 or 6 and was called a “marking sampler.” Marking samplers served a dual purpose: They taught young girls basic embroidery techniques, alphabets and numbers. This knowledge was important for any future homemaker to keep track of her linens, which were among her most valuable household goods. This was accomplished by marking their linens, usually using cross stitches, with the homemaker's initials and a number.
A young girl made a marking sampler either at home under the tutelage of her mother grandmother, or at small community schools called “dame schools,” taught and run by women who were often widows or spinsters. A girl fortunate enough to continue her education usually made a secondary sampler at a ladies' boarding school in her adolescent years.
The second sampler was usually more decorative and pictorial. While less straight forward than marking samplers, pictorial samplers were important assets in a girl's social life. They revealed the values of the girl and her family to potential suitors. The completed work was usually framed and hung in the parlor, proclaiming the maker's obedience, patience and skill. In addition, Bible verses or virtuous phrases found on many samplers of the time reinforced important life messages. They normally emphasized female virtue, the value of education and obedience to one's parents and God.
The original Mary Tapper sampler hails from Stocktonon-Tees, a district in County Durham in northeast England located on the banks of the River Tees. Mary was born in
1822 to John and Rebecca Tapper, and she was 10 years old when she stitched her sampler.
Mary's sampler incorporates the distinctive skill of a marking sampler and also achieves the skill of decorative art. The top half of the sampler is dedicated to upper- and lowercase alphabet letters and sequential numbers first seen in English textiles in the 18th century. Her uppercase alphabet and sequential numbers are decoratively stitched in Algerian eye stitches.
The bottom half of Mary's sampler exhibits a timeless phrase on “Experience” with decorative floral motifs accented by her name, the date, the school she attended and her age, all executed in brightly colored tent stitches. Her chosen phrase was not only appropriate in the 19th century, but continues to resonate today in our modern world.
The name “Stockton” originated in Anglo-Saxon. Stoc may refer to a farm or a monastery, and ton is a typical Anglo-Saxon place-name suffix that means a farm belonging to a manor or a religious house. So, it's possible the settlement began as a farming outpost for a monastery or manor house. Later, Stockton became a major river port for County Durham, the North Riding of Yorkshire and Westmoreland. As shipbuilding prospered in Stockton in the 18th and 19th centuries, small-scale industries developed rapidly in the areas of brick-, sail- and rope-making as the Industrial Revolution progressed.
In a series of BBC radio programs, established history and heritage author Paul Menzies shared his knowledge about the area of Stocktonon-Tees. The online feature includes a beautiful print of the view from Stockton Bridge in 1832, the same year Mary Tapper's sampler was made, which features both tall ships and a busy wharf.
Historically, it should be noted that Stockton-on-Tees made three major industrial contributions in Mary's lifetime.
First, Stockton is famous for George Stephenson's Stockton and Darlington Railway. The railway, which opened in 1825, operated the first steam-hauled, public passenger train, heralding the dawn of a new era in industry and travel. Perhaps Mary boarded and traveled on such a revolutionary invention.
Secondly, John Warner & Sons metalworks of Stocktonon-Tees became famous when the company cast the “Great Bell” for the clock of the Palace of Westminster in London. Known worldwide as “Big Ben,” the original 16-ton bell was cast on Aug. 6,1856.
Thirdly, Stockton made history when a local chemist named John Walker invented the friction match in his shop at 59 High Street. The first sale of his friction match is recorded in his sales book on April 7, 1827, to a Mr. Hixon, a solicitor in the town.
Mary Tapper grew up in an age where industry, innovation, trade and travel had begun to revolutionize people's way of life in the United Kingdom. Her sampler, executed in cross stitches, Algerian eyelets and tent stitches, was worked by deft fingers and portrays an educated young woman with a happy outlook. The aphorism she elected to use portrays a level of sophistication wise beyond her childhood age of 10 years old.
We can only imagine all the dreams and expectations that flowed through Mary's fingers as she plied silk threads upon her wool canvas. Her sampler may not be the grandest pictorial, but it survived to give the modern stitcher a glimpse of her past and to honor the many historical advances made by Stockton-on-Tees during her lifetime.
Mary Tapper's sampler is another shining example of our foremothers' history, sharing a glimpse of her past through the expression of needle art where, once upon a time, colorful threads whispered through fabric in that long-ago summer of 1832.