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Ladies Ecclesiastical Embroidery Society

Painting of Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin (1812-1852), whose work inspired many of the embroideries produced by the Ladies Ecclesiastical Embroidery Society. Painting of Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin (1812-1852), whose work inspired many of the embroideries produced by the Ladies Ecclesiastical Embroidery Society. Copyright National Portrait Gallery, London, acc. no. NPG 1404.

The Ladies Ecclesiastical Embroidery Society was founded in 1854 by Agnes Blencowe. The stated aim of the society was to “supply altar cloths of strictly ecclesiastical design either by reproducing ancient examples or by working under the supervision of a competent architect.” The Ladies Ecclesiastical Embroidery Society was also sometimes known as the Society for the Advancement of Ecclesiastical Embroidery. 

Much of their work was inspired by medieval designs, especially those created by architects such as Augustus W.N. Pugin (1812-1852), who re-invented the Gothic style in first half nineteenth century Britain and elsewhere. Their work was also seen as a reaction against the popular form of embroidery at the time, namely Berlin wool work. Anglican churches commissioned the Society to create and make various items, such as altar cloths and vestments.

Various architects and designers worked with the Ladies Ecclesiastical Embroidery Society, including George F. Bodley (1827-1907), William Morris (1834-1896) and George Edmund Street (1824-1881), to produce designs that were regarded as suitable. The designs were then embroidered by members of the Society. The embroideresses gave their time freely and the only charge made was for the materials used.

In 1863 the Ladies Ecclesiastical Embroidery Society merged with the Wantage Needlework Association (also known as the Wantage Church Needlework Association), which consisted of the Exterior Sisters and Friends of St Mary's House, Wantage, Oxfordshire (until 1974 part of Berkshire), UK.

Sources:

  • MORRIS, Barbara J. (1962). Victorian Embroidery, London: H. Jenkins, p. 87.
  • PARKER, Rozsika (1984). The Subversive Stitch: Embroidery and the Making of the Feminine, London: The Women’s Press, p. 35.
  • WHITE, James F. (2004). The Cambridge Movement: The Ecclesiologists and the Gothic Revival, Eugene (Oregon): Wipf & Stock Publishers, p. 212 (originally published by Cambridge University Press, 1962).

GVE

Last modified on Thursday, 27 April 2017 11:09