Florence’s delightful sampler is offered to you in two different formats ~ as an instant PDF download and as a printed booklet. Details of the printed booklet can be found HERE.
Waste not, want not – what a good motto!
This small sampler is stitched entirely with cross stitch over two threads of linen and is suitable for working on Aida or linen.
Florence Agnes Law was born on March 6, 1886 in Belgrave, Leicestershire to Alfred Paul Law, an agricultural machine fitter, and his wife Hannah, née Measures.
Florence stitched her sampler at Belgrave National School. In the 1901 census Florence, at the age of 15, is recorded as a Pupil Teacher.
The 1911 census finds Florence, now a qualified teacher, living as a boarder at Asfordby in Melton Mowbray. There was another teacher boarding in the house, Leonard Hairsine Kirk. Florence and Leonard married in 1915 at St Michael’s Church, Belgrave.
On May 12, 1921, just six years after Florence married, Leonard died. He had served in WWI, and although he was discharged in 1919, Florence did receive a war widow’s pension. This made us wonder if he died as a result of an injury incurred in the war. The army pension records indicate that Leonard had no children. Florence did not remarry.
In the 1921 census we found Florence living in the home of her father-in-law William Kirk, a farmer in Newport, Yorkshire. Maybe when the next census records are released, we will discover a little more about Florence’s life. This will be a long wait, probably longer than my lifetime. The 1931 census for England and Wales was destroyed by fire in 1942, and no census was taken in 1941 because of World War II.
Florence died on May 3, 1957 at The General Hospital in Leicester. Her widowhood was a long one. We hope that she found solace and comfort during those years.
