Available as a pdf download and as a printed booklet. Click HERE for the printed booklet.
Anne’s sampler is full of vibrant colours that catch the eye, but it is the verse she stitched that endears her to us. “Hear my prayer O Lord and let my cry come unto thee”. It is the opening cry of Psalm 102. We wonder what troubles led her to choose this verse.
It was impossible to identify the samplermaker in family history records as Anne Morgans is such a common name in Wales. We do know that life was not easy for the working classes in Wales in the Victorian era. In the 19th century South Wales became heavily industrialised with ironworks; this, along with the spread of coal mining in the Cynon and Rhondda valleys, led to an increase in the population. The invention of coal-powered steam engines revolutionised the Welsh economy as the worldwide demand for coal skyrocketed. By 1870, coal production in the area had surpassed 13 million tons. The industrial revolution was in full swing, and coal was driving the empire. Across South Wales, green valleys were suddenly covered with houses as pit shafts were sunk to fetch the coal out of the deep mines. Mining valleys became synonymous with Welsh life.
Local farming communities grew smaller as families swapped unstable agricultural lives for the steady wages of mining. It was a dangerous trade. The mines averaged a death every 6 hours and a serious injury every 12 minutes. Still, immigrants from Ireland, Scotland, and the English Midlands flooded the valleys to dig in the narrow tunnels.
Anne lived at a time when the contours of modern Welsh society were established: key features of the economic, demographic, linguistic, and cultural life of the country took shape at this time. It was a period when internal migration and immigration decisively shifted the country’s centre of gravity southwards and the port of Cardiff became the foremost coal-exporting port in the world (effectively creating a Welsh capital for the first time). The influx hastened the demise of the Welsh language and fuelled the birth of the nation’s modern cities.
When Anne worked her sampler there was very limited schooling available to the Welsh people – all of it constrained by the country’s rigid class structure. Mass educational provision had not been developed by the state, and schools were mostly provided by churches. Churches were unable to provide either sufficient school places or proper education for the children of the growing population of Wales. The British Society (Nonconformists) had some 300 schools in Wales, and the National Society (Anglican) had over 1,000.
In the year Anne completed her sampler, the Liberal government passed the Education Act of 1870, which provided for a full education for lower-class children up to the age of 13. This created a comprehensive network of elementary schools in Wales and increased a child’s chance of obtaining an occupation requiring literacy in adulthood.
Anne’s delightful sampler has a vibrant palette of 13 colours. The model was stitched using Soie 100.3 from Au Ver à Soie, and we have included conversions for Soie d’Alger and DMC. Only one spool or skein of thread is required.
Anne executed her sampler with cross stitches laid over two threads, satin stitch, and Algerian eyelets. The sampler is suitable for needleworkers of all levels of ability.
With grateful thanks to The Contented Stitcher who lovingly stitched the model. The two bees stitched on the sampler are the mark (signature) of the model stitcher and are not part of the reproduction.
Within this download you will receive: Graph 1 ~ A six-page colour chart and Graph 2 ~ A one-page colour chart (intended to be viewed/used on your tablet, phone, or PC).
