Amelia’s 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.
Red captures attention. It is one of the most visible colours and one of the top two favourite colours of all people. It is the use of red that caused me to pause and study Amelia’s sampler. I fell in love with this sweet sampler and almost immediately started to reproduce and stitch her. She has hung on my sampler wall for some time now, and I have enjoyed her presence in my home. She is now available for you to stitch and enjoy too.
Amelia has left us some clues in her sampler which she completed in 1863. She attended Berkswell School. The village of Berkswell is situated 7 miles West of Coventry City centre.
Amelia’s birth was registered in the first quarter of the year 1852. We cannot find her baptismal records, only the entry in the civil registration of births. Amelia appears in the 1861 census living at Cornets End Lane, Meriden, Berkswell. Her father, Thomas Batchelor, had died in 1860. Her mother, Ann (née Bond), is noted as a widow and the occupier of two acres of land. Amelia’s brother William, aged 11 years, was working as a ploughboy. Ann died in 1873.
Amelia stitched her sampler between 10 to 11 years of age, almost certainly under the guidance of her teacher at Berkswell School. Amelia probably had to leave school shortly after this to help contribute to the family income.
By the 1871 census, Amelia can be found in domestic service in Leamington. By 1891 she had moved to Greenwich, London and was working for a clergyman’s widow as a cook.
Amelia was to remain in domestic service for the rest of her working life. The last position we can find her working in is as a cook for a family living in Berkeley Square in Bristol in the 1901 census.
By the 1911 census, at the age of 58 years, Amelia “a cook domestic now out of employment” is living alone at 72 Alma Vale Road, Clifton, Bristol.
On May 24, 1915 Amelia passed away at the age of 63 years. Her estate was valued at £256, equivalent to £27,000 today. Her executors were her two brothers.
Amelia never married or enjoyed having a family of her own. Her possessions in life were probably few. The sampler that she so diligently stitched as a child may have been her oldest and most precious possession at the time of her death.
Her sampler seems such a happy, cheery one. We hope that it brought her comfort during the lonely hours that would have accompanied a lifetime spent in domestic service.
The sampler has been rated as suitable for needleworkers of all abilities and is worked entirely in cross stitch over 2 threads of linen.
There are 4 versions of the pdf. You will be able to download any or all of the following versions of the pdf and the graph:
Version 1 ~ A pdf with a six-page colour chart.
Version 2 ~ A pdf with a one-page colour chart which can be printed but is intended to be viewed/used on your tablet, phone, laptop, or computer.
Version 3 ~ A pdf with a six-page black and white symbol chart.
Version 4 ~ A pdf with a one-page black and white chart which can be printed but is intended to be viewed/used on your tablet, phone, laptop, or computer.
At the very core of Hands Across the Sea Samplers there is a team of needleworkers who are passionate about antique samplers and being able to share those samplers with you. Hands Across the Sea Samplers are on hand to help those stitching our charts. If you need assistance or have any questions, we can be reached via email, address shown below, or the contact page on our website.
