This delightful sampler is brought to you as part of a series of “Little Gems” that are available as a .pdf download by Hands Across the Sea Samplers.

There are four versions included in this download

Graph 1 ~ A twenty-page colour chart.
Graph 2 ~ A twenty-page black and white symbol chart.
Graph 3 ~ A one-page colour chart (intended to be viewed/used on your tablet, phone, or PC).
Graph 4 ~ A one-page black and white symbol chart (intended to be viewed/used on your tablet, phone, or PC).

The moment we first saw Anna Sophia’s beautiful sampler our hearts leapt with joy and a surge of excitement. Our fingers itched to stitch her!

Anna Sophia’s baptismal records can be found in the Norfolk Church of England Parish Registers. The entry is dated August 22, 1858. She was the daughter of George and Mary (née Beck) Bircham. The family lived in Lower Street in the picturesque village of Brampton.

The verse Anna Sophia chose to carefully stitch on her sampler “Next unto God Dear Parents I address …” was very popular with school girls to stitch on their samplers. It can be found on many documented Norfolk samplers.

Anna Sophia was 13 years old when she stitched her sampler. At age 22, in 1880, she can be found living at 20 Sussex Gardens, Hyde Park, London and marrying Frederick Charles Bishop. Anna Sophia and Frederick, together with their 3-month-old daughter Alice Maria, were recorded in the 1881 census as living at 149 Cromwell Road, Kensington. Frederick, at only 25, is listed as a butler, a prestigious role within the domestic servants’ hierarchy for one so young.

Anna Sophia and Frederick were to have one more child, a son called Charles Frederick, born in 1883. Anna Sophia passed away in 1884 aged just 26. She died in Norfolk, possibly she and the children had returned to her parents whilst ill.

The 1891 census finds Frederick in Chelsea, London, as the butler to the very wealthy Francis William Lowther and in charge of a large household staff.

Francis William Lowther was the illegitimate son of William Lowther, 2nd Earl of Lonsdale, and Emilia Cresotti, an Italian opera singer. Francis died in 1908 and Frederick became butler to his son Colonel Claude William Henry Lowther. In 1911 the Colonel bought Herstmonceux Castle. When the 1921 census records are released it will be interesting to see if Frederick was the “Mr Carson” of Herstmonceux!

When Anna Sophia passed away, Alice her daughter, was only 4 years old . It is possible that the sampler stitched by her mother, when she herself was a child, was one of the few personal items that Alice had to remember her by. The sampler has certainly been well cared for. Hands Across the Sea Samplers have been honoured to reproduce Anna Sophia’s sampler for you to enjoy and cherish.

Anna Sophia’s sampler has been mainly executed in cross stitch over two linen threads with a small amount of cross stitch over one linen thread for the verse and dedication.  The sampler has been rated as suitable for confident beginners through to advanced needleworkers.

With grateful thanks to Linda Clews who lovingly stitched the model. 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.

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