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The team at Hands Across the Sea Samplers can never resist a red monochrome sampler, especially one so pretty as Dorothy’s.
As the young sampler maker diligently recorded so much information on her sampler, we were able to identify her with certainty in family history records.
Dorothy Ellen Bryant was born in 1883 in Croydon, a borough in South London. She was one of three children born to Alfred John Gordon Bryant, an author, and his wife Ellen Anne Esther, née Breese. From family history records, it is evident that Arthur and Ellen placed great importance on the education of their children. Their eldest son attended a theological college and became a reverend, and their youngest son qualified as an accountant, working first for the government and later becoming the managing director of a publishing company. But what of Dorothy?
Dorothy recorded in her sampler that it was stitched when she was 9 years old at the Old Palace School in Croydon. Not many schools can boast a classroom that was once Queen Elizabeth I’s bedroom.
Dorothy diligently stitched on her sampler the motto “Noblesse Oblige”. This French expression means that nobility extends beyond mere entitlement, requiring people who hold such status to fulfil social responsibilities.
Dorothy excelled at school, which is evidenced by her entering the Civil Service upon completing her education. Civil servants are employees who work in central government departments, agencies, and non-departmental government bodies. The British government did not employ any women until 1869 when the Post Office acquired the inland telegraph industry and with it a number of female telegraphists.
Dorothy never married, possibly so that she could continue to work in the Civil Service. On November 16, 1936, with her younger brother by her bedside, she passed away of ovarian cancer. She is buried in the church graveyard in Prestbury.
Dorothy upheld the motto “Noblesse Oblige”; her life was one of service to the people of England and the country’s institutions.
Dorothy’s sampler has been reproduced using Soie 100.3 . Conversions for Soie d’Alger and DMC have been provided within the thread legend.
The sampler can be worked on linen or Aida and is stitched entirely with cross stitch over two threads of linen (one square of Aida).
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.
