Mary’s sampler is offered to you in two different formats ~ as a printed booklet and as an instant PDF download. Details of the PDF download can be found HERE.

Mary was born on 3 September 1852 in Newton, Somerset, England. Her parents were Thomas Hillier, a labourer, and Elizabeth. On 18 August 1858 at 7 o’clock, Thomas, who was the foreman of a gang of workmen who were working on the Great Western Railway line between Bath and Twerton, met with an accident. As a train of empty carriages approached the workmen, in moving away from the line, Thomas slipped, and both of his feet went under the passing train and were “dreadfully crushed”. He was taken to hospital, and both his feet were amputated. A newspaper report noted that he was expected to recover. However, the accident proved to be fatal, and he died on 27 September. Within a year, Mary’s mother, died of pneumonia at the County Lunatic Asylum at Wells.

Mary and her younger sister Lucy were taken in by their aunt Sarah Gray. Sarah had four children of her own to care for, and her husband’s wages, as a labourer on the railway, would have been strained to feed a household of eight. Sarah delivered Mary into George Müller’s care on 12 July 1861. She was admitted into No. 1 House under orphan number 1057. A few months later in the October Lucy was admitted into the infant’s department at No. 1 House. In the 1800s there were very few orphanages in the country, and orphans tended to go to homes for foundlings or the workhouse, which was akin to slave labour. The two sisters were more fortunate than many. Not far from their home, George Müller, an Independent Minister, had founded an orphanage at Ashley Downs, Bristol. The sisters met the entry criteria, as only children who had been born in wedlock, were bereft of both parents through death and destitute were considered for admission.

Mary remained at the orphanage until October 2, 1868, when, at 16 years old, she was sent to work as a housemaid for the Reverend E E Jenkins at Clyde House, Brixton Rise, London. We know that Mary returned to the Clifton area of Bristol. Clifton is a beautiful suburb of Bristol, tucked away from the hubbub of the city.

On 31 July 1883 at 30 years of age, Mary married a widower, David Lewis, who was 73 years of age. In the 1881 census return David was a lodging-house keeper and in the 1891 census return was boarding with Mary at a lodging house at 21 St Paul’s Road (previously known as 21 Victoria Road), Clifton. He was living on his own means.

Probably due to his advanced age, David and Mary had no children together. When David died in the June of 1899, he left an estate valued at £9,759 3s 6d. Today this sum equates to £1,286,359. Widowhood emancipated Mary, and we expect that she spent her later years financially very comfortable. A far cry from her early years and the orphanage.

We find Mary still lodging at 21 St Paul’s Road in the 1901 census return. The house was sold on the death of the owner in 1908, and we cannot find Mary in the 1911 census, maybe she remarried, maybe she emigrated to Ryde, New South Wales, where her sister Lucy had settled.

Mary stitched her sampler with cross stitch over two strands of linen. The project has been rated as suitable for needleworkers of all levels of ability and can be stitched on Aida, Linaida, or linen.

Our grateful thanks go to Kathleen Born who lovingly stitched the model for Mary’s sampler. 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.