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Rachel at age 82 in the year 1900 worked a very pretty sampler full of cheery colours. It was the palette that first caught our eye followed by the unusual border. It was when we stopped to study the sampler that we realised that this sampler was stitched not by a child but by an elderly lady in her twilight years.
In the December of 1897 a letter was published in the Huddersfield Daily Chronicle. It made reference to Rachel’s birthday, March 23, 1817 and that she was in “first-class health”. It also noted that Nancy (known as Nanny) Ambler and Rachel lived together in a cottage. Nanny was Rachel’s sister. Rachel and Nanny were two of the daughters born to John Hartley and his wife Elizabeth (née Starkey). John was a cloth cutter working in the textile mills.
Rachel married Andrew Sheard on April 24, 1843 at the Highfield Independent Church. This was the first Dissenters’ church to be built in Huddersfield. Rachel and Andrew were both literate, signing their names on the marriage record. Andrew was born in Ireland. His father, a farmer, had settled in Cowcliffe. Andrew worked as a woollen block and calico printer in Huddersfield. Rachel also worked in the wool industry before her marriage. Together they had six sons and one daughter.
The 1861 census return notes that two of their sons, at the very young ages of 11 and 9, were working in the cloth print works! Their daughter Ellen also went into the textile trade working as a wool weaver in the mills. There were hundreds of mills scattered across Huddersfield and the surrounding suburbs.
Rachel’s husband Andrew Sheard died on September 16, 1880 leaving Rachel the sum of £45 (less than £6,000 in today’s money). It was during her widowhood that Rachel stitched her sampler at 9 North Cross Road, Cowcliffe, Huddersfield.
Cowcliffe is a village district overlooking Huddersfield, just under two miles northwest of the town centre. John Wesley who founded the Wesley Methodist movement visited the village on more than one occasion. He was influential in bringing his movement to the village even before the Wesley Methodist Church was built in 1836. Interestingly, some of Rachel’s children were baptised as Methodists and others in the Anglican faith.
The village of Cowcliffe was once the home to thriving stone quarries and served as a major source of employment. The workers were given their own cottages known as ‘low deckers’, presumably because of their low ceilings. Our research shows that Rachel’s home at 9 North Cross Road was a very small, 2-bedroom, single storey property. A tight squeeze for a family of nine!
Rachel lived a long life, dying at the age of 93 in 1911. She was buried on October 9th at Christ Church, the Anglican church in the parish of Woodhouse, Huddersfield.
Be Christ my Pattern and my guide his image may I bear
O may I tread His sacred steps and His bright glories share
Rachel’s delightful sampler has been reproduced with a palette of only 8 colours from Au Ver à Soie’s range of Soie 100.3. We have provided conversions for Soie d’Alger (SDA) and DMC.
The sampler has been rated as suitable for needleworkers of all abilities and is worked entirely in cross stitch over 2 threads of linen. It can be worked on Aida, Linaida, or linen. The design area is 187 stitches (w) x 151 stitches (h).
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.
