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The sampler that Sarah stitched when she was 12 years of age in 1834 is most certainly decorative. The young girl showed great diligence in working the intricate border and cartouche surrounding her name. We were strongly drawn to Sarah’s sampler the moment we glimpsed her in an auction catalogue. The red house takes centre stage.
The geometric motifs flanking the verse were another focal point of interest. Although we have seen these on other samplers, they are not common place. Sarah showed great industry with her needle and filled her sampler with many beautiful motifs, she would have been hard pressed to squeeze another motif in.
On March 2, 1822 Sarah Milthorp was baptised in Darrington. This small village and civil parish is located in the heart of the industrial West Riding of Yorkshire. Sarah’s father Thomas Milthorp was an agricultural labourer. Life as an agricultural labourer was hard work. Wages were usually low and housing standards often poor as labourers worked extremely long hours to scrape a living. Thomas’ children would have been expected to work on the land from as young as six years old, particularly at harvest time when everyone lent a hand making hay or harvesting crops.
There is no record of Sarah’s education. From her marriage record, we know that Sarah was unable to read or write, as she marked her name with a cross in the parish record. She married Thomas Ward Bramham, a labourer, on June 1, 1840 in the Anglican church of St Luke and All Saints in Darrington.
On Saturday, September 5, 1840 three months after Sarah and Thomas’ marriage a curious notice appeared in the newspaper The Leeds Times.
“This is to give Notice, that I, Thomas Ward Bramham, of Beal, in the Parish of Kellington, in the County of York, will not be answerable for any Debt or Debts that my wife, Sarah Bramham, may contract after this Notice.”
In the 1841 census return, Sarah and Thomas can be found living apart. Thomas is living with his parents in Kellington and Sarah as a live-in servant in a public house some 15 miles away in Normanton.
By the 1851 census return, they are reconciled and can be found living together in the village of Kellington. Thomas is working as a bricklayer. A search of family history records has uncovered no children being born to the couple.
Neither Sarah nor Thomas appear in the census returns of 1861 or 1871. Thomas died on December 12, 1875 at the Leeds Infirmary. The National Probate records note him as a widower. Administration of his estate of under £100 was granted to his brother.
At the time his will was written and of his death, Sarah was still living. Can we presume from this that Sarah and Thomas had again parted ways? Thomas pertaining to be a widower could have been a ruse to hide the shame of separation. Sarah outlived Thomas by three years. She was buried on November 21, 1878.
We suspect that Sarah’s adult life was as colourful as her sampler. Maybe the verse that she chose for her sampler was a sign of the life that was to come!
The loss of time is much.
The loss of Grace is more
The loss of Christ is such,
As no man can restore.
Sarah’s sampler has been reproduced using a rich palette of fifteen colours. The model was stitched using Soie 100.3 from Au Ver à Soie. We have included below conversions for Soie d’Alger and DMC.
The reproduction of Sarah’s sampler is predominantly worked with cross stitch laid over two threads of linen together with some Algerian eyelets. The verse is worked in cross stitch over one thread of linen. The sampler is suitable for confident beginners through to advanced needleworkers.
With grateful thanks to The Contented Stitcher who lovingly stitch the model. The two bees stitched on the sampler are the mark (signature) of the model stitcher and are not part of the reproduction.
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.
