Elizabeth Turner,
Greenock Female School of Industry, Scotland,
1830

Sampler size:
17" square

Price: $sold

Enlarged and Printer Version

The Female School of Industry was created in 1808 as a branch of the Free or Charity Schools, at which young girls from families of lesser means received their elementary education. As the name implies, this new branch was instituted for girls to hone their skills in industrial work. The concept of the school started out as a written suggestion submitted by the heads of the Charity School to the ladies of Greenock, stating "…the benefits of the Charity School… have been so widely diffused among a class who must either have wanted these qualifications altogether, or have acquired them imperfectly and with much inconvenience to their poor parents… Still there is a deficiency in the education of the females admitted here… and a deficiency which, when supplied, would at once secure eligible situations in life for these girls, and secure desirable servants in the most respectable families in this place. The parents of these young women complain of the difficulty of procuring service for them, and with regret employ them in such work as distant manufacturers can furnish, while mistresses of families, at the same time and with equal justice, complain of the scarcity of young female servants…" This information is from a book entitled Old Greenock Embracing Sketches of its Ecclesiastical, Educational and Literary History from the Early Times to the Middle of the Nineteenth Century, by George Williamson, published in 1888. Greenock is located just north of Glasgow.

The education in needlework was key within this school and this curriculum must have been substantial as we can see from this excellent 1830 sampler made there by Elizabeth Turner. It features a large and very interesting building, likely a depiction of the school building, with a young girl in the center archway. Quite whimsically, she is portrayed tossing a ball into the air. Other characteristics found on this sampler and particular to Scottish samplers are: crowns with family initials, predominantly red and green colored silk, peacocks and the geometric coniferous trees. The striped dress of the girl, her stitched face and the large and colorful bird sitting atop the building all add to this unusual depiction.

Elizabeth stitched the names of her many teachers on the sampler and the above quoted book confirms that some of these ladies were integral to the establishment of the school. A great deal of further information about this school is available and photocopies from the book accompany the sampler.

Worked in silk and wool on linen, Miss Turner's sampler remains in excellent and has been conservation mounted in a beveled mahogany frame with a maple bead.

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