Emily Chiddy

We are pleased to offer this very large, solidly stitched sampler with its huge assortment of whimsical motifs that fills the entire composition. Emily Chiddy, aged 11 in 1864, must have enjoyed both the planning and stitching of houses, people, animals, birds, insects, musical instruments, flowerpots, and many other objects. The large apple tree at the center provides a wonderful focal point. 

Just above her name Emily included a depiction of a tea kettle on a stove grate with the advice, “Mind it Boils.” This household advice was echoed throughout the Victorian period when heating water for tea or cooking. It instructed individuals to watch the hearth or stove closely to be sure the water didn't boil over. 

Emily was born in October of 1852 to Thomas and Sarah (Burrows) Chiddy of Shoreditch, a neighborhood in London’s East End. The 1861 census lists her as a scholar and, in various census records, her father as a cook and keeper of a coffee house. Emily came by the warning about the boiling water naturally!

In 1870, Emily married Frederick Pearson who was also in the food service industry working as a beer and wine retailer and a publican. She died in 1889 in Surrey. 

The sampler was worked in wool on linen and is in excellent condition. It has been conservation mounted and is in its fine, original frame with a gilt liner.