Sarah Watson

The Ackworth School, in Yorkshire, England was founded as a boarding school in 1779 with the purpose of providing an education for Quaker children; both male and female students received a strong academic education. In addition, the girls learned needlework, both plain sewing and fine needlework, and many Ackworth school sampler patterns became hallmarks of excellent samplermaking throughout England and the United States. Samplers made by Ackworth students are beautifully stitched and the compositions and aesthetics of their work echo the Quaker sensibility of appealing simplicity.

Sarah Watson’s excellent sampler, steeped in the Ackworth tradition, features an extract verse that begins with the word, “Solitude.” The oval format was used by Ackworth girls, and similar samplers were made at the school from the 1790s through the 1830s. Carol Humphey’s excellent book, Quaker School Girl Samplers from Ackworth (Needleprint, 2008), illustrates some of these. The stitching of this sampler is extremely precise, accomplished in the classic Quaker block letter font. 
Sarah was born in 1816 to John and Martha (Edmundson) Watson, members of Brighouse Monthly Meeting under Yorkshire Quarterly Meeting. She entered Ackworth in 1828 and remained there until 1830.

In 1841, Sarah married William Teale and was later recorded in the 1861 census as a widow, working as a confectioner with her sister. She died in 1904 and is buried in Friends Burial Ground in Leeds, Yorkshire.

Worked in silk on wool, the sampler is in excellent condition and has been conservation mounted. A black mat surrounds the oval and it is in a period maple frame.