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The History of Charlbury through ... an 1817 embroidered map

Stitches in Time : Embroidered Map by Mary Albright, 1817

Sue Rangeley for Charlbury Museum

Embroidery has made its mark throughout history, offering an intimate glimpse of life in past times. From the seventeenth century until the early twentieth century the embroidered sampler was an integral part of female education; though rarer, samplers were also stitched by boys.

In the museum, hanging close to her silhouette portrait, is an embroidered map sampler worked by Mary Albright, signed with her name and dated 1817. Mary, born in Charlbury in 1803 was the oldest of six children. Her parents William and Rachel Albright (nee Tanner), were a prominent , prosperous Quaker family whose Church Street shop (now the Heat Store) sold groceries and pharmaceuticals. Mary’s silhouette profile (see photo) is displayed surrounded by Albright family silhouettes

Between 1790 and 1820 there was a fashion for stitching needlework maps, many embroidered by school girls, like Mary Albright. Whether Mary went away to a Quaker School or studied at home is not known (it was later, in1844 that Elizabeth Gregg opened a Quaker girls school in ‘Egypt’ on The Playing Close). In the late 1700s geography was the first science to be included in the schoolgirl curriculum; the era reflected major changes in female education where academic studies were open to girls as well as boys. A girl’s horizons broadened, geography opened a wider world for study. Map publishers, Laurie and Whittle of Fleet Street in London advertised in 1798: ‘Map of the World for Ladies Needlework and Young Students in Geography’.

Mary’s meticulous stitches trace European cities in silk threads, highlighting the printed letters with precision. She learned the unfamiliar names as she sewed: Weliki Luki , Niznoi Norogorod…, explored unknown territories and seas: Little Tartary, Gulf of Sidra, Mouth of the Nile…. her dexterous needle texturing borders and coastlines with silken stitches. A monochrome masterpiece of disciplined concentration - geography learnt in 1817!

For nearly two centuries Mary Albright’s map quietly resided in her Church Street homes: Gothic House (after marriage to William Pollard in 1849) and in Albright House. On 12th September 2014, it entered the frenzy of Mallams saleroom in Oxford, and following a successful bid by Ron Prew (on behalf of the museum), it was returned home to Charlbury.

Mary (Albright) Pollard died in 1876, she is buried in the Quaker Meeting House 

Charlbury Museum is grateful to donations made by Charlbury Town Council and funds raised by Ron Prew in December 2014 towards the purchase of the map and silhouettes.

Books referenced: A History of Charlbury by Lois Hey 2001

Charlbury of our Childhood by Caroline Pumphrey 1990

Threads of Life – A history of the world through the eye of a needle by Clare Hunter

Judy Dod · Sat 11 Jul 2020, 13:07 · Link


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