Department: Social History

Elizabeth Askham Nicholson embroidered these two samplers in 1882, when she was eleven years old. It is likely that she made the samplers while she was attending Crookesmoor Road School in Sheffield. The school was close to Roebuck Road, where Elizabeth lived with her parents and her five older siblings.

The decoration on the samplers is very simple and on both pieces Elizabeth has used red wool to embroider the alphabet and the numbers 0-9. Many nineteenth-century samplers included educational elements such as this, as it enabled young schoolgirls to learn their alphabet and numbers whilst at the same time practising different sewing techniques. The verse on sampler (b) reads: 'Feed my Lambs/God is Love/Serve the Lord.' Elizabeth has also embroidered her name and age at the end.